REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. - A documentary featuring one of Delaware's most famous artists, Jack Lewis, will be featured at the Cinema Art Theater in Lewes starting Tuesday and going through March 5.
The Rehoboth Beach Film Society is partnering with the Rehoboth Art League to present a special screening of "If You Lived Here, You Would Be Home Now: A Film About Jack Lewis and Bridgeville, DE." The title, which plays on Bridgeville's town motto, captures how painter Jack Lewis changed the lives of those least exposed to the arts, including inmates at the local prison.
Lewis, born in 1912, moved to Delaware in the mid-1930s to work as an artist for the Civilian Conservation Corps, painting the daily activities of camps in Lewes, Magnolia, and Leipsic that were working on mosquito control. He worked in public schools and at Del Tech from 1949-1976 and was commissioned by Delaware's legislative council to create murals celebrating the bicentennial of Delaware's ratification of the Constitution. The murals still hang in Legislative Hall in Dover.
This film about Lewis's life and work premiered at the National Gallery of Art in Washington and is now in the permanent collection of the museum.
"We are excited to partner with the Rehoboth Beach Film Society to continue raising awareness about the artistic contributions of Jack Lewis to the region," said Sara Ganther, executive director of the Rehoboth Art League. "Sharing a film about his life and work in Bridgeville, the Rehoboth Art League, and beyond will be the perfect way to help close out our Everyday Life, Everyday People exhibition of his work."
The film will play at 6 p.m. at the Cinema Art Theater in Lewes. Admission is $9. In addition to the screening, the "Everyday Life, Everyday People: The Work of Jack Lewis" exhibit is on display at the Rehoboth Art League through March 5.