OCEAN CITY — Learn more about the arts at the Ocean City Arts Center fall fundraiser while getting a personalized work of art for your own.
The Arts Center is having the “Our First Shore House” event at Adelene, the ocean-front restaurant in the Port-O-Call Hotel at 1510 Boardwalk. The event is from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16. There will be hors d’oeuvres and a selection of beverages.
The event will feature two well-known local artists, Chuck Law and Bill Parker, who will be doing sketches of shore homes for the patrons who bring along a photo.
“We had a fundraiser last year at Adelene. It was such a success we thought we would do another one in the fall,” said Maryann Pionegro-Smith, vice president of the Arts Center and chairman of the center’s Development Committee that is hosting the fundraiser.
The nearly 100 people who attended the 2025 fall fundraiser all thought it was a great idea and had a great time, she said.
“Winter’s coming and it’s just a nice way to get people together. We had a lot of folks from other organizations. It’s a way to spread awareness about what the Arts Center is and what we do,” Pionegro-Smith said.
Amid the socializing at the boardwalk restaurant, Arts Center board President Jack Devine will be “singing the praises of the Arts Center and what we offer.”
The Arts Center is on the second floor of the Ocean City Community Center at 1735 Simpson Ave. There is a wide variety of classes year-round in the visual and performing arts in the various studios — dance for youth and adults, drawing and painting, knitting and pottery and more. There are monthly exhibitions, with receptions the second Friday of each month, and special events. The center also hosts bus trips to arts institutions.
The theme of this October’s fundraiser is celebrating people’s first shore home.
“It’s memories of their first shore house that they may own or may have rented. It’s trying to recapture some of the nostalgia that is getting lost as we see a lot of these older homes being torn down,” Pionegro-Smith said. “I’m a big proponent of historic preservation and I think the Arts Center is bringing to the table amazing artists who will be sketching from photographs. It’s a way to capture what is being lost.”
Law and Parker are well known for their artwork.
Parker, whose work is in pastel, graphite and watercolor, has won numerous honors and awards and has been represented in multiple galleries.
Law is a fine artist whose main focus is plein-air landscape painting. He has had many shows and won many awards and has exhibited at different locations, and locally at the Arts Center and Ocean City Fine Arts League.
“I have my own memories of the house I live in now,” Pionegro-Smith added. “My parents bought it in 1970 and it’s pretty much the same. We haven’t done much with it but it’s just the memories of coming down to the shore with the family, friends, cousins, everybody piling into sleeping bags around the dining room table. Those kinds of memories. What were those houses? What did they look like? What did they smell like? What went on inside those houses?
“I think we’re trying to capture some of that nostalgia. That’s how I’m encapsulating Jack’s vision,” she said.
Last year’s popular feature at the fundraiser was having other popular local artists — Tim Smith and Tony Troy — doing quick sketches of people at the event.
“We’re like a hidden gem there,” Pionegro-Smith said of the Arts Center, which is accessible by elevator and via staircase in the atrium of the Ocean City Free Public Library. “We’re always trying to spread the word about what the Arts Center has to offer. Last year people had a great time chatting and learning more about the center.”
Funds raised go toward the Arts Center’s programming.
Tickets are $50 and available at oceancityartscenter.org or by calling (609) 399-7628. Patrons have to sign up at the door if they want a sketch by Parker or Law. The cost is $20.
Note: David Nahan is on the board of directors of the Ocean City Arts Center.
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
At top, a work of art by Chuck Law.
Note: David Nahan is on the board of directors of the Ocean City Arts Center.
