Eighth "Total Immersion" Program Took Place August 15th

In this series, produced by Rochester Art Collectors, local art collectors open their private spaces to a small group of registered guests. The host collector offers an informal guided tour of their art collection. Each collector sets the best date, time, duration, maximum number of guests as well as other parameters of the program.

The overall feel of the program is informal and dress is casual. None of the works displayed are for sale. All of the works are owned by the collector(s).

The series was launched in 2021. This was the eighth program in the series.

"Total Immersion" tours are open to a limited number of Rochester Art Collectors members on a first-come basis. The exact address was only disclosed to the 20 confirmed attendees. This program, like every other offered by Rochester Art Collectors was free to attendees.

The group of confirmed participants were welcomed into a lovely late Victorian era private residence located in the City of Rochester. Guest were encouraged to casually walk through a unique art collection. Soon after the start time a guided tour that highlighted selected work from the collection was conducted.

In prior "Total Immersion" tours the host-collectors conducted each tour. In this case, our host invited several artists represented in the collection to talk about works owned by the collector and on display that day.

The artists who presented their works included Michael Powers Tarantelli, Annalisa Barron, Unique Fair, Ludmilla Begley, Richard Colon, Erica Bryant & Matt Vanderlee. A partial list of artists in the collection on display during the tour is listed at the bottom of this article.​

About the collector & the collection
​The collector has been acquiring art since living in New York City in the 1980s where the works reflected the collector's varied intellectual, aesthetic and cultural interests. After settling in Rochester the collector's discerning eye reoriented to include works created by notable artists from the region. More recently, a passionate & intense interest in the vision and ideas of underrepresented visual artists has dramatically deepened and expanded the range of this collection.

The collector enjoys commissioning new works. The most recently commissioned work - a truly remarkable portrait that recalls old master techniques and expressive qualities - will be on display. Honestly, even if we were only able to see this one new painting, the tour would be worth the time. There are numerous other works in the collection that are or the highest level and that have never been seen in a public exhibition.

This is a partial list of works owned by the collector. At least one work by the artists listed below were on display on August 15th.

• Annalisa Barron
• Athesia Benjamin
• Ludmilla Begley
• Erica Bryant
• Richard Colon
• Michael Dellaria
• Emiliano "Ano" Diaz
• Quajay Donnell
• Adam Eaton
• Unique Fair
• Shawnee Rebekah Morning Dove Hill
• Rashaad Parker
• Najhay K Quick
• Sarah Rutherford
• Ya'qub Shabazz
• Todd Stahl
• Michael Powers Tarantelli
• Matt Vanderlee
• Bradd Young
• Muhammad Z Zaman​​