Upcoming Exhibits

Featured in the Thaler Gallery:

Beverly Bassford Memorial Juried Show, featuring local and regional artists of all media. Exhibit juror: Aric Snee. For the 22nd year, the Beverly Bassford Juried Show, an annual memorial event named for the former Art League board member who was passionate about the need for a prestigious arts center in the resort, will fill both main galleries of the OC Center for the Arts in July. After her death in 1999, Bassford's family established a prize in her name that grew into the annual show, still sponsored by the family.

Featured in the Galleria:

Beverly Bassford Memorial Juried Show on display building-wide.

In Studio E:

Nancy Rider

• Nancy was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. She received a BS degree from the University of Nebraska and taught high school in Omaha. After marrying a Baltimore native, the couple moved to Harford County, Maryland. Nancy received a Masters in Early Childhood Development from Towson University and taught pre-school part-time while raising three children. As empty nesters, she and her husband Harry moved to Fells Point, MD where Nancy was a member of the Art Gallery of Fells Point, a co-op gallery where her work was displayed. After her husband’s retirement in 2010, the couple settled in the Ocean City area. They currently reside in Selbyville, DE and spend winter months in Naples, FL. Nancy is a member of the Art League of Ocean City. In the past, she has served as a board member and committee member for the Art League’s annual House Tour. Her work is often displayed at the OC Center for the Arts, Worcester County Arts Council in Berlin, and Framing Corner in West Ocean City.
• I’m fickle! I admit it. I enjoy painting in watercolor! And pastel! And acrylic! They all allow me to connect with the viewer in some way. If they can feel an emotion and become involved with my painting, I will achieve my goal. As I set the mood to convey an emotion, color is foremost in my mind. Color is powerful. It can be exaggerated to express a playful mood or muted to show serenity. Color alone can tug at so many emotions. Along with color, my surroundings influence my work. When I lived in Fells Point, MD, I painted buildings, city markets, and street scenes. Now, living on the Eastern Shore, I tend to paint beach scenes, the boardwalk, the sea, and sky. Through my choice of subject, I want to catch the viewer’s eye, and hold their gaze a moment longer.

In the Spotlight Gallery:

Jeanne Anderton

• Jeanne Anderton collected discarded items and natural elements on OC's beaches, arranged them into patterns, and exposed them to light on photo sensitive paper. The original cyanotypes are on display during July in the Spotlight Gallery, and giant enlargements are wrapping the tennis courts next door.
• Seaside Recollections, cyanotype photograms of items collected at various locations on the Ocean City Boardwalk, is inspired by the work of Anna Atkins, a 19th century British botanist and photographer who used the cyanotype process to make photographs of algae. Collected items, such as food, wrappers, cigarettes, clothing tags, napkins, and natural elements including, sand, feathers, leaves and broken shells are collected and placed on coated light sensitive paper and exposed to the sun. Opaque objects block the light, leaving a white shape, transparent and translucent items reveal words or shapes in¬¬ different shades of blue, after exposure, the paper is washed in water to remove the chemicals, revealing the final image. A remainder of the memories of visiting Ocean City’s Boardwalk, Seaside Recollections asks the viewer to consider how commonplace objects can be transformed into something to be admired, making trash into something beautiful.
• Jeanne Anderton holds an MFA in Photography from Syracuse University. Her work has been exhibited nationally in individual and group exhibitions and is included in public and private collections. Two time recipient of the Maryland State Individual Artists Awards, in 2012 and 2009. Anderton teaches digital and analogue photography courses including conventional black and white and color film materials, 19th century alternate photographic processes and digital imagery.

In the Artisan Showcase:

Lisa Scarbath

• Lisa Scarbath is a Resident Artist at the Howard County Center for the Arts. She is mainly self-taught and creates wall art, decor, furniture, and custom pet portraits. Lisa's art is diverse; she thrives on experimenting what materials to work with based on the finished project she envisions. Lisa alternates between cutting colorful stained glass for realistic pet portraits or vintage wooden window scenes, to getting her hands dirty with slate and rocks for abstract, more organic projects. Upcycling broken plates, bowls and cups of China or ceramic presents challenges of color, shape and density when transforming them into alternative compositions. She uses found objects such as watch parts, jewelry, toy pieces, charms and almost any other small bits to make mosaic bouquets or embellished 3D creatures such as blue crabs. 
• Lisa's mosaics range from realistic to abstract, functional, meaningful, and thought-provoking to just plain fun. Lisa's goal is to provide the viewer with something new to see each time they look at one of her finished pieces.

Off-Site:

At the Princess Royale Oceanfront, 91st St: Maggii Sarfaty. At the Coffee Beanery, 94th St: Beth Deeley (pictured). Offsite exhibits run through September 2022.

• The Princess Royale satellite gallery, 9100 Coastal Hwy., hosts the artwork of Maggii Sarfaty. Sarfaty is an impressionist painter working in oil and watercolor, capturing the coastal beauty of the Delmarva Peninsula. Born in 1965 in Baltimore Maryland, Maggii has had a lifelong love affair with art. Her artistic Mother and Grandmother encouraged her at a very early age to notice subtleties in light and color in her surroundings. Maggii studied at The Maryland Institute College of Art and began a career as a muralist, decorative painter and part time theatrical set designer. In 2015 Maggii entered her first Plein Air competition winning a prize and selling her painting right off the easel. This small success prompted an immersion into the plein air experience. The joy of painting from life in the open air has been a driving factor in her growth as an artist. Maggii is especially inspired by master impressionists, Mary Cassat, Joaquin Sorolla and Claude Monet. A special thanks goes to her good friend and mentor, Plein Air Easton alumni Diane DuBois Mullaly who invited her to paint regularly with Plein Air Painters of the Chesapeake Bay. An even bigger thanks to my husband Dave for his constant support. Maggii enjoys teaching oil and watercolor at The Academy Art Museum, The Ocean City Center for the Arts and The Dorchester Center for the Arts. She is a member of Plein Air Painters of the Chesapeake Bay, The Working Artists Forum and American Impressionist Society.
• The Coffee Beanery satellite gallery at 94th St. and Coastal Hwy. displays the works of Beth Deeley. Deeley lives in Ocean City and spends several months a year in Costa Rica with her husband Sandy and three dogs. She is a lifetime crafter and student of macrame but found weaving three years ago on the suggestion of a friend and never stopped! “I love color and nature and try to combine the two in my pieces. Each strand, each piece of fabric is a meditation or a thought or a moment in my life. It’s a meditation, a feeling of connection … to a piece. It’s therapy (for me) and probably for other people. “