ABOUT DELAVAN ART GALLERY:

Delavan Art Gallery exists to provide an exciting way to meet the needs of Central New York area artists for sales and exhibitions as well as the needs of the community for a good space to view art produced by those artists.

Delavan Art Gallery is an art exhibition and sales venue that features fine art by area artists in its best possible setting. Exhibits generally feature four to five artists and run four to five weeks. The gallery has featured over 130 artists since opening in September of 2003.

HISTORY OF THE SPACE:

The space known as Delavan Art Gallery was formerly used as office space until the Labor Day Storm of 1998. The storm picked up the roof four stories above and dropped it onto Wyoming Street, leaving Delavan Center soaked as the sprinkler system dumped thousands of gallons of water in that area of the building.

Though the damage caused by the storm was extensive, Bill Delavan, owner of Delavan Center and Director of Delavan Art Gallery, had the opportunity to open a gallery of his own. As a result of having artists working in the building since the early 70’s, he knew the struggles faced by area artists in finding a quality space to show and sell their work. Opening a new gallery, he hoped, would help solve these problems. Bill Delavan hired Gallery Manager Caroline Szozda and in September of 2003, five years (to the week) since the storm, Delavan Art Gallery opened its first show. At the end of 2006, Delavan Art Gallery had shown over 130 individual artists from the Central New York area.

Photo by Stephen Wright

Delavan Art Gallery is located in a complex of buildings first constructed in the 1870’s by the Syracuse Chilled Plow Co. The buildings were later acquired by the John Deere Company, which made farm equipment on-site through the mid 1940’s. Bill Delavan, the present owner, has managed the buildings since 1971, renting spaces to traditional businesses and to artists for working studios.

THE PHYSICAL SPACE:

The 3800 square feet of exhibit space is large enough to accommodate several artists at the same time. The gallery has hardwood floors, white walls, adjustable wall surfaces and a very flexible system of track light to show art at its best. The track lights are a combination of traditional tungsten lights and color specific Halogen lights that help bring out the colors in a work of art.

There are about 75 feet of traditional white wall space and numerous hanging panels made from Homesote and Ultrafoam to provide a free standing (no feet) background for hanging work. In each exhibit, the panels are reconfigured to accommodate the artwork being shown so that viewers see a different layout in every show. Exhibits run four to five weeks with the exception of the June / July show, which runs seven weeks.

SHOWCASING AREA ARTISTS:

In addition to other criteria used for selecting artwork, one criterion is geographic. The work shown at Delavan Art Gallery is limited to that produced by artists who live or work in Onondaga and surrounding counties, including Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Oneida, Oswego, Seneca, Tompkins and Wayne counties. There are many fine artists in the Central New York area who need an appropriate setting for their work, and Delavan Art Gallery seeks to help fill that need and support Central New York’s artists.

STAFF:
Bill Delavan - Gallery Director
Caroline Szozda McGowan - Gallery Manager
Courtney Rile - Marketing and PR Coordinator