By Ken Mammarella
The Jester Artspace is a Christmas gift to Brandywine Hundred that took a decade to get ready.
The plan to reuse an old farmhouse for the arts began at a Christmas Eve 2014 party when artist Alan Baseden and his wife Debra started talking about art with artist Susan Benarcik, who had recently returned to Delaware, and her husband Ken Velasquez, a graphic designer.
Baseden had grown up across Grubb Road from the farmstead, and his father had been hoping to set up a resident curatorship for the 1,373-square-foot building. The quartet’s chat led to forming a group to create arts programming there, with Baseden as president and Benarcik on the board.
New Castle County, which bought the 26-acre property in 1974 from the Jester family, agreed in 2016 to give the nascent group a long-term, zero-payment lease, with a mandate for arts programming. After years of restoration, the Artspace hosted its housewarming last October.
The first floor features two restrooms, a kitchenette a flexible space, and a gallery that’s open to the second floor. The second floor also has instructional space and storage.
The Artspace is well on its way to a five-year vision of 50 people a week coming through the door of the building (capacity: 33).
“Our story now is about building out our programs and delivering what the community has asked for,” Baseden says, noting people have asked for the expected (drawing and painting classes) and the unexpected (stained glass and ceramics). “We’re working hard to deliver.”
It is already delivering for North Wilmington resident Mariella Roberts. “I have taken the Christmas wreath, Easter eggs and flower arrangement classes,” she says. “I am so grateful to have the Jester space close to home. They offer a great variety of classes for all levels of skills and interests. … Jester classes are affordable, the schedule is friendly, and you don’t need a big investment to engage.”
Benarcik has been the most frequent instructor, teaching all three classes that Roberts took, plus classes in watercolor and printmaking.
“This community is starving for a creative outlet. I left to find out how to be an artist, and I vowed to share my skills,” she says, with her Artspace bio saying she’s based in Arden, an artistic community for more than a century.
Jester is working to build on programs offered, like this watercolor design workshop. Photo by Susan Benarcik.
“Mostly we have visual arts so far, but we’d like to be more inclusive to music, theater and dance,” Baseden says, noting they’re working on a bellydancing program and praising the “fantastic playlist” that singer-songwriter Monika Bullette creates for monthly “draw a costumed model” events.
“My modeling experience serves as a muse for artists, creating an almost hypnagogic state where I feel as if I am becoming part of the portrait; it is a kind of meditation,” says Tatiana Young, who has modeled a half-dozen times wearing historical costumes that she created for up to 12 artists per session. “I learn a lot from artists, not just in terms of their painting styles, color combinations and perspectives on the world, but also from their creative processes.”
The Artspace is operating on a $22,000 budget this year, which includes paying for utilities and models. Instructors get a cut of the revenue from participants.
The board hopes to fund an executive director, starting part-time, but first members need to decide what responsibilities such a person would take on. “It’s like three-dimensional chess,” he says.
Baseden, a recent retiree from his corporate job, is handling those tasks now but wants to pass them along so he can devote more time to his own art, specializing in urban sketching and printmaking.
The board has a goal of hosting four exhibitions a year. Opening March 7 is Quilts: Works of Art, organized by Brandywine Valley Quilters.
The board has had “heavy” discussions about whether it should be curating these shows, approaching them journalistically or making the space available for outside groups, Baseden says. “In the end, we’ll do what is in the community interest.”
The Artspace invites artists to propose programming, with a mandate that they crystalize their vision into 120 characters for the Eventbrite listing.
The board demonstrates that can be done with a mission statement that’s under 80 characters. “Jester Artspace engages, inspires, and connects our community through the arts.”
— The Jester Artspace is at 2818 Grubb Road, North Wilmington, just south of where Grubb dead-ends into Naamans Road. JesterArtSpace.org.
Above: Plein-air instructor Charley Parker leads an outdoor painting workshop at Jester Artspace. Photo by Alan Baseden.
A Delaware native, Ken Mammarella was 18 when he was first paid as a freelance writer, and since then he’s written extensively about the interesting people, places and issues of Delaware and nearby areas. He also teaches at Wilmington University. For fun, he enjoys watching theater and creating it, playing board games and solving crosswords in ink.