Closing & Opening

 

"The Faces and Facets of Freedom"

Theme Group Show at Oxford Gallery

267 Oxford Street, Rochester, NY

Walk into the Oxford Gallery to enjoy the theme show "The Faces and Facets of Freedom".  It is a wistful goodbye to our community.  Not that we are saying goodbye to freedom in this moment of political turmoil, but for our community we must know that the Oxford Gallery will be closing.  Great thanks must go out to Jim and Ginny Hall who have steered this ship for over these past 30+ years!  Being an active agent in the visual art scene here in Rochester is a real achievement!  We know it is a lot of work to run an art gallery and requires a serious commitment.

Paula Crawford's painting of the Statue of Liberty greets you in the gallery.  "Lady Liberty" is an oil on canvas, and I was pleased to see the interesting color patterns in Paula's artwork.  On this occasion, I was reminded of visiting this monument when I was a little kid with my family ( and then we were allowed to walk up flights of stairs to view the harbor and the New York City skyline from a perch in the Lady's Crown! ).

Theme shows like this one have been a feature of the Oxford Gallery schedule for years, and I have the feeling that Jim and Ginny enjoyed the idea of giving creatives a prompt that would inspire artists to conjure up some interesting results.  Each individual artist in this case would have a different approach to the concept of "Freedom", and the visitor to the gallery might then find some of the works in this exhibition to be a bit provocative, especially the paintings by Thomas Insalaco.

 "This Is Not A Banana" oil on canvas

Thomas Insalaco

Often in group exhibitions like this one in Rochester, I tend to look at the paintings and sometimes the sculptures get overlooked.  That is not the case with the bright piece by Olivia Kim that commemorates the great respect we have in our area for Frederick Douglass.

Olivia Kim's Frederick Douglass statuette

With a theme like "Facets of Freedom",  a viewer can project themselves into a situation like the one portrayed in David Dorsey's painting, "Saturday Morning".  Here, he shows an engaging family moment, with kids having fun, enjoying a sunny day, and this all puts me in a good mood!

"Saturday Morning", oil on linen by David Dorsey

Bill Kayser, born in 1936, was a colleague of mine when we were teaching at Rochester Institute of Technology, and it is great to see that he is still being productive.  He has two works in this exhibition, the larger one called "Breach" is a kind of collage mounted on the wall.  I guess in his case the notion of freedom is embedded in thinking about a greater sense of abstraction without being so literal!

Bill Keyser's "Breach"

Being out in nature is one of my favorite things, so I have a real attraction to an oil painting by Phyllis Bryce Ely in her work called: "Freedom to Roam".  This might represent freedom and the couple of Bald Eagles in this show also has that effect.  On the other side of this equation of course there is the lack of freedom, and for that we get a sense of restriction and detention found in the quartet paintings by Jim Mott.

                                   "Visiting Omar, ICE Detention, Batavia" 

                                                                       by Jim Mott

Jim Mott's acrylic paintings in various shades of grey set up a contrast bringing us back to the reality of regional politics and the enforcement of the ICE Detention centers.

As the Oxford Gallery closes we can thank all of those people who come out to support the arts, and in my next post I write about the Mercer Gallery at Monroe Community College, and the opening of a large group exhibition for The Print Club of Rochester!  So Stay Tuned!  I urge you all to go and see the Oxford Gallery before the end of their final show!

Juxtaposition

 

John Rhoden sculpture show at

The Memorial Art Gallery

Rochester, New York

When going to a museum, you might make the journey to see works of art you are familiar with and that you have enjoyed in the past.  This is like going to visit an old friend! Indeed, there are pieces at The Memorial Art Gallery that I go to see like their Stuart Davis painting   ( "Landscape with Garage Lights").  Of course there are other paintings I enjoy like the Cezanne upstairs, or maybe the Fairfield Porter landscape on the main level.  I had met Fairfield Porter in my first year at Cornell, and followed his work for years!

This visit is to see a show of sculpture by...who is this?  John Rhoden? At The Memorial Art Gallery the exhibition is "Determined To Be", and it is a nice surprise!  It seems that this artist is long overdue for some recognition ( and that could be said of many other artists ).  Maybe it was OK for John during his lifetime, he may not have been drawn to the limelight.  The artist certainly had a figurative impulse, and I really enjoyed the juxtaposition of video with Garth Fagan dancers!  This combination was a brilliant idea!

John Rhoden sculpture with video images of Garth Fagan Dancers

Outside of The Memorial Art Gallery, where has John Rhoden's sculptures been exhibited?  His creative drive is evident, and I wonder if there were shows of his that I had missed?  Over the years there may have been a racial bias at work in the art world that is being exposed here.  In any case his work is terrific, and I am glad that The Memorial Art Gallery has made a statement with this in mind.

From my point of view, I think that Rhoden's wood sculptures are the pieces that most interest me, and they carve out a direct path into the history of sculpture, especially in regard to the lineage of African American art.  I am glad that museums are finally waking up to the fact that there are groups of artists that are overdue for their share of the spotlight.  We have so much to learn from this!

"Reflections: The Light Within"

watercolors by Luvon Sheppard and Steve Hill

Over on East Avenue, at The Rochester Museum & Science Center, we went to see my colleague Luvon Sheppard's watercolors which he painted outdoors along the Erie Canal with his friend Steve Hill.  On the day that we visited the show, the place was alive with all kinds of kids out and about!  Glad to see that the teachers could schedule a school trip!  There are so many features that the kids find exciting in this museum, but just not enough time to take everything in..

Luvon Sheppard's recent watercolors made along The Erie Canal

The show is called "Reflections" and - it will be on view on the Third Floor of the RMSC for the better part of a year.  Luvon's paintings are modest in size, but they have a big ambition to capture some of the poetry of the outdoor experience along the canal.  

Steve Hill is a painter who went on the excursions along the canal to document what he found there, and his paintings will also be on view for the year.  I know this territory myself, having painted along the canal many times, and I think that both Steve and Luvon have a wonderful sense of light and air in their work!

I know that Luvon and Steve also share a bit of history - having been teachers at the workshop called: "All Of Us" in the early 1970s.

On a different note:  It has come to my attention that one of the mainstays of the art community - the Oxford Gallery will be closing soon!  Hats off to Jim and Ginny Hall for keeping things going there over the years.  Of course they were not the only gallery owners there - it has a long history, and I was pleased to show a number of my own paintings at the Oxford Gallery and even made some sales!  This gallery has been an anchor for an art community and they will be missed!

Finally, here is a recently published article about my own artwork that you may want to read.  There is a link to this piece online, so ENJOY!  https://usawire.com/alan-singer-art-industry-technology-tradition/

Meet The Requirements

Luvon Sheppard At The Memorial Art Gallery

Rochester, New York

We spent years in the same office, but I did not know that Luvon Sheppard was a high school wrestler!  I did know that Luvon was born in Florida, but I did not know that his father was always away.. I do remember that we attended a memorial service for Luvon's mom after she passed, and that we have her edict "Meet The Requirements" pasted up on our refrigerator!

Three days ago, we went to "Meet The Artist" at The Memorial Art Gallery, and heard a wonderful interview with Luvon that was a real inspiration.

Interview with Luvon Sheppard in April 16, 2026

Mr. Sheppard has been teaching at Rochester Institute of Technology for over 50 years!  Today, his specialty is watercolor and he is also into collage.  Images of his artwork were projected onto the big screen as the interview progressed, and as the "Book of Luvon" opened, one could get a real sense of the contributions he has made to our community, and our country.

Luvon also owns the Joy Gallery on West Main Street, and there he has supported many exhibitions by other artists over the years.  This is a real factor in our area - to provide opportunities for artists to show their stuff!  It was pointed out in the interview that Luvon has been engaged for years beginning with his community based effort to establish "All Of Us", bringing arts to a wider audience here in Rochester.

 

A new venue has opened with Museo de Arte at 3495 Winton Place established by artist Kathy Clem

In the evening we attended the opening at the Museo de Arte, and we met with Kathy Clem who mingled with the crowd.  Her idea was to open a new space for the community and present a project that is a big group effort to create artwork for a building within the gallery space.  It is called the "Felted House" and not only is the little building wrapped in felt, but there is also artworks inside on the wall and ceiling that offer attractive felt work done by a large group of art volunteers.

Bravo!  Kathy Clem is inspired with a wide view of community engagement and she also has space to create new work and show this to the public.

Museo de Arte is conducting an open call for your art!

Applications are due by late August, 2026

There is still much work to do, and at The Museo de Arte there is an open call to the community to submit artworks for a show that will open in October of 2026.  So, get involved, applications are due by the end of August!

Tomorrow Is Today

Luvon Sheppard holds his portrait in a recent show at R.I.T.

We are in a quickly changing environment, it will soon be Spring, and the flowers are already blooming in our yard...  I wanted to write about my colleague Luvon Sheppard, and let you know that he will give a talk at The Memorial Art Gallery this coming Thursday, April 16th from 6 to 7 pm.  There is a need to book tickets, so you can go online and check it out!  Luvon is also the subject of a survey show of his recent artwork at the Rochester Museum and Science Center.  This exhibition at RMSC features his plein air paintings from along the Erie Canal and it will run from now thru March 21, 2027! The RMSC does have an admission charge, so be prepared!

While I was teaching at Rochester Institute of Technology, Luvon and I shared an office, and so we have a lot in common, not the least is the fact that we both have painted watercolors along the Erie Canal, so I am looking forward to seeing what he has done there!  Luvon has made a real contribution to the arts scene in Rochester, also because he has offered many exhibits at his Joy Gallery on West Main Street, which I have written about in this blog over many years..

Bill Finewood at Pittsford Fine Art

4 North Main Street, Pittsford, NY

Today, we have strolled into Pittsford Fine Art , a cooperative gallery at North Main Street, and I had to chat with another colleague of mine from R.I.T. and that is Bill Finewood who you see above.  Bill is a realist artist and illustrator, and he has spent many hours out west near Glacier National Park.  His painting shown here, is the result of hours of work out in nature, as well as in the studio, and it is really convincing.

Bill is the featured artist this month in this gallery which has a number of different  painters whose work can be a real inspiration for us all.

Suzi Zefting-Kuhn

at Pittsford Fine Art Gallery

Another artist who I am familiar with is Suzi Zefting-Kuhn, and she has recently moved her studio operation away from the  Hungerford Building to a new studio space nearby.  She also goes on expeditions and her painting of giraffes is the result of one such tour of Southern Africa.

Lately, I have been lucky to have interviews published, and my artwork is getting seen.  A new magazine is out that features two of my recent prints, and the publication is called  Abstractics.  Below is a copy of the cover for this new volume ( it is not my work  the cover ).

Now, I have to get back to my big project, which I look forward to - and that is a history of The Print Club of Rochester.  I have been doing a lot of writing and research for this organization, and there is really an interesting history to tell!  Eventually there will be a exhibition of prints that will be held in Rochester, and it will be quite something to behold!

 

All Ways Entertaining

Unique Fair has his exhibition "Veils" now at Joy Gallery

489 West Main Street, Rochester, New York

Out for the night, and it is First Fridays in Rochester, New York.  This is our kind of connection with a community for the arts.  In each of our three stops, we took in the show and had conversations with others to catch up on what we have missed..  This winter has been more like shoveling snow and trying to stay warm!  Now, with temperatures rising, we HAD to get out!

First stop, West Main Street, we enter Joy Gallery, with the featured artist Unique Fair, and he is there to greet everyone.  His paintings are figurative, with many portraits, and he is fluent in the medium, as he seeks out the personalities of his sitters.  There are smaller paintings in this show he calls "Veils", with some bright color backgrounds in oil and he makes really careful efforts at finding a likeness.

Portrait of a Woman in oil by Unique Fair

Up a few stairs and you will find a real still life that Unique has arranged, and he has a wonderful story to tell about the fancy plates and glassware, set out on a big table.  You notice that some of the wine glasses are filled and other glasses have their drinks on a peculiar angle!  What is happening here? It's all in the details!

A Unique trio of oil paintings at Joy Gallery

So, how does he do all these oil paintings?  How does he select the sitters, and is this all work done from photographs?  I would think that the artist really has to know the people he paints, to get so much out of the experience!  He says that he wants to paint people who have otherwise been overlooked, so the artist in him wants to deal with social issues that could have a lasting effect, so I say more power to him!  The title of this show is "Veils", and does that relate to the head scarfs some women in the Middle East have to wear?  Or is this about a veil that the artist lifts to show the viewer the truth? So, go see for yourself!

I enjoy a chat with my old friend and colleague, Luvon Sheppard, who is the owner of Joy gallery, and I am still amazed that he has the energy to help all these up-and-coming artists!  Now, we must move on to look in at a two person show at Rochester Contemporary Art Center just down East Avenue.

Anne Havens and Sue Havens, now open at 

Rochester Contemporary Art Center

137 East Avenue, Rochester, NY

Open from March thru May 9th, the exhibition at  RoCo features Anne Havens and Sue Havens - two artists who share a lot in common and who were there when we arrived to enjoy the opening.  Anne Havens is someone who I had lost touch with since she began to spend so much time in Florida..  Anne was a Print Club of Rochester board member ( and Past President ) and she is an artist who really has a graphic sense, expressed in her mainly abstract artwork.  Sue Havens is Anne's daughter, and Sue is a graduate of The Cooper Union, and she also attended Bard College up along the Hudson River.

Sue Havens large work at Rochester Contemporary

There is so much to see in this show, that we couldn't take it all in at the opening!  This exhibition looks like a life's work on view... with both artists who are into forms of abstraction.  I will have to go back to see it again.  What I can say is that I was captivated by Sue Haven's large piece, which in fact is a kind of collage, almost like a quilt of colorful little painted grids and patterns.  Anne Havens has been working for years on prints and paintings, ceramics and artist books, and she and I share a real interest in strong graphic expression and simplification of the mark and of movement.

Anne Havens presents her variety at Rochester Contemporary

Our final stop in this tour of art galleries, and I am looking forward to seeing the new space that Rochester Institute of Technology has opened ( or should I say - recently moved to ) right across the street from the Strong Museum of Play.  Inside the spacious gallery you can find the artworks of Lydia Boddie-Rice.

This is the largest show of Lydia's recent work that I have seen yet, and I did write about her work ( see my September 7th post from 2024 to this blog ) before - and this new work really touches me.  Once we were in the gallery, we were greeted by the Director, John Aasp, and we remarked on how nice the place looks especially with the new videos that Lydia now presents.

Lydia makes her art into kites that fly, and they are suspended from the ceiling in the gallery space.  She sometimes dedicates her kites to specific people she knows, and you really need to read the wall label to get the full impact of what she has to offer ( see below ):

Lydia Boddie-Rice dedicates her kites to specific people

Lydia mentions that the video production was handled by two brothers from Atlanta, Georgia who also published her new book "Rising on the Wind".  The two brothers have a business called: Alchemy Publishing and they did a really nice job taking the kites to another level.  Also I bought a copy of  Lydia's book and really enjoyed the text and photos as we looked up at the kites and spent time with the videos.

One of the videos presents our friend Luvon Sheppard!  This really brings the show around full circle!

Luvon holds onto a work of art by Lydia Boddie-Rice

and in the videos

Lydia''s work really takes off!

 

Y is for YES

 

Y is for YES

Kathy Clem invites you to come on over!

Just now I have an invitation card to the opening of a new art space in Rochester. It will be very interesting to see what will happen at Kathy Clem’s Museo de Arte!  The space is attractive, and the location is out-of-the ordinary ( 3495 Winton Place in Rochester ).  I visited the site months ago to talk with Kathy Clem and at the time the community installation was still in progress.  The  little shanty on the premises is going to have handmade pieces of felt to wrap around and give the building some interesting textures and colors.  The opening is coming in April, on the 16^th, so I plan to attend!

The Print Club of 

Rochester 

at 

Made On State

This winter, along with shoveling snow, I have been doing my research for a new book project, which will be in honor of The Print Club of Rochester.  Today, I visited The Print Club archive and office on State Street, to look over the files and consider what I should say about The Club.  My understanding is that this book will be a tribute to The Club which will be having its' 100th year anniversary soon, and The Club has a lot to be proud of!  You may know that The Print Club is a community based group devoted to making and collecting fine art prints, some of which you can see in the photo above. Almost 30 years ago I was on the board of directors for The Club, and we did some amazing work to stimulate interest in this branch of fine art.

Making a Presentation print for The Print Club in the studios of R.I.T.

By belonging to The Print Club each year, members receive a Presentation print for themselves.  During the early years of this 21st Century, I along with some volunteers made prints at R.I.T. as you see above. This was a group effort, and a very rewarding one, since at that time we were making editions of over a hundred prints for The Club.

At the inception of The Print Club  back in 1930, The Memorial Art Gallery provided space and a lot of energy to get the group together.  The goal was to promote the creation of contemporary prints and stimulate the collection of fine prints, and it worked!  

Today, you can visit The Memorial Art Gallery and you will find prints like Audrey Flack's "Fourth of July Still Life" from 1975, once you walk in and view the show they call "Desire & Abundance"

Audrey Flack shows her serigraph in "Desire & Abundance"

at

The Memorial Art Gallery

Then walk down the hall to see the new show at The Lockhart Gallery, that celebrates Picasso's big linoleum cuts, and walk through to view his progressive proofs.  If you don't know how these prints were made there is an instructive video that accompanies the show, so stop and see this exhibit, it is really worth while!

Picasso and his Progressive proofs, in the Lockhart Gallery 

at

The Memorial Art Gallery

To Top It All Off

 

                                    "Sanctuary" by Alan Singer, 2025, matte acrylic 

My latest painting "Sanctuary" is complete and it rounds out a year of experiments using geometry and the mathematics of cellular automata to create compositions which I carefully execute in paint; first drawing out a grid and then using my finest brushes to complete each segment of the work.

My guess is that it is a natural thing to look back over the year now to get a sense of what is happening. Now, I can reflect on the past and look forward to the future.  There are daily reminders of how everything can abruptly change!  I just read an obituary for an artist whose work I followed for many years - Janet Fish.  She took my call once when I asked her to come up from NYC to teach my graduate painting class at R.I.T. in 2004. Here is a photo taken by Sue Weisler in the painting studios at R.I.T. with Janet and myself.

   

                          

Janet Fish was one of many guest artists who I invited to come and speak to my students over the years when I was a Professor at R.I.T.  Often the artists would come and do one-on-one with the graduate painting students and then later they might go over to do a talk in the evening at The Memorial Art Gallery in town.

This was something I always looked forward to, and that was having the opportunity to bring great artists in to speak about their work and this was a kind of follow-thru since I had been enjoying their artwork for so many years!

Lucky me, I get requests and interest in my art from far away!  It is always a surprise how people find out about what I have been doing, and sometimes I even get to have an interview online.  Here is a link to an interview I gave with Renee Rose of Chicago.  She runs an enterprise called: "Explore Art".  Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnAzJxcaogU

The Print Club of Rochester

at work in 2003 at 

R.I.T.

This coming year I will be working on a new book project with The Print Club of Rochester to celebrate their 100th Anniversary!  I am doing my research now on their history - and I have a deep interest in printmaking, above is a photo made in the studios of R.I.T. with Liz Durand and me doing a proof of a Print Club presentation print by Gregory Amenoff.