​   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.

   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

   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!