Please come support CCSA HS Visual Arts teacher Maia Palmer in her new exhibit!

TEXT FROM – https://news.delaware.gov/2022/11/03/the-mezzanine-gallery-to-exhibit-making-the-invisible-visible-by-maia-palmer/

The Mezzanine Gallery to Exhibit “Making the Invisible, Visible” by Maia Palmer
ON VIEW FROM NOVEMBER 4-25, 2022

Wilmington, Del. (November 3, 2022) – The Delaware Division of the Arts’ Mezzanine Gallery presents 2022 DDOA Individual Artist Fellow Maia Palmer’s exhibition, “Making the Invisible, Visible”, running November 4-25, 2022. Guests are invited to attend a Meet-the-Artist Reception on Friday, November 4, from 5:00-7:00 p.m. (There will be student performance at 5pm from the strings majors at Cab Calloway School of the Arts, with special thanks to educator Julie Murphy).

Maia Palmer was born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1980. She works primarily in acrylics and charcoal, and has also created community murals, digital works, and figurative sculptures. Palmer earned a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis. She has exhibited nationally as well as internationally in Spain, Germany, and China. Palmer has lived all around the globe and is interested in capturing the unique spirit of each location that she experiences. To read more about Maia and her history, click here for a link to her fellowship page.

Committed to “being a positive force for social change,” Palmer is the high school visual arts teacher at Cab Calloway School of the Arts. She feels strongly about teaching there, saying “I am a product of public school and I want to be part of rebuilding its strength.” One of the most exciting aspects of receiving the Fellowship is “the recognition of my work” and the ability to further its scope and her goal to “help amplify the voices of those who are not always heard.”

Making the Invisible, Visible features a series of migraine self-portraits documenting Palmer’s experiences as a migraineur over the past 15 years. To be clear, migraine is a neurological disease, one that is debilitating and painfully real. Yet it is frequently referred to as an “invisible illness,” as there are often no visible symptoms. Women in particular are subject to dismissive treatment because of this, as Palmer has experienced first-hand.

With these works, Palmer examines her relationship with migraine. She merges autobiographical experiences with imagery and text laden with both historical and personal value. Each of these images captures a real, private moment that she has in fact experienced – from hiding under blankets to wearing hand-made ‘migraine boxes’. She says, “Creating these drawings is a visceral process of acknowledging the larger than life physical and emotional pain that migraine has caused in my life – as well as the emotional and physical growth it has helped me accomplish. I am ultimately a stronger person as I emerge on the other side of chronic migraine, cherishing every moment and delighting in our capacity as humans to overcome and endure.”

Navigating her own experiences, Palmer has embodied the physical and mental trauma of this illness by manipulating surfaces and materials to simulate the experience of a migraine – the tearing of paper, or the piercing of a surface with needle and thread. By making visible the invisible trauma of migraine, she aims to bring awareness to this consistently under-funded, chronically misunderstood disease.

The Mezzanine Gallery, open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., is located on the second floor of the Carvel State Office Building, 820 N. French Street, Wilmington.

Image: “Splitting Headache,” 2021, charcoal on paper, 50″ x 38″

Delaware Division of the Arts Award Winners at Cab Calloway School of the Arts

The works by the Delaware Division of the Arts Award Winners are appearing at Cab Calloway School of the Arts from October 7 to November 4, 2022, with a reception on Friday, October 7, from 6 to 8 p.m. Special readings from literary fellows will begin at 7pm, and performances from students will be held before and after.

These Delaware artists have been recognized for their outstanding quality of work. The exhibition includes multiple mediums.  Visual arts on display include paintings, polymer, photography, charcoal, sculptures, and media arts. Samples of literary winners’ works can be perused in a reading nook, and performance pieces are available for one’s listening pleasure.

The talent of the 2022 winners is amazing! The Division received work samples from 132 Delaware artists and 25 were awarded fellowships. The selected fellows reside throughout Delaware including Dover, Georgetown, Hockessin, Lewes, Magnolia, Middletown, Newark, Smyrna, Townsend, and Wilmington.

Masters Fellow Linda Blaskey was a writer from the start: “I was always getting into trouble in school because I was writing stories rather than paying attention in class.” Fortunately, she had encouraging teachers, and once she set out on her path, there was no turning back.

Emerging artist Stephanie Boateng has owned a business since she was 18 years of age selling prints, originals, and stickers of her art. Now the recent University of Delaware graduate is beginning her career as a professional artist, hoping to share the joy she feels when making her work. “My portraits are very emotional beings,” created to be “an experience of happiness, love, and beauty” both for herself and her viewers.

Established artist Joseph Barbaccia is “continuously excited about how a specific medium which is traditionally used in one genre can be expanded to a successful level in another.” In 2018 he moved to Georgetown, Delaware where his workspace was smaller. He landed on polymer clay as “the perfect choice.” The material – with its transparency and a full color spectrum – allows him to create in both two and three dimensions.

Emerging artist Maia Palmer, in addition to her career as an artist, is also a faculty member at Cab Calloway School of the Arts! She is the high school Visual Arts teacher, and loves sharing her talent and passion for the arts with her students.  She particularly enjoys “the immediacy of drawing . . . the grittiness of charcoal. I love that I can work directly with my hands on the paper.” Her large scale charcoal self-portraits address her personal journey as a migraine sufferer.

Do not miss the Award Winners Reception on October 7, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Meet the artists to congratulate them on their recognition, socialize in the lobby, tour the art in the gallery, and enjoy performances and readings by the award-winning artists.

About Cab Calloway School of the Arts: Cab Calloway School of the Arts (CCSA) is the premiere public school with an arts-based curriculum in the state of Delaware. Founded in 1992 by a group of parents seeking quality education in a motivating environment, the school is part of the Red Clay Consolidated School District (RCCSD). Named after the American jazz icon, Cab Calloway, CCSA provides both academic and arts education for students in grades 6-12.

CCSA sophomore’s work featured in Delaware Today!

Cab Calloway School of the Arts has been recognized as a 2022 National Blue Ribbon School!

The recognition is based on a school’s overall academic performance or progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups.

2022 National Blue Ribbon School Profile

The coveted National Blue Ribbon Schools award affirms the hard work of educators, families and communities in creating safe and welcoming schools where students master challenging and engaging content.

The Department recognizes all schools in one of two performance categories, based on all student scores, subgroup student scores and graduation rates:

• Exemplary High-Performing Schools are among their state’s highest performing schools as measured by state assessments or nationally normed tests.
• Exemplary Achievement Gap-Closing Schools are among their state’s highest performing schools in closing achievement gaps between a school’s student groups and all students.

Up to 420 schools may be nominated each year. The Department invites National Blue Ribbon Schools nominations from the top education official in all states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Department of Defense Education Activity, and the Bureau of Indian Education. Private schools are nominated by the Council for American Private Education.

National Blue Ribbon Program Website