There’s no need to go to a big city to enjoy and appreciate art. With our new normal, The Delaware Art Walk is a self-guided walking tour that provides a great opportunity to visit and learn more about the art in the downtown area. Get out of the house. Decompress. See how artists have interjected art into our community. Become creatively inspired by inviting art into your life.
Even if you have lived in Delaware, these art spots may have stayed hidden. The art walk will take about an hour. Begin and end at The Arts Castle, where there should be plenty of parking to leave your car.
While our world and circumstances remain quite unpredictable and challenging, we hope you find solace and inspiration in this walk. Enjoy the vast array of artwork that downtown Delaware has to offer!
GHOST SIGN
All over America in the late 1800s and early 1900s, businesses painted bold, colorful advertising on downtown buildings. Some of these hand-painted signs advertised local businesses and some were promoting national products. Generally, these signs became prohibited as zoning laws spread across the country in the mid-twentieth century. As the paint has faded in the years since these ads have become known as “ghost signs”. Many of the signs can still be read today. One of the reasons that the signs have endured so long is that the oil-based paint contained lead which permeated the brick surface. Sometimes it is difficult to interpret some ghost signs because they have been over-painted with a new advertisement without removing the old one.
THANK YOU
I would like to thank Erin Fletcher and Tammy Wallace from The Ross Art Museum, Jan Fleischmann and Kris Hyland Kolb from The Delaware County Historical Society, Lynda Elias and Virginia Corwin, Jan and John Brinkerhoff from The Arts Castle and Roxanne Armidon and her committee from The Boardman Arts Park for the information each contributed for this walk.
