DelawareScene: Of Hares and Hope: An Artist Collaboration @ Rehoboth Art League

Of Hares and Hope: An Artist Collaboration

Works by Sarah Pavlik and Mark Harris

September 25 through October 28

Opening Reception: Friday, September 25, 2026 (5pm-7pm)

Tubbs Gallery

Artistic collaboration can be a vital element in the creation of art and have engaged to bring new insights into our practice by conscious interchange of ideas, practices and artistic vision with one another. The proposed exhibition is a product of that collaboration.

Mark Harris is a print maker and poet. Sarah Pavlik is a mixed media and fiber artist. Mark draws his inspiration from the process of printmaking, the graphic nature and universality of the work as well as from the exploration of hope in spite of hopelessness. Sarah creates through quilt making, fiber, and mixed media in search of beauty in line, shape, color, and surprisingly, hares. Both artists can’t imagine their lives without the creative outlet of making, exploring, and playing. “What if?” is a familiar phrase and inner dialogue in each of their pursuits.

Sarah and Mark began a collaboration early in 2025 to explore new ideas, experiment with new techniques and to add fresh perspectives to their art. What they did not realize would be the excitement and surprise in each other’s interpretation of each other’s work. Their individual pieces have been enhanced by their frequent discussions, diverse perspectives and varied styles. New techniques and mediums have continuously been explored. Artists often work in isolation, and this collaboration has given fresh ideas to each of their practices.

Both Mark and Sarah have been creating with their mediums for over 25 years. As an Episcopal Priest, Mark has witnessed human suffering and joy through the eyes of communities both domestically and internationally, and in his artwork, he seeks to bring viewers some sense of the remarkable resilience of people who live in hope. He typically works in black and white and loves the graphic nature of the work. He works to bring issues of despair, resistance, and hope to light in his relief prints, and he searches to find expressions of hope despite hopelessness. These he sets to paper, and now in collaboration with Sarah, to cloth. When asked why he makes art, it is difficult for him to come up with a concise answer. “It’s an odd thing, almost an addiction. All I know is I must do this. It is all practice.” It does seem to bring him peace.

Sarah began sewing as a child and turned to quilt making while grappling with the stress of raising a child with severe disabilities. Her work took her to another place in her head; a place where problems could be proposed and solved. It was gratifying. After making dozens of quilts Sarah came upon a quilt artist named Nancy Crow and has been studying with her since 2003, spending the month of October each year since first career retirement immersing herself in art practices with both Nancy and other accomplished artists through workshops in Ohio. She has since moved into surface design of fabric, painting, and collage, always coming back to fiber and stitch components.

Mark and Sarah’s collaboration began with an exchange of images and their current work in progress. Mark has been exploring the dynamics of despair, resistance and hope through a series of woodblocks and linocuts, accompanying text and handmade books. Sarah has most recently been exploring abstract painting with dyes, paints, and soy-based pigment, along with a series of expressive hares. Each of them viewed each other’s work and came up with alternative ideas to take the work further within their own discipline. From that beginning the collaboration has taken on an increasingly playful and complex level of interchange.