Pirate Tales and Beyond:
The Adventures of Rip Squeak and Friends

October 22, 2005-January 29, 2006

Leonard Filgate, WOW!, 2002 Acrylic on canvas Private Collection © 2000 Rip Squeak, Inc

Organized by Delaware Art Museum Curator Joyce K. Schiller, this exhibition features illustrations by California artist Leonard Filgate for children’s books written by Susan Yost-Filgate. The Delaware Art Museum will be the first museum to exhibit original work of this talented husband and wife team whose stories emphasize themes of tolerance, being open to new experiences and diversity.

In 1997, the Filgates created a new series of children’s stories centered on the adventures of a mouse called Rip Squeak, his younger sister Jesse Squeak and their two friends: a cat named Abbey and a thespian frog named Euripides. The stories detail the adventures of this unusual group of friends who believe in using their imagination, love improvising and most of all appreciate each other’s strengths and skills despite their obvious differences.

Pirate Tales and Beyond: The Adventures of Rip Squeak & Friends shows working sketches and illustrate the process involved in creating the final works of art from concept to completion. The resonance between these contemporary pirate stories and the stories and images by Howard Pyle and other American illustrators in the collections at the Delaware Art Museum make for an exciting connection between the past and the present.

This exhibition is sponsored, in part, by DuPont, AstraZeneca, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Clear Channel Delaware, Wilmington Trust, Verizon and the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware.

Leonard Filgate The Adventure, 2003-04 Acrylic on canvas Private Collection © 2005 Rip Squeak, Inc.	Leonard Filgate Pirate Tales, 1998-99 Acrylic on canvas Private Collection © 1998 Rip Squeak, Inc.

Leonard Filgate and Bob Koonz, The Adventure, ca. acrylic paint on wood and mixed media

In the exhibit you can see the recreation of the stern of The Adventure, the galleon the friends find at the end of their treasure hunt.  The ship and backdrop were constructed by California craftsman Bob Koonz. The painted decoration of the ship and the backdrop were done by Leonard Filgate, the illustrator of the Rip Squeak stories. 

In addition to the stern of the galleon, the exhibit also includes Leonard Filgate’s painting and Bob Koonz’s creations for Rip Squeak’s room Inside the Mouse Hole located in Rip’s Book Nook, the family friendly reading and activity area inside the exhibition.

Leonard Filgate Marooned, 2005 Acrylic on canvas © 2005 Rip Squeak, Inc.	Howard Pyle (1853-1911) Marooned, 1909 Oil on canvas more info

	At the October 21st opening, Leonard Filgate and Susan Yost-Filgate announced that his painting of Marooned currently hanging in the exhibit would be a gift to the Delaware Art Museum’s collections. Filgate’s adornment of Rip Squeak as a pirate, recalls Howard Pyle’s abandoned pirate in his 1909 painting, Marooned.
Joyce K. Schiller and Susan Yost-Filgate listen as Leonard Filgate announces the gift.

Also featured during the day:

• Performance entitled “Rufus” by Blue Sky Puppet Theatre—a fast paced and funny story about how everybody is different and everybody is special. It teaches that “Different is Special,” a theme of the Rip Squeak series.
• A series of art projects for children.
• Guided Tours of the Exhibition and Family Activity Guides.