On March 22nd Rochester Art Collectors held it's very first "Collectors Circle." This informal gathering was a chance for members to share ideas, pick up a few tips and meet other collectors.
Video provided by Rochester Art Collector member, Melissa Huang.
We met at Makers Gallery and Studio for two reasons:
First, it's a great space to pick up some art, but also because we asked the proprietor, Alex Gruttadaro to discuss his curatorial philosophy as a commercial gallery. With over thirty people in attendance, our round table format morphed into a larger collectors circle! Here's how the evening went:
This is a member-only activity. If you would like to be alerted to member-only activities, please click here and join us.
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SAVE THE DATE: On Thursday, April 26th from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm WAYO 104.3 FM's Graphic Ear program will feature Rochester Art Collector co-organizer Rome Celli in the show's usual time slot. Rome will share a little bit about his background and talk about his foray into fashion editorial photography and commercial fashion photography. He'll also introduce listeners to Rochester Art Collectors. As a special treat Rome will select some of his favorite tunes to play on the show. Questions from listeners for Rome may be sent by text during the show to 585-203-9296. So, tune in and send your questions! Here are a few images from Rome Celli's photography portfolio: For approximately two and one-half years Graphic Ear, a one hour radio program on WAYO 104.3 FM hosted by local artist, Sabra Wood (a.k.a., Cat Clay) and supported at the control panel by Joey Palladino, has turned the microphone on Rochester's visual artists. The show airs every Thursday night at 6:00pm. Guest artists on the show are engaged by Wood in an extensive conversation about their background, their influences and, of course, their work. Every so often they take a break from chatting to play one or two of the guest's favorite songs. The songs are often introduced with a brief description of why the music is important to the guest artist. Wood's questions are as insightful as the answers they provoke. She's always supportive of her subjects and yet she doesn't shy from tough questions. Listeners feel like they are being treated to a fly-on-the-wall experience listening to two friends talk about their favorite subjects. It's almost impossible to listen without feeling drawn in. Graphic Ear may well be the largest archive of recorded interviews with Rochester's visual artists in the known universe. More than 100 interviews with Rochester artists have been amassed and stored with the help of mixcloud.com. Collectors and other interested parties can listen to extensive conversations with artists at any time by visiting the Graphic Ear mixcloud .page and streaming to their heart's content..Users can save and "favorite" shows as they go along. The number of people helping to organize, manage and promote Rochester Art Collectors on a day-to-day basis has recently doubled to two. Sarah E. Webb joined Rome Celli as co-organizer effective March 5, 2018. She brings many rich and varied life experiences to her work with the organization. Sarah found out about Rochester Art Collectors from one of the organization's advisers, James Tabbi. She joined immediately after talking with Rome. Sarah has been supporting the group in the background ever since she joined. Sarah completed postgraduate work at Christie’s Education, London, before receiving her MFA from Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY. She has been a collector, an independent curator, educator, and artist for almost three decades. Sarah has been fortunate to travel extensively, most recently to Marfa, TX and experience the work of Donald Judd and his contemporaries on site. "I love that Rochester Art Collectors has a fun, informal vibe. Rome and I want to share our love of the arts and support the makers within our creative community." In the Rochester area, Sarah has served on the Board of Directors of Rochester Contemporary, and its former incarnation, Pyramid Arts Center. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Monhegan Museum, Monhegan, Maine, where she also lives during the summer. With Kristen Frederickson, Webb co-edited Singular Women: Writing the Artist (2003 UC Press), thirteen essays that examine how specific artists were written into and out of Art History, from the Renaissance to the present. Webb’s own performative installations emphasize ephemeral materials and repetitive gestures. The many stitches of Sarah’s life have taken her from the artist’s studio to the yoga studio where she continues to create and to practice. She weaves her critical, visual and perceptual background into a unique environment for students to map and make meaning of their individual body’s stories and experiences. Webb teaches, mentors and co-leads teacher trainings with Erica Ebert in Webster, NY. Sarah grew up in Fairport, NY. She graduated from Connecticut College, continued her study of Art History in London, before finally returning to Rochester to obtain her MFA from Visual Studies Workshop. She's been active in the arts for many years initially as an artist and curator, and then later on as a supporter, patron and, of course, collector. Rochester Art Collectors relies on a team of volunteers to operate. Over time Sarah & Rome expect to grow the team to four or five covering program, marketing, and all other administrative duties. There is no plan to hire staff.
You might run across an art exhibition while having a cup of coffee or getting your hair styled. The work intrigues you. You snap a couple of photos and jot down the artist's name. Sure, you're going to plug the information into a search engine. Hopefully, you'll find the artist's web page, Facebook page and maybe even their Instagram. That's a good start but it's not enough. Has the artist's work been reviewed? Has the artist been interviewed? Where can you find that information? In this series we highlight one of the resources found on RocheserArtColletors.org RESOURCES page.
Wouldn't it be great if a local TV station conducted in-depth interviews of local artists and then posted all of the episodes online so you could easily search by tags and keywords? What? That's crazy talk! Why not ask for the moon? Okay, how about if there was an interactive map that pinpointed where each episode was recorded? You're killing me! What are the chances of that ever happening? Well, such a program exists. It's called Arts InFocus. WXXI produces it and you can use their searchable archive and interactive map right now.
Arts InFocus is one of a handful of instantly accessible online archives for collectors to research local artists and better understand their work. You'll get a feel for an artist's background, hear a description of the artist's work given by the artist, and very often see a glimpse of where and how the work is made. All this can be done at your convenience online. WXXI's Arts InFocus looks at all manner of emerging and established artists as well as arts organizations across our region. The half-hour weekly program, produced by Tom Dooley and hosted by Teej Jenkins, airs on WXXI-TV every Friday night starting at 8:30pm.
WXXI has produced this unique series since 2015. So far there are nearly 100 segments available to stream online. You can search using database tags including words like abstract, ceramics, glass, mural, painting, photography, sculpture, woodworking and many more. The segment archive preserves interviews with more than sixty visual artists and dozens more performing artists and organizations. Every week more are added.
WXXI's Arts InFocus interactive map:
Each pin on this truly remarkable map locates a subject interviewed for the WXXI Arts InFocus program. Click on a pin to see information about one of the subjects and either a link to their Arts InFocus interview segment or their website. In the upper left hand corner on the menu bar there's a white box. Click on the box to see the complete listing of subjects.
Even it you've already heard something about Arts InFocus you may not know the show is a collaboration with more than 30 PBS stations across the country. They share content with each other to spotlight the amazing arts and cultural activities in their communities. One "master" version of the show is produced from the content provided by the participating stations for distribution to all the members. However, each station can edit their version so local content is highlighted.
There are a number of MAJOR markets participating in the consortium including Boston and New York City along with numerous markets across New York State. In effect, artists highlighted in this show are often launched onto a statewide, regional or even national platform under the auspices of participating stations..Talk about great exposure!! Some updates to the local show are currently being discussed. In the future you may see the show's opening and closing taped on location rather than in a studio. By doing so the producer hopes to be able to tell more great local stories in the same amount of time. CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE ARTS INFOCUS ARCHIVE OF EPISODES After just a few short weeks of reaching out to the Rochester community Rochester Art Collectors recently achieved a membership milestone when Morgan signed up on March 13th and became of our 100th member. Morgan found out about Rochester Art Collectors when she was tagged in a Facebook post on our page by a friend who knew she'd be interested in the group. We asked Morgan to describe herself and this is what she wrote... Hi! I’m Morgan. This picture collage pretty much sums up what I do and what I enjoy. I moved to Rochester about 11 years ago after traveling around Upstate NY, California and Delaware. I have a degree in Art Therapy and Baking and Pastry Arts. I currently find myself teaching bread production. When I'm not at work you can find me hiking in our local parks, taking waaaayy too many pictures, writing, creating, and generally having a good time…otherwise, I’m volunteering and trying to hone my sarcasm and wit.
I think art is a constant companion in my life. I don’t have one particular medium or genre that speaks to me. I feel that art is mood altering and depending on the mood the artwork can speak to you in a myriad of ways. From traveling, I’ve been fortunate to find that no matter the city or town I find myself in, there is beauty in one way, shape or form. That beauty is at time found on city walls or quiet galleries. I look forward to seeing and speaking about our local art scene of which I could stand to know more about. When I walk these cities streets I’m always grateful to have landed here in the city of Rochester. Rochester is abundant with 4 necessities I require: Good People, Good Food/Cocktails, The Arts, and Good Parks. I am the proud owner of an ink painting by Jason Dorofy (@dorofyink & designbydorofy.com) as well multiple ceramic pieces by Earl Jacobson, and copper fired artwork by Painting with Fire. I also own some of Linda Connor Cass' (@loudeesjewelry & etsy.com/shop/Loudees) work, some beautiful glass flowers from More Fire Studio (@morefireglassstudio & morefireglass.com) and I own a number of prints purchased at the Cornhill Arts Festival from Eric Dorris Designs (@ericdorrisdesigns & ericdorrisdesigns.com). On April 1st Rochester Art Collectors will officially launch. No fooling! February and March will be a period of testing, organizational development, preparation and gathrering momentum for the launch. Rochester Art Collectors is a privately funded, independent, non-commercial group organized to promote collecting the art created by artists from the metro Rochester region. The idea for Rochester Art Collectors was first discussed openly in the fall of 2017 around a table in Java's Cafe in downtown Rochester. Rome Celli, invited Bleu Cease, Derek Darling, Alex Gruttadaro and Shirley Dawson to talk about the idea of forming a group to promote local art collecting in Rochester. For nearly 90 minutes the assembled art aficionados bounced ideas around. From that conversation the nascent organization began to take on a misty shape. Throughout the balance of the fall and into the new year Rome met with many dozens of collectors, gallerists, artists, arts administrators, art educators, reporters, business people, and other interested parties. He developed a simple webiste (RochesrterArtCollectors.org) so that he could easily share the concept and the underlying philosophy with others. As new ideas came in he updated and revised the site to reflect an evolvoing notion of what could/should be accomplished. Eventually, the purpose of Rochester Art Collectors was expressed and basic goals established. "Owning original local art is a fun way to simulate your imagination and intellect; to bring inspriation and beauty into your life and support the sort of community we all want to live in." Rochester Art Collectors wil host a series of fun socials for members and non-members. Larger public presentations at local venues will feature notable speakers on topics related to collecting. News and information about the local arts scene as it relates to collectors and collecting will be offerred on the website along with information and links to local venues to buy art as well as sources for researching local artists. Membership is free. Join before June 30, 2018 to become a "Founding Member." Members will be invited to more intmate gatherings where they can share work from their collection, hear speakers on more technical topics and share tips, tricks and trends with other members. Member-only artist studio visits and private tours of local collections will be offered. Members will have a opportunity to offer their opinions about group rograms, policies and other topics. Creating strong bonds between local artists and collectors will be a central compenent of the group's culture. Collaboration with other organizations and local businesses will also be a hallmark of the group's programming. So far Rochester Art Collectors' programs are in the works with the Rochester Brainery, Rochester Contemporary, Axom Gallery, Makers Gallery and others. Rome is scheduled to be interviewed on WAYO on February 27th and then again in April on two different programs.
Keep an eye out for Rochester Art Collectors on social media like facebook and instagram. Later this year the group will sponsor "Collector's Eye." A series of local collectors will bring their vision of the arts to the group's social media outlets. Over the course of the next few weeks the group will announce its short term goals & programs for rest of 2018. In the meantime, be on the lookout for pre-launch events such as the first in a series of public presentations for new collectors at the Rochester Brainery on March 2nd (ten free tickets are on offer) and the first pre-launch social mixer at Brown Hound is planned for March 8th. A member-only event is scheduled for March 22 at Makers Gallery & Studio. There are some pretty easy ways to stay in touch with what's going on in the local arts scene. Our RESOURCES section gives you more than two dozen handy links that will not only keep you up-to-date but may help you fill in some of the gaps. A number of the sites connected by these links offer a treasure-trove of information in their archives. Every so often we'll highlight one of the resources so you can get to know what's on offer. Alan Singer came to Rochester decades ago to teach at Rochester Institute of Technology from the New York City area. As a professor in the College of Imaging Arts and Science at RIT he offers students training and guidance on the business side of being an artist. He covers a wide range of essential skills from helping his students to verbally express the meaning contained in their work to building their curricula vitae and so much more. Alan is a practicing professional artist as well as a teacher. His visual ideas are mostly expressed in printmaking, painting and digital art. Alan’s art has been featured in museums such as the Everson in Syracuse, and the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. His work has also been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, primarily in the New York area. He and his wife, Anna Sears, make their home in Brighton. In 2010 after watching a long and steady decline in the coverage of the local arts scene Alan decided to offer a fresh perspective by writing his own blog. And so, The Visual Artworker: A Dialog About Contemporary Art In Western New York, was born. When you visit Alan's blog you'll find nearly 250 posts(!) dating back to 2010. A good chunk of the content covers local artists and the local arts scene. It has become a priceless archive for collectors and anyone else interested in learning about Rochester's vibrant arts community. As a bonus you'll be able to read his take on all manner of national and international artists, art exhibitions as well as many books on topics related to the arts. The range of information he covers is truly remarkable. To be clear, Alan is not only the author of a terrific arts blog he is also an accomplished graphic designer and a published author. He and his brother, Paul, published a book about their father's work in 2017 titled, Arthur Singer: The Wildlife Art Of An American Master. It wasn't his first book and I doubt it will be his last. Busy guy, right? It boggles the mind! Rochester is exceptionally lucky to have an accomplished guy like Alan in our midst covering local artists. Do yourself a huge favor and dig into The Visual Artworker: A Dialog About Contemporary Art In Western New York. You'll learn a ton of great information!
"A Rochester Retrospective: Painting & Sculpture: 1880-1950" I came across this catalog while visiting with my friend, Warren Phillips, recently. Warren is a deeply knowledgeable person on topics related to local art. He's a talker and when he talks I listen and I learn. When he handed the catalog to me he told me he had seen the exhibition and considered it the single most important factor in becoming a collector. Naturally, I was piqued. "1980. I don't recall this show. Where the hell was I?" I asked myself out loud. I was in college at the time and missed the show. To be honest, I'm not sure the 19 year old me would have appreciated the show or even visited. It wasn't until after college that I developed a greater appreciation for the arts. As soon as I picked up the dogeared third or fourth generation photocopy of the catalog I knew I had to take it home for a close reading. Once I had read it I knew I had to share it with you. It was the greatest survey of influential Rochester artists ever presented to the public or so they intended. None have dared attempt a similar effort since. The exhibit would probably never have been imagined were it not for a local collector, Bruce W. Chambers. Approximately one quarter of the works on exhibit came from private collections. The remarkable size & scope of the exhibition would not have been possible without including work on loan from private individuals thereby demonstrating the essential role local art collectors play in preserving Rochester's story. Sometime in 1976 Chambers and a small band of collectors (referred to as "lenders" in the catalog) began plotting and planning with staff at the Memorial Art Gallery (MAG) to mount a massive retrospective featuring a survey of "important" Rochester artists from the period 1880 through 1950. It took them nearly four years to pull it all together. The exhibition opened on August 1, 1980 and ran for approximately seven weeks until September 21st.
"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." 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. Every so often we put the spotlight on a local collector. We'll give you a little background about the collector and then talk about one or more topics that may be of interest to other collectors. I spent nearly an hour on the phone with Katie Verrant last night and enjoyed every second of our conversation. I had so much fun talking to her I stopped taking notes after awhile. She's pretty much the ideal Rochester Art Collector member. Katie Verrant was born on the west coast in California. She moved to Pennsylvania and went to a "tiny" high school near where her family settled outside of Philly. Katie learned to appreciate art and the outdoors at an early age. She laughed when she told me her mom "can't pass a museum or gallery without pulling over and going inside to learn something." Although her parents weren't what you'd call collectors per se they did own some original art so Katie had role models for seeing and appreciating art as well as owning art. In addition to art she told me, "I have always loved wildlife and the outdoors," You'll learn how she combines her interests in art, wildlife and the outdoors a little later in this post. In terms of collecting local art destiny was to play an important role in Katie's life. When it came time for college she sort of stumbled on Rochester Institute of Technology. It had the program offerings she wanted. It was also far enough from home to feel independent and close enough to go back-and-forth without too much trouble. She found her "nerdy" peeps immediately when she moved onto the RIT campus and fell in love with Rochester and the region after extensive touring. She met and worked with Erich Lehman while she was at RIT. Erich works full time as Premedia Facilities Coordinator for RIT’s School of Print Media. In addition, he was/is the co-curator and lead organizer of Rochester's internationally renowned mural art program, WALL\THERAPY and he was the founder of a popular commercial art gallery, 1975 Gallery. Eventually, Erich asked Katie to design the highly coveted 2013 WALL\THERAPY book commemorating the work and the people who made the program happen that year. Erich became the connecting tie between Katie and the local arts scene. Her deep interest in the arts combined with Erich's connections opened doors for her all over town. He eventually became very important in Katie's personal life. He opened her up to the possibilities of serious collecting by sharing his extensive collection(s) of local, national and international artwork. She quickly caught the bug. Would you like to see more artwork from Katie's collection? CLICK HERE I asked Katie about her first important art purchase. In March of 2013 1975 Gallery hosted "All Things Wild and Free - New Works by Mr. Prvrt"; a beloved local muralist who's real name is Justin Suarez. Justin and Erich invited Wild Wings, Inc., a local organization that that houses and cares for permanently injured birds of prey, to participate at the opening party and receive a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Justin's work. Well, Katie fell in love with Justin's work that night as well as the remarkable birds. She ended up spending a good deal time at the opening talking to a person she took for a Wild Wings staff member who was holding a gorgeous injured owl. it was only later after telling Erich she regretted not getting the chance to actually meet Justin that she learned who the "staff member" was: the artist, Justin Suarez. The next day she called Erich at 1975 Gallery and asked about her favorite painting from the show. It was still available but the price was a serous stretch since she was a student. After mastering her fears she reached deep into her savings to come up with the cash and hasn't looked back. Since then she has purchased nearly 60 pieces of original art . When Katie moved to Bethesda, Maryland several years ago she had the chance to look back on the work she had collected while she was in Rochester and discovered she had a number of images of women made by female artists. Those works are now displayed as a grouping in her home. There are many other strands to her collection: Rochester artists, muralists, street art and so on. She has added to her collection in recent years. The work made by Rochester based artists remains central to her collection. When you look at the images in her collection you can see a sort of exchange between the works. It looks like improvisational music to me with colors and forms playing off each other. Katie deeply appreciates the opportunity to meet the artist before she buys a piece of art. She wants to get to know the person and understand their point of view. She also likes to do some research and think about the work before she makes a decision to buy. She seems to have what I would call a "lifetime relationship" with the work in her collection since she doubts she would ever sell anything from her collection. She loves her new home in Maryland but she says the area doesn't have nearly as rich or friendly an art scene as Rochester. In Rochester, she said, every door was open to her. There is a wonderful community of artists in Rochester. They hang out together, play together, they share their lives with each other. She loved being able to meet and get to know all her favorite artists. Even after several years in Bethesda, she said, it's nearly impossible to find the sorts of places she loved so dearly in Rochester. Oh, by the way, if you look closely in the photos here and on her site you'll see some artwork piled up against the wall. Classic collector behavior! I do the same thing. Doesn't everyone? She has dozens of pieces yet to be framed. Uh, yep. Me, too. There's always more work to frame and more work to hang... Rochester Art Collectors will collaborate with Rochester Brainery on an series of five public presentations aimed at encouraging new collectors of local art. The series will be titled: "Living With Art". Each talk will focus on a different aspect of buying art created by local artists. The presentations will be scheduled on a bi-monthly basis on Fridays beginning on March 2nd from 6:00 pm until 7:00 pm and coordinated with the Rochester Brainery's First Fridays activities. Future dates will be May 4th, July 6th, September 7th and November 2nd. Rome Celli from Rochester Art Collectors invite a special guest collector/artist to co-present each topic. The $5.00/pp suggested donation for this presentation will be used to support art exhibitions at the Rochester Brainery. Here's what we know so far about the presentation on March 2nd: Living With Art: A splash of inspiration at home or at work! Join us for a fun, informal conversation about adding original art to your living and working spaces. We'll help you learn how to find affordable, handmade local art. We'll even show you a range of affordable examples. Add to your creative collection over time. You'll be inspired! Co-presenters: Emerging collector & artist, Maria Victoria Savka, and longtime art collector, Rome Celli. Rome has been collecting local art for over 30 years. He recently launched a new organization to support local collectors and local artists: RochesterArtCollectors.org. He'll help you get a feel for the local venues and opportunities. Maria loves collecting other local artists' works! She shows her own work in many locations all over Rochester. She'll give you some tips and tricks when you're out looking at art. A friend of Rochester Art Collectors has agreed to underwrite up to 10 tickets to the first presentation. The first ten people who sign up using the link below or who sign up for the event on eventbrite.com will get in free!
CLICK HERE TO CLAIM A FREE TICKET TO THE PRESENTATION ON MARCH 2, 2018 |
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