By Ally Lanasa, Staff Writer

ALLY LANASA/BAYSIDE GAZETTE
Throughout October, Marian Bickerstaff’s paintings of local landscapes will be on display in the Worcester County Arts Council gallery, 6 Jefferson Street in Berlin.

(Oct. 8, 2020) The Worcester County Arts Council in Berlin has reopened to the public with limited occupancy.

Since Sept. 5, the gallery at 6 Jefferson Street has been open on the weekends from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and during the 2nd Friday celebrations downtown from 5-8 p.m.

Currently, four visitors are permitted in the gallery at one time.

“We have all the safety guidelines in place, and we feel very comfortable with the environment we provide,” said Anna Mullis, the executive director of the Worcester County Arts Council.

Visitors are required to wear face coverings, practice social distancing and use the hand sanitizers provided throughout the gallery.

“We have a protective acrylic screen on the check-in desk, where visitors can purchase the artwork,” Mullis added.

On display in the gallery throughout October are the creations of Marian Bickerstaff, Joanne Guilfoil and Barbara Kern-Bush.

Bickerstaff, who serves as the president of the Board of Directors of the Art League of Ocean City,  creates local landscape scenes using acrylics, oils and pastels.

“She does a lot of texture in her paintings,” Mullis said.

Bickerstaff and her husband moved to Ocean Pines in 2007.

Guilfoil, of Selbyville, is a watercolorist, who specializes in the paintings of chickens and wildlife on the Eastern Shore.

Guilfoil, who taught art at the collegiate level, is also trained in gouache and acrylic paints.

Kern-Bush, of Ocean Pines, uses oils to paint portraits, landscapes and still life scenes.

“She’s also a plein air artist, so in her artwork you can see a lot of local scene as well,” Mullis said.

The monthly local featured artists are chosen from the gallery co-op.

“We have around 30 artists who are associated with our gallery, and they volunteer on a monthly basis,” Mullis said.

They are all from the Delmarva region, with the majority being Worcester County residents.

Visitors can meet Ellie Scott, a watercolorist, at the gallery while she uses the upstairs studio.

Scott, who has been in the studio for about a month, said she is grateful to finally have a space to create and hang her artwork, adding that she only hangs her friend’s artwork in her Berlin home.

“I’m flattered and very happy to be part of the co-op,” she said.

In addition to the gallery, the Worcester County Arts Council aims to “aid, encourage, advise and correlate all activities dedicated to the promotion of the arts in Worcester County,” according to its website. It accomplishes this mission through grants.

The council receives grants from the Maryland State Arts Council for redistribution to nonprofit organizations planning arts and cultural events.

“Our grant season has opened just recently,” Mullis said. “We have extended a deadline for Community Arts Development Grant program until Nov. 1.”

For the 2021 fiscal year, a financial match for the grant has been suspended.

“Most of the grants require one-to-one, dollar-to-dollar match by the organization,” Mullis said. “However, due to circumstances with the pandemic – and we know how a lot of our grantees and other local nonprofit organizations have been impacted by the pandemic – we followed guidelines by the Maryland State Arts Council and waived the requirement for the match for this fiscal year.”

Those interested can apply for the Community Arts Development Grant electronically or by mail.

To submit electronically, the application form found on worcestercountyartscouncil.org must be compiled with all other required documentation in a pdf file and sent to curator@worcestercountyartscouncil.org with the subject line “GRANT APPLICATION FISCAL YEAR 2021.”

Mullis added that she has applied for an emergency grant from the Maryland State Arts Council to support local grantees and organizations with any needs they may have.

“The grant program that we offer is basically designed to support art projects or art programs or art events,” she said. “However, we have never had operational grants offered to applicants, so a portion of the grant that we have been awarded from the Maryland State Arts Council will be designated to operational grants for local arts organizations and another area that we will be focusing on through the grant will be arts and healing initiatives.”

Applications for that grant will be available on worcestercountyartscouncil.org in January.

“It’s definitely needed in the community,” Mullis said. “We know how art is important in healing and therapy, especially during this time.”