 by Mike Kraus Reprinted with permission from a recent edition of Mike's e-newsletter | Copyright 2020 Your collection of art is a part of you. Personally selected pieces for your home and office. Works that you found visiting a gallery on vacation. A painting you commissioned to celebrate a special moment. The creation your grandmother hung in a prominent space in her home. And taking care of your art is taking care of your legacy. Are your pieces protected right now? Homeowner's insurance often excludes artwork from your policy. Check with your agent. They may offer special coverage or be able to direct you to a fine art insurer that specializes in your current needs. But, where do you want your art collection to be in the future? Your pieces should be a part of your estate planning and here are some options: 1) Individuals: Entire collection to one person or one specific piece to one specific person. Or any combination in between. 2) Individual Shares To An LLC: Create a corporation as owners of artwork and make your chosen heirs managers. This avoids the jealousy with the proceeds could be distributed evenly. The collection could continue to be maintained and used for investment or revenue generation. 3) Donate To Museum Or Other Institution: Contact recipient organization before donating to make sure your wishes are followed. Will it become part of their permanent collection or immediately sold at auction? Will your pieces be displayed or placed into storage? Are you donating individual pieces or the whole collection? Have any and all conditions put in an agreement and include it with your will. Remember, if you don't agree on the conditions there are plenty of other museums, foundations, schools, galleries, agencies, and workshops that would be honored to host your collection. 4) Your Own Museum: You may have a large enough collection to start your own museum. This is how many institutions got their start. Talk with your estate planning attorney about how to organize, manage, and endow this new entity. Do you know what you have? Taking an inventory of your collection is important. A simple spreadsheet can go a long way if it includes: artist's name, creation date, serial number, title, medium, origin country, size, invoice, and photo of piece. This will help you understand what you have, your insurance company, your heirs, and executor of your will. And, as always, discuss the consequences of your donation with your tax advisor. HAPPY COLLECTING! About Mike Kraus Mike Kraus was born on the industrial shoreline of Muskegon, Michigan. After earning his Fine Arts Degree from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he attended Grand Valley State University for his graduate degree. From there, he gained varied experiences from the Chicago Architecture Foundation, Art Institute of Chicago, Hauenstein Center For Presidential Studies, Lollypop Farm Humane Society, and the Children's Memorial Foundation. And every place he worked, he had his sketchbook with him and found ways to be actively creative. In 2014, Kraus became a full-time artist by establishing Mike Kraus Art. Since then, he has sold hundreds of paintings that are displayed in nearly every state and dozens of countries. Currently, Kraus lives in Rochester, New York with his beautiful wife and goofy dog.
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Rochester Art Collectors has suspended all in-person programs for the time being due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The following programs that were scheduled have been canceled: Crafting Democracy | Talk by Eboni Jones | RIT Bevier Gallery | March 14, 2020 Red Dot Challenge:2020 | Info Session #2 | Boulder Cafe & Lounge | March 16, 2020 Buying Art at Auction | The Ronald and Krista Reed Collection | Cottone Auction House | March 28, 2020 Red Dot Challenge:2020 | Game Launch | April 1, 2020
Rochester Art Collectors is rolling out the super-fun FREE fantasy art collecting social media game Red Dot Challenge here in Rochester! You’ve heard of fantasy sports games like fantasy football, right? Well there’s also fantasy dating games, fantasy travel games, and fantasy role playing games. Fantasy art collecting is a recent entry into the growing social media fantasy gaming world. Informational meetings about Red Dot Challenge:  Why is Rochester Art Collectors bringing the Red Dot Challenge to Rochester?
On Wednesday, February 26, 2020 Rochester-based author and former gallerist, Shirley Dawson, gave a talk at Cad Red Gallery in the Village of Pittsford inspired by an entry in her blog, Rochester Art Review. A nearly complete video of her presentation is embedded below. The text below the video was reprinted from her blog with permission.
I am surrounded by beautiful objects collected over a lifetime. I combine texture, color and shape in a way that enhances individual pieces and lends an aura of taste and interest to the complete environment.
When I die, the first stop for these treasures? An estate sale. Nobody in my family wants an entire houseful of “things”— they have houses full already. Increasingly, museums have no use for even good art unless it comes partnered with a sizable donation to store and care for extraneous objects. So for a few bucks, you can own my “eye.” But out of context, my valued objects will lose their punch. Against your cabbage rose wallpaper, my pottery will look like crap and my paintings are far too specific for somebody else’s traditional living room. After the household sale, the dregs and leftovers will be loaded onto a truck and sent off to Goodwill…or Habitat for Humanity… or some church somewhere. All good. I want to help the less privileged even after I’m dead and what better way to cheer up a refugee family than with a 4’ x 6’ painting of smears of gray and black paint! Or a big beautiful ceramic pot tenuously balanced on its 2 inch foot, so fragile that the slightest breath will send it crashing into oblivion? After tripping over that donated painting for the millionth time, a Habitat supervisor will say “Enough! Send this to…the dumpster, the trash heap.” Nobody will utter the slightest objection because like all things in this world, orphaned art eventually becomes just more disposable clutter. The bitter truth is that only a tiny fraction of artful objects will find long lasting value…just as high school phenom basketball players will mostly fail to reach the NBA…and odds are that the super talented singer in your choir will NOT become the next Aretha Franklin. You doubt me? Then you haven’t gone to estate sales lately. Or visited nursing homes. Or been called to help dispose of abandoned artwork left in a storage facility. I was bereft after one such incident. My friend Nancy wrote: “You’ve come face to face with the dark side of collecting. And as with everything else, it’s as if a mirror is being held up asking ‘what about you?’” Yikes! Has my life — my entire career — been misspent? Is collecting merely a nicer word for hoarding? Does the old adage “one man’s treasure is another man’s trash” apply to EVERYTHING, even art? Well, yes, but along with all the warts, collecting brings along unexpected positives.
And there it is — ultimately, collecting is a case for belonging — community. When we collect objects, we collect the stories too. We weave the thread of our being into the continuing thread of makers and the history of the things they make. It doesn’t matter what happens to these objects after we’re gone. If they find another home, good! If not, they haven’t been made — nor owned, nor loved — in vain. They served for awhile. The makers and their objects — the collectors who bought them —continued the evolutionary experience we share. That’s the best any of us can hope for. Even though Rochester Art Collectors has only been in existence for nine months our group has offered twenty-one programs with the help of seventeen partner organizations. All but two of the programs were free to attendees. "Lure Of The Local," a panel discussion developed in collaboration with the Memorial Art Gallery, and "Think globally. Create, experience and collect locally," done in partnership with Rochester Contemporary, both required an admission fee to those who were not already members of those institutions.
We don't have an exact count but we believe our programs exposed attendees to several hundred artists' works for sale over the course of 2018. Generally speaking we try to hold our events inside of galleries during group exhibitions so attendees can both see and purchase works of art as well as pick up a little education. Event attendees were informed on a wide array of topics at our events including understanding and collecting glass, ceramics, and photography to printmaking, and more. All but five of our programs were open to the public. Our five member-only programs in 2018 fell into two categories: "Collectors Circles" and "Collectors Previews". Members participating in a "Collector Circle" event may bring a piece of art from their collection created by someone other than themselves to talk about with the group. In addition, we have a guest speaker present information of interest to collectors. Usually we hold "Collectors Circle" events in a gallery during a group show. Members were also invited to three "Collectors Preview" events. Every so often we are able to gain access to exhibitions BEFORE the show is open to the public thereby providing members an opportunity to see and purchase works of art before the general public. Here's the list of program events held in 2018. The most recent events are shown at the top.
By Jeanne Beck Reprinted with permission from Owl Light News | Copyright 2018 To some people, the words “collector” or “art collection” seem like they describe those with great wealth who pay thousands and thousands of dollars to purchase art. But that’s much like thinking everyone who enjoys a game of basketball at the YMCA is an NBA player. Anyone can develop an interest in and appreciation for original works and start to build a collection slowly, over time.  Art collecting begins with the artist. Yung Hong Zong from Portland, Oregon working on a watercolor painting during the 7th Annual Finger Lakes Plein Air Festival. Lauren purchased one of his watercolor paintings this year. photos by Peter Blackwood. Lauren Behelfer is definitely one who fits that category. A third generation jeweler in the family-owned Crown Jewelers in Downtown Canandaigua, Lauren works daily with color and design. In addition, she has always appreciated the visual arts, from the art classes she took in high school to her ongoing interest in photography. About 15 years ago she visited the Waterfront Art Festival, where she purchased a lithograph print. Lauren says. “It was a framed, signed and numbered print of a tree and I love trees.” However, with a busy life and career, Lauren didn’t purchase any other art works for a long time. “I’m not a person who goes to galleries or art openings,” Lauren explains. Then three years ago Crown Jewelers displayed works by one of the participating artist competitors in Canandaigua’s Plein Arts Competition & Festival. When she went to that first Preview Party & Awards Ceremony, she fell in love with a painting by Elena Babak. The artist had painted a scene of cows in a pasture with the sun rising behind them. “The light and the scene spoke to me. Plus I loved how the parts looked a little blurry close up but when you backed away the images truly started to look realistic.” Lauren returned to the festival for the second time last year. She decided she would only purchase a painting if it truly felt special to her. And sure enough, a painting by Beth Bathe of a “creepy old house” in Naples, reputed to be haunted, captured her imagination. She bought it immediately. “I only buy when something really moves me and I am certain I will want to look at it for a long period of time.”  Grimes Glen painting by Yung Hong Zong©. Collection of Lauren Belhelfer. This year, Lauren returned a third time to the 7th Annual Plein Air Festival Preview Party & Awards ceremony. Waiting in the long buffet line, she had the opportunity to chat with two artists. She talked to them about how the competition went for them this year as well as about the scenes they chose to paint.
One of the artists was Yung Hong Zong, a watercolorist from Portland, Oregon. This was his third year attending the Plein Arts Competition & Festival. She loved his painting of Grimes Glen and found out during their conversation that he had wanted to paint the scene the prior year, but ran out of time. This year he made sure he went to the creek early enough in the week to complete the painting. Lauren bought it right away. Lauren enjoys talking with artists before she makes a purchase. Three years in a row the artists have told her the paintings she has felt most drawn to are their favorites as well. She acts quickly when she sees one that feels special to her. She saw people walking around the festival display making notes in their catalogues but she took the “he who hesitates, loses” approach and made her decisions quickly. She will go to next year’s Plein Air Festival again. “These artists have such amazing talent. I may not call myself a collector, but I do appreciate beauty.” Even though Lauren doesn’t spend all her time searching out art works to purchase, she is building a growing collection of original art works that are meaningful to her. It gives her great happiness to look at them. “I can see and enjoy all three every night because they’re all in my living room.” Even if Lauren never decides to consider herself a collector, she is purchasing original works of art, supporting the work and creativity of others – and filling that need we all have inside for beauty. Jeanne Beck is a mixed media artist and owner of Jeanne Beck Art Gallery & Studio, 154 Mill St., Canandaigua, NY. The gallery features periodic regional guest artists, classes and workshops as well as original works. Open Wed 12-4:30, Thurs-Sat., 10-4:30. 585-704-6419. Rochester Art Collectors and the Memorial Art Gallery collaborated for several months on a program that took place last night at the MAG: "Lure Of The Local." The panel discussed the local/regional art market; characteristics and trends found in our area; and the resources available to collectors interested in buying art made in and around Rochester.
Panelists included: Roslyn Baskt Goldman, a longstanding art adviser and art appraiser; Jessica Marten, Curator in Charge/Curator of American Art at the Memorial Art Gallery; Alex Gruttadaro, owner of Makers Gallery and working artist; and Rome Celli, representing Rochester Art Collectors. This was the second presentation in The Collecting Series at the Memorial Art Gallery.
by Jeanne Beck Reprinted with permission from Owl Light News | Copyright 2018 No matter how small or large your income is, you can become an art collector! Many art collectors say their first purchase happened almost without thought or planning. They just saw a work they loved and bought it. Their pleasure in that piece led them to explore and add another piece…and then another one. Make it a goal to pick a work you love this month and find out all you can about the processes and medium the artist uses – and perhaps other artists working in a similar medium. If possible, purchase one piece by that artist, bring it home and place it somewhere you can see it and engage with it every day. Try getting to know more about an artist you really like. Visit their websites online to see their other works and artist statements. You might even consider contacting them and setting up an appointment for a studio visit. You will enjoy it and learn so much; most regional artists are interesting and approachable people.  "Out With The Old" © Pat Bacon This week I bought a new artwork called “Out with the Old,” by printmaker Pat Bacon. I was drawn to her images the minute I walked in the door of Main Street Arts in Clifton Springs on Saturday. The gallery director, Bradley Butler, was extremely helpful, explaining the photogravure process the artist uses to make her prints. The work I loved best was already sold, but Bradley showed me other pieces there just weren’t room for in the main gallery show. I bought it and was able to bring it home the same day! Jeanne Beck is a mixed media artist and owner of Jeanne Beck Art Gallery & Studio, 154 Mill St., Canandaigua, NY. The gallery features periodic regional guest artists, classes and workshops as well as original works. Open Wed 12-4:30, Thurs-Sat., 10-4:30. 585-704-6419. Link to the original article
Rochester Art Collectors is pleased to team up with The Print Club of Rochester and the Bevier Gallery at RIT for a fun event around prints and printmaking all in the context of the Print Club's juried exhibition, The presentation is titled: "A Primer On Printmaking: Understanding & Collecting Fine Art Prints"
This presentation is ideal for someone who wants to learn the basics of printmaking from a collector's point of view and wants to see a wide ranging exhibition of fine art prints as well. Location: Bevier Gallery James E. Booth Hall 7A 73 Lomb Memorial Drive Rochester, New York, 14623 Visitor parking available in lots E and F (Map below.) 6:00pm until 6:30pm - Fun Social Mixer! Hang out in the wonderful Bevier Gallery at RIT. Take in The Print Club of Rochester's annual juried exhibition of fine art prints made by artists from around the region and around the world: "Political Impressions." Work in this show will be for sale. Details about the show are below. 6:30pm until 7:30pm - Here's what you will learn from the presentation:
Presenters: Elizabeth Durand and Barb McPhail This event is free and open to the public. There will be a special reserved seating section for those members of Rochester Art Collectors and The Print Club of Rochester who register for this event in advance. CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT AT THIS PRESENTATION The Print Club of Rochester's annual juried exhibition will be up during the event.
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| A Rochester Retrospective: Painting & Sculpture: 1880-1950 (Cover to page 23) |
"My aims were: to give exposure to the major artistic accomplishments of Rochester artists; to stimulate interest in Rochester's art history; and to provide a sense of the historical and cultural connections which form the context of the development of art in Rochester."
-- Bruce W. Chambers, private collector
Brett Waller was Director of the MAG at the time of the exhibition. He described himself as "a newcomer" in his Foreword to the catalog and conceded "...no survey can hope to be complete or definitive..." He goes on later in the paragraph, "...Rochester long has been a city where art and artists have flourished." Flourished indeed.
Volunteers Gertrude Herdle Moore and Isabel C. Herdle had the monumental task of organizing the exhibition and co-writing the catalog's Introduction (which was a treat to read for this local art collector). They were identified as "Director Emeritus" and "Curator Emeritus" respectively having left the gallery before the exhibition was organized. There are sections, like the one in Waller's Foreword describing the Herdle family's many decades of contributions to the MAG, that remind one of passages from a Henry James' novel. This was clearly a effort that drew deeply from Rochester's arts and cultural society from that period.
Of the thirty-eight artists and more than 124 works that were exhibited in the show approximately twenty-five pieces were created by fewer than ten women.
The exhibition included (in alphabetical order)::
Below each artist's name in the catalog is a descriptive paragraph that comprises a sort of distilled curriculum vitae for each artist justifying their inclusion. As you would expect, each entry is also accompanied by a listing of works by that artist and the source of the work. Most of the work is credited to the MAG's own collection with a fair number of pieces on loan from what was then known as the "Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum." The Rochester Historical Society also contributed a number of pieces.
If I have any luck, Part II of this series will include information about the local collectors who helped organize the show as well as those who contributed work to the exhibition. I'm also hoping for some first hand accounts. I believe there are a number of people I can contact who were either close at hand to the exhibition (maybe they worked on it?) or who visited the exhibition. I know of one source who credits this exhibition with becoming an avid collector: my friend, Warren.
I hope you have as much fun pouring over the catalog it as I did!
*This artist was alive at the time of the show. I assume all have died over the intervening 38 years. I hope to identify the date of their passing in a future post.
Volunteers Gertrude Herdle Moore and Isabel C. Herdle had the monumental task of organizing the exhibition and co-writing the catalog's Introduction (which was a treat to read for this local art collector). They were identified as "Director Emeritus" and "Curator Emeritus" respectively having left the gallery before the exhibition was organized. There are sections, like the one in Waller's Foreword describing the Herdle family's many decades of contributions to the MAG, that remind one of passages from a Henry James' novel. This was clearly a effort that drew deeply from Rochester's arts and cultural society from that period.
Of the thirty-eight artists and more than 124 works that were exhibited in the show approximately twenty-five pieces were created by fewer than ten women.
The exhibition included (in alphabetical order)::
- Ralph Avery (1906-1976)
- Claude Bragdon (1866-1946)
- Charles Llivingston Bull (1874-1932)
- Alling Clements (1891-1957)
- Colin Campbell Cooper (1856-1937)
- Emma Lampert Cooper (1860-1920)
- Kathleen McEnery Cunningham (1885-1971)
- Rev. James Hogarth Dennis (1839-1914)
- Rufus Dryer (1880-1937)
- William Ehrich (1897-1960)
- Harvey Ellis (1852-1904)
- Douglas Gorsline (1913-????)*
- Charles P. Gruppe (1860-1950)
- E. Landseer Harris (????-1901)
- George M> Haushalter (1862-1943)
- James D. Havens (1900-1960)
- George Herdle (1868-1922)
- Milton W. Holm (1903-????)*
- Whitney F. Hoyt (1910-1980)
- John J. Ingilis (1867-1946)
- Seth C. Jones (1853-1929)
- Ada Howe Kent (1858-1942)
- Winifred Lansing (1911-????)*
- Robert Lee MacCameron (1866-1912)
- Roy Mason (1886-1972)
- John Menihan (1908-????)*
- J. Guernsey Mitchell (1854-1921)
- Cathal O'Toole (1904-????)*
- Carol W. Peters (15897-1980)
- Ella E. See (????-1926)
- Edward Siebert (1856-1944)
- James Somerville (1849-1905)
- M. Louise Stowell (1861-1930)
- Fritz Trautman (1882-1971)
- Clifford Ulp (1885-1958)
- Horatio Walker (1858-1938)
- John C. Wenrich (1894-1970)
- Blanca Will (1881-1977)
- Zoute (a.k.a, Leon Salter) (1903-1976)
Below each artist's name in the catalog is a descriptive paragraph that comprises a sort of distilled curriculum vitae for each artist justifying their inclusion. As you would expect, each entry is also accompanied by a listing of works by that artist and the source of the work. Most of the work is credited to the MAG's own collection with a fair number of pieces on loan from what was then known as the "Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum." The Rochester Historical Society also contributed a number of pieces.
If I have any luck, Part II of this series will include information about the local collectors who helped organize the show as well as those who contributed work to the exhibition. I'm also hoping for some first hand accounts. I believe there are a number of people I can contact who were either close at hand to the exhibition (maybe they worked on it?) or who visited the exhibition. I know of one source who credits this exhibition with becoming an avid collector: my friend, Warren.
I hope you have as much fun pouring over the catalog it as I did!
*This artist was alive at the time of the show. I assume all have died over the intervening 38 years. I hope to identify the date of their passing in a future post.
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No entity on our site has paid to be listed. All listings on this site are free. A listing on this site does not constitute an endorsement by Rochester Art Collectors. Rochester Art Collectors strives to accurately represent all listed entities. Rochester Art Collectors reserves the right to limit, arrange, categorize or describe a listed entity in any way that suits the interests of this group. Any entity listed on this site will be removed by request of the listed entity. Any listed entity may be removed from this site by Rochester Art Collectors for any reason.
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