2024 Cottage Tour Artist

We are pleased to announce that the 2024 Cottage Tour Artist is Rick Phillips:

My path as an artist has included sojourns into illustration, advertising, and design before finally emerging as a full-time fine artist and painter.

I’ve created images for companies like Campbell Soup and TastyKake, commissioned works for Bank of America and Glaxo SmithKline Pharmaceuticals, and fine art for many private collections.

Critics have said my style is reminiscent of 19th-century painters who used the richness of light and color to create an atmosphere that could almost be touched. Painting outdoors, ‘en plein aire,’ is almost a religious experience for me. In that surrounding, I employ hard and soft edges selectively to develop the feeling of moisture, wind, and the warmth of the sun.

In the city, in the country, or working on a still life of antiques and florals, I get to the heart of my subjects with loose and bravura brushstrokes, elegant and evocative colors, and a unique sense of mood. My portfolio includes images of barns, fields, and farmhouses as well as more nostalgic subjects like the rugged bicycles I remember as a child. My interest in interior design and gardening has also informed my art to be decorator-friendly as well.

I am honored to be among a select few invited every year to exhibit at the famous Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Show in Philadelphia. I am also proud to have participated in a creative partnership between Pratt Institute in New York City and The Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington DC. A personal achievement was establishing the Darley Arts Center, a gallery for visual artists, and a center for art education and workshops.

My work can be found in the Square Pear Fine Art Gallery in Kennett Square, PA, and the Peninsula Fine Art Gallery in Lewes, Delaware. —Rick Phillips

Ticket Sales

The ticket for the tour is a commemorative program booklet with an image and description of each home on the tour. Tickets are $40 per person (appropriate for ages 13 and above). After June 30, tickets are only available at the Art League’s Henlopen Acres campus, 12 Dodds Lane, or at homes on the Cottage Tour. (Please note tickets previously purchased on the RAL website and by phone must be picked up at RAL.)

Tickets for the tour–payable by cash or check only–are also available at select local shops that support this event. Check back for a complete listing. Tickets for the tour are also available the day of the tour at any of the homes, based on availability, and the Rehoboth Art League.

Transportation

This year parking is very limited at several of the house locations. Free parking will be available at Rehoboth Elementary School, 500 Stockley Street. From this location, the Rehoboth Art League is providing Jolly Trolley transportation for ticket holders. Shuttle service, which will run continuous loops to all houses on the tour, will begin running at 9:45 AM and continue until the tour’s end each day. Check the Jolly Trolley website on Tour days to track the route of each trolley in live time.

All info and pics from the website.