Gallery Talk: From the Awards Judge with Michael Kalmbach

Join the Rehoboth Art League for a conversation with Michael Kalmbach, awards judge of our 85th Annual Members’ Fine Art Exhibition, which is on display from July 21 through August 20, 2023. Kalmbach will discuss his selection of the award winners and other notable pieces from the exhibition. Michael Kalmbach received his MFA at the University of Delaware in 2008. Shortly after graduation he accepted a position at the Delaware College of Art & Design, and founded the New Wilmington Art Association, an artist collective that was active from August 2008 to April 2013. This work led to Michael’s involvement with the Chris White Community Development Corporation, which developed the 23-unit artist live/work space, Shipley Lofts. Kalmbach served the CWCDC as Board Chairman from 2013-2016. In June 2011, he accepted a contract with the State’s Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health to develop and direct a peer-run art space. The Creative Vision Factory has been open since December of 2011, and fosters the creative potential of individuals on the behavioral health spectrum in a studio art environment that cultivates integration with the community through a program of exhibitions, workshops, and communal workspace. During his time on the Delaware State Arts Council, Kalmbach led the successful initiative to include Hip Hop as a funding category of the Delaware Division of the Arts’ Individual Artist Fellowship program. He is the recipient of several awards, including the 2010 Governor’s Awards for the Arts’ Peggy Amsterdam Award for Outstanding Achievement, the 2012 League of Women Voters of New Castle County’s Carrie Chapman Catt Award, and a 2017 University of Delaware College of Arts & Sciences Alumni Achievement Award. Michael maintains his painting practice and has exhibited his work in venues throughout the Mid-Atlantic, including the Delaware Art Museum, the Delaware Contemporary, the Biggs Museum of American Art, and UnSmoke Systems in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Venue: Rehoboth Art League.