In 1938, the Rehoboth Art League was founded in a two-room studio, formerly the wing of an 18th-century farmhouse, nestled in pastoral Henlopen Acres, a sleepy community on the edge of Rehoboth Beach. Today, the RAL is a 4-acre wooded oasis surrounded by upscale homes in a suburban setting. But it’s no longer limited to its birthplace.
When the summer season kicks off on Memorial Day, tourists driving on Route 9 toward Five Points will see the banner for the RAL Studios, the first long-term satellite location for the 77-year-old arts organization.
“It’s a real luxury to have a space we know we can grown into,” said Sheila Bravo, executive director of the RAL.
Indeed, the March opening of the RAL Art Studios on Route 9 is a partial and welcome solution to what’s become a pressing – and often highly publicized – challenge for the RAL, whose main campus is hampered by its location in a residential zone. At the same time, it also raises new awareness for the respected arts organization, and it improves accessibility for both its members and the community.
A cultural landmark
The RAL complex is on land formerly owned by Col. Wilbur Sherman Corkran and his wife, Louise Chambers Corkran, who helped found the RAL. It includes a host of old buildings, including their former home, the Homestead, now listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The colonel also developed the town of Henlopen Acres while apparently giving no thought to the RAL’s future. As a result, it is considered non-conforming within the town limits. Hopes to replace the inefficient Chambers Studio, a primary classroom space, were dashed all the way to the state Supreme Court, which in 2010 upheld the town’s refusal to provide a variance. RAL’s location and the town’s influence have also affected its ability to add new events to an existing roster; residents are opposed to parking and noise issues.
The RAL campus also faces accessibility issues. “In the past, we have awarded scholarships to young artists who were unable to take advantage of our art classes because they had no way to get to the Henlopen Acres campus,” said Diana Beebe, president of the board of trustees.
Taking it off campus
Given the site’s limitations, the RAL started bringing lessons to children and seniors in community centers and schools throughout Sussex County. “We’ve partnered for years with health and social service agencies and schools to provide free art classes to children from low socioeconomic neighborhoods,” Bravo said. The RAL also partners with other arts organizations.
Last summer, the RAL rented temporary space in the old McQuay’s Market on the circle in Rehoboth Beach, which is for sale. “It gave us a chance to understand what it was like to not just come to a place and leave again,” Bravo says. “Folks were so excited. They could see us, and we gained some new members and, actually, a new employee.”
Apparently, the experience was a positive one. When the owners of that space found a long-term tenant, the RAL went looking for new digs. The new studio is located in a development under construction on Route 9, just a few miles west of its intersection with Route 1. (Because the location has a Lewes address, the full Rehoboth Art League is not included in the facility’s official name. Many people call the league “RAL” for short, in any event.)
The RAL Art Studios has just under 6,500 square feet. There are administrative offices for some staff members, including the development director and marketing coordinator, who formerly had her office on the porch of the Homestead or worked from home. The conference room is a delight for the staff, who on the main campus had to hold meetings in gallery space while guests were contemplating the art.
Classrooms have deep closets, so supplies can be stashed should the RAL need extra gallery space. The Coastal Camera Club has partnered with RAL to help create an open print and multimedia studio, which the Henlopen Acres location couldn’t offer due to its size constraints and the lack of an infrastructure to support the technology.
“We hope to offer youth programming that will include Web design, animation and manga,” said Kim Klabe, the RAL education director. “We hope to bring children from across Sussex County – particularly from the farther Western Sussex – to our facility to experience programming they may not normally have access to, such as iMacs and painting studios.”
The RAL has provided the space and the equipment for the multimedia room. The Coastal Camera Club is providing trained monitors, who will staff the studio during operating hours. “Instead of having to maintain expensive equipment in their own home, members of CCC and RAL can come to the studio to print their fine art images,” said Leslie Sinclair, an artist who’s on the CCC’s board of directors. “They will not need to pay shipping charges and will walk out with a high-quality art print.”
Artists had input into the RAL Art Studios’ design. Classrooms all have sinks. There are also two sinks to serve four artists-in-residence rooms, which are sponsored by Dogfish Head Brewery. “It comes out of our Beer & Benevolence program, which has the tenets community, the arts and the environment,” said Mariah Calagione, vice president of the company. She said the RAL Art Studios is a twofer: it benefits the arts and also the community, she said. “It’s good that they’re branching out physically, and it will be good visibility.”
Piquing curiosity for the arts
The RAL got its occupancy on March 3 and held a popup on March 13. “We announced it only by press releases and social media, and we had 200 people show up,” said Lynn Powell, marketing coordinator.
The first exhibit “Boundaries: Works by the Young Photographers Alliance,” is on the walls in the main gallery. A second gallery features member works. Together, the galleries offer about 700 square feet of space.
Many people are already stopping by just because they spotted the banner. On a day when the RAL was closed – it will open seven days a week during the season – a woman and her granddaughter knocked on the door, hoping for a look.
Bravo expects more of the curious to stop by as beach traffic picks up on Route 9. So do tourism officials, including Linda Parkowski, director of the Delaware Tourism Office.”
“From a tourism perspective, it’s exciting to see the art league’s new facility become a reality,’ she said, “They can help foster the creative energy that makes the Rehoboth area what it is, sustaining and enhancing it artistic appeal among travelers.”
The RAL Studios on Route 9 is located at 1200 Old Vine Boulevard, Suite 102 in Lewes, just west of the intersection of Route 9 and Route 1. Visit rehobothartleague.org for a list of classrooms and exhibitions at this site and on the main campus in Henlopen Acres.
On Saturday, June 27, the site will hold a grand opening daytime event, followed by a gala from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
This piece is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.