The Art League of Ocean City’s First Friday party on Mar. 4 brings together five new art exhibits at the Ocean City Center for the Arts as well as a reception for the ongoing Ocean City Film Festival. All are welcome to the free event that runs from 5-7 p.m. on 94th St. bayside.
Coins Pub will present the complimentary reception hors d’oeuvres. PKS Investments will sponsor the reception beverages.
The Thaler Gallery opens a photography show by George Sass of St. Michaels, Md. After 25 years of running an advertising agency in Annapolis, New York, and Europe, Sass started a new career as a photo journalist for the yachting industry, traveling the world for national publications. Sass’s current focus is fine art photography, and he also volunteers as a photographer for the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.
The Galleria will feature an exhibit entitled “Movie-Mania,” an all-media group show inspired by the Ocean City Film Festival. David Gladden, associate professor and area head of New Media Art at Salisbury University, will judge the exhibit and award cash prizes.
Ian Postley of Bishopville, Md. exhibits in Studio E in March. Postley graduated from Stephen Decatur High School in 2014 and won an Art League scholarship to attend the Delaware College Art and Design. He works as a freelance artist and has designed and illustrated the Ocean City Film Festival posters every year of the event, including in 2022.
Rosie Bean of West Ocean City, Md. is the Spotlight Gallery artist. Bean attended a charter high school in Colorado Springs, Co. dedicated to the arts and was a fine arts major at Adams State College in Alamosa, Co. After moving to Maryland, Bean became a political activist and is a social media and graphic designer for several progressive organizations. Bean won Best in Show in 2021 in the Art League’s annual juried show.
Mary Ainsworth of Ocean Pines, Md. is the artisan for March. Ainsworth trained in jewelry making techniques at the Smithsonian Institution’s Studio Arts Department. Her love of transglobal pieces and artifacts has expanded her interests, and she has lectured on the history and identification of beads around the world.
Artwork by Worcester County middle and high school students will also be on display at the Arts Center through the weekend as part of the annual Shirley Hall Youth Art Show. Betsy Hall Harrison, Shirley Hall’s daughter, will judge the show and award $250 in prize money on behalf of her family members.
The Art League’s satellite galleries continue shows with exhibits by C.K. Rompf of Chincoteague, Va. at the Coffee Beanery on 94th St. and Coastal Hwy., and Petra Bernstein of Salisbury, Md. at the Princess Royale Oceanfront Hotel lobby, 9100 Coastal Hwy.
All shows run through Mar. 26, 2022.
