Rochester Art Collectors is collaborating with Susan Carmen-Duffy, owner of Create Art 4 Good at the Hungerford complex of buildings and artists, Richard Margolis and Colleen Buzzard, at Anderson Alley to inform local artists about Rochester Art Collectors, and and how it can be of service to them as makers.

   All presentations are open to the public and will cover the same material: an overview of Rochester Art Collectors’ mission, goals, future plans, and upcoming programs. We will review the www.rochesterartcollectors.org website, and be available to answer questions. Reservations are strongly encouraged.

   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:

• ​6:30 ~ 7:00 pm people gathered and became acquainted.
• 7:00 pm Rochester Art Collectors co-organizer, Sarah Webb gave a brief overview.
• From 7:00 pm until 7:30 pm we went around the circle. Everyone introduced themselves, briefly discussed their background and interests. In addition, many of the participants presented small works of art to the group from their personal collection.
• At 7:30 pm, Alex Gruttadaro & his Makers Gallery partner, Zach Edwards, shared some background about Makers and their philosophy as gallerists.
• The event ended promptly at 8:00 pm, although most people lingered afterwards continuing conversations over coffee and cookies.

   This is a member-only activity. If you would like to be alerted to member-only activities, please click here and join us.

​   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. 

   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 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.

​   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).