Delaware artist Ellen Rice signed the lease on her gallery in 1998 after praying hard and "sweating bullets" about the decision. It was only as she put her signature on the lease that she realized it was April 1. "Oh, no," she recalls thinking. "April Fool's Day!"

She was taking a huge leap of faith - faith in God, faith in her work and faith that the public who had supported her through purchases of her work for more than five years would continue to do so after opening the gallery. She signed the lease anyway.

The next week, one of her paintings sold in its concept stage for over $12,000, with the owner paying for it $1,000 a month for a year - the gallery's first year of rent and electricity. Although there have been times since that have caused Ellen to doubt her wisdom, the art gallery continues to grow and flourish, based on her original premise:

To create an environment where people could come at there leisure and enjoy light-filled works in a peaceful surrounding - a place of joy.

After signing the lease, she and several friends painted the walls and tore a few down, built shelves, set up a life-size waterfall in one corner, took her wood desk from home, to use the top drawer as cash register and opened the doors several weeks later with a handful of original paintings, about 20 limited edition prints and the hand made creations of several artisans she knew whose works she loved.

Though she'd at one time hoped to make the art gallery a co-op type of consignment art gallery with other artists showing their work and helping to man the gallery and share expenses, there was little interest among artists in the area, so gradually, from the sales of her own paintings and prints, Ellen began to buy wholesale from professional artisans throughout the country. Her criteria for selecting the artists: an uplifting quality (it had to make her "feel" really good, absolutely love it) to their works, total uniqueness and exclusivity in the area, professionalism in business dealings, and the very highest quality.

Today, the art gallery represents more than 100 professional American artisans working in glass, wood, ceramics, leather, gold, silver, bronze, steel, and more - all of whom have been working at their professions from 20 to 40 years or more, many of whom have earned international reputations and acclaim.

Walking into the Ellen Rice Art Gallery is an experience that touches every sense - beautiful, interesting, intriguing, inspiring sights, the sounds of trickling water and the recordings of local, regional and international artists whose CDs and tapes are played and sold, the tastes of Mother Maude's Fabulous (entirely homemade, preservative-free) Fudge and handmade candies made by her gallery manager's family, and the smells of newly made crafts and of fresh flowers in in handmade ceramic Ikebanas scattered throughout the gallery. There are also books to stimulate the mind and magazines that tell about the arts in the country and in this gallery's specific region.

The art gallery is constantly evolving, with new paintings and new prints by Ellen (she now pulls her own archival giclee reproductions) debuting regularly and a changing flow of new one-of-a-kind creations by the gallery's many other artisans.

People come in and tell me they love coming in, that it makes them feel good - peaceful, that they could stay all day or fall asleep (because it's so relaxing). You can see the tension melt out of them as they stroll around. They love that they haven't seen most of what we have anywhere else, that everything is hand made, one of a kind, that it's reasonably priced for what it is, that there's no sales tax, that they always see new things when they come in. Others come in and voice very emotional responses to my paintings - especially prints of the original painting that sold in concept the week after I signed the lease - Standing on the Rock.

Though several of my paintings in print evoke markedly emotional responses, this is, to me, the most important of my paintings to date - the result of a vision that came to me in a time of devastating trials. It came in answer to prayer, and though it was difficult to paint because of my own emotional involvement, I'm glad I did, because people come in almost weekly telling us how it is helping them find their own strength. The painting is a celebration in a way, and many people respond to that.

The painting is of a woman standing on a rock, facing into fierce winds, but standing strong because she is standing, symbolically, on the rock of Truth, God. In the past three weeks, three different women have come in and told either me or my sales manager that the painting has given or is giving them the courage to stand strong during trials in their own lives. That's the greatest reward an artist can have. To know they have touched someone in a meaningful, positive way - to know you've actually helped someone by doing what you feel you were meant to do. It makes me very grateful. It tells me, especially whenever I get down or the going gets rough and I wonder if I'm doing the right thing with my life, that yes, I am on the right track, that all the work is worth it, and that no, I'm really not anybody's "April Fool." And it fills me with joy.