On Friday June 30th at 6:00 pm Rochester Art Collectors collaborated with the 9th Floor Artists Collective to highlight their space, their community, their philosophy, their goals and their accomplishments.

Members of the 9th Floor Artists Collective talked about the works of art they love from their personal art collections!

Program Details

Attendees had about thirty minutes to tour the 9th Floor Artists Collective space including all the individual artists' studios. When they did they experienced a diverse art exhibition that includes dozens of works in a variety of media created by members of 9th Floor Artists Collective.

Dan Waingarten, an active member of Rochester Art Collectors and notable local collector,  introduced Ya’qub Shabazz, Rashaad Parker and Najhay Halo who described the driving motivation behind the 9th Floor Artists Collective as well as its goals, philosophy, programs, success and more.

Members of the 9th Floor Artists Collective each presented works from their personal art collections and talked about why those works are important to them including how the works have influenced their own work and life.

About the 9th Floor Artists Collective

​The 9th Floor Artists Collective provides educational and inspirational resources for the Rochester community so that they can use their talents, hone their creative skills, and collaborate to enhance the cultural landscape of Rochester, NY. We are also an organization that expands the culture of artistic expression by combining wellness and creativity as a vehicle for finding peace and rejuvenated creativity.

In general, the 9th Floor Artists Collective serves as a hub for cross-cultural dialogue and accessibility to the visual arts by fostering the development of community-minded artists.

About The Founders

Ya’qub Shabazz was born and raised on Chicago’s South Side, Ya’qub Shabazz is a visual artist, collector, and art educator on a mission to highlight the beauty and contribution of Black American artists, both contemporary and historical.

Rashaad Parker is from Rochester, NY, and earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the State University of New York College at Brockport in Communications and Afro-African American Studies. He has presented research on African American Male Cultural Identity at the University of Maryland and the University of Buffalo Colleges to challenge the stereotypical perceptions of African American men by mainstream media.

Najhay Halo was born in Rochester, New York. He describes his work as a fusion of contemporary and abstract urban art. Predominantly, his aim as a visual artist is to spread the Gospel/Ministry of God through his work. He paints his experiences examples such as trials & errors, outcomes and achievements; Visually bringing them to light, in hope to invoke the viewers spiritually. "Everyone wants to have a impact on the world , but there's so much more we do not see, I want to articulate what's unseen to the common eye artistically" - Halo

Click here to support the 9th Floor Artists Collective or scan the QR code below.

On June 1st Rochester Art Collectors teamed up with Kathrine Page and with the Arena Art Group to highlight their wonderful art exhibition on display in The Geisel Gallery at Legacy Tower.
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As part of this program Kathrine Page spoke about her varied experiences in the art world with a special emphasis on her work in the world of air fairs.

Program Details

Attendees had thirty minutes before the program started to experience a wonderful art exhibition that included dozens of works created by members of Arena Art Group and socialize.

Rome Celli from Rochester Art Collectors welcomed attendees and introduced Margery Pearl-Gurnett who will give a brief background about Arena Art Group. Then Rome introduced the guest speaker, Kathrine Page.

Kathrine Page talked about her long and successful career in the arts with a special focus on her work at John William Gallery managing their art fair activities including both developing art collectors and how art is chosen and presented at art fairs.

She included information about how art fairs work from the point of view of art collectors and those interested in learning more about art.

About Kathrine Page

Kathrine currently currently serves as the curator and Project Director for John William Gallery out of her office/studio in upstate New York. The gallery is now located in Wilmington, Delaware at the historic Hercules building.

Between the years 2004 – 2011, Kathrine ran two galleries on the campus of Roberts Wesleyan College, Rochester, NY. In 2011, she moved to Corning, NY where she served as Gallery Manager for The Glass Menagerie Gallery. Soon thereafter, she opened her own gallery, Spencer Hill Gallery, a small commercial space where she represented 22 American artists. In 2014, she moved to Delaware where she joined the Board of Directors at The Delaware Contemporary, a non-profit contemporary art museum. In 2017, she began serving as the museum’s Gretchen Hupfel Curator of Contemporary Art. In the spring of 2020, Kathrine retired as the curator at The Delaware Contemporary.

​During her tenure at The Delaware Contemporary, Kathrine organized close to 46 exhibitions, including major feature shows such as Wendell Castle and Nancy Jurs’ Then and Now (2017); group exhibition The Figure: The Indicative and the Allusive (2019); Monique Rollins’ traveling exhibition, Eastern Poesia, in China (2019); Stan Smokler and Rick Rothrock’s Origins (2019); Peter Wayne Lewis’ Beijing Booster Paintings (2019); and a group exhibition of female photographers, Focal Points: Women Advancing the Aperture (2020).

Kathrine's experiences taught her the varied aspects of working in academia, the commercial sector, and the non-profit arena. Throughout her career, she's curated hundreds of exhibitions with artists all over the world.

About Arena Art Group

The mission of the Arena Art Group is to champion exploratory and abstract art, support the artistic growth of its members, and contribute to a robust art culture in the greater Rochester community by holding regular public exhibitions of its members’ works.
Arena’s 60+ artists work in a wide variety of media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, digital art, and mixed media.

The Arena Art Group was founded as the "Arena Group" in 1951 by a group of artists who met at the former Arena Theater on Hoeltzer Street in Rochester, NY. Inspired by Abstract Expressionism and other art movements that had emerged after World War II, they wanted to try their hand at non-representational and abstract art. Their first exhibitions were held on the patio of the theater during intermissions, on easels made from railroad ties. Many years and many exhibitions later, the organization’s name was changed to the Arena Art Group. Since its founding, Arena has showcased the work of many of the region's most respected and accomplished artists.

Membership in the Arena Art Group is based solely on artistic qualifications and willingness to support the mission of the organization, without regard to such characteristics as race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, national origin, or disability. We welcome those with diverse life experiences and heritages and commit to maintaining an inclusive environment with equitable treatment for all.

About The Geisel Gallery

The mission of The Geisel Gallery is to foster an environment for creative innovation for our many talented local artists, to provide an exciting venue where they can exhibit and sell their art, and to provide a high-quality source of visual art for visitors to the Gallery. Exhibitions are curated by Jean Geisel.