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.

Great Groups

 

"Nina"

Joscelyne Sarkis, painting at 

Rochester Contemporary

Annual Member Show

Very stimulating to see the participation of so many artists in the big group shows around Rochester this season.  Just now, we have two exhibitions that I want to write about for your consideration.

Rochester Contemporary ( RoCo ) on East Avenue opened the annual member show and it is a standout! So many different styles by over 500 artists - many of their names are new to me!  When you enter the gallery and check in you can pick up a little sticker to place near a work of art if it inspires you - it is a vote of support and interest for the artwork on view.

Great Groups

The Annual Members Exhibition

at RoCo

Great to see that there are so many different directions you can take your artwork, and this has impact.. Hopefully, there will be some decent sales; I know that the artists could use that support and also share that with RoCo.

Richard Margolis photographs from 1987

Interesting to see this photo of Aaron and Nathan taken by Richard Margolis, who I met very early on when I came to Rochester to teach at R.I.T.  in 1988.  At this  turning point in my life, I was happy to meet a whole bunch of folks including Lanna Pejovic and Carol Acquilano ( who I wrote about in my last post to this blog ) - and their work is represented in this show.  Another artist that I found in this big group exhibit is Bill Keyser who was working at R.I.T. as well.

Bill Keyser has a bright new collage at RoCo

There are so many different things to see in this show,  but each year I wonder why there isn't as much sculpture on view..is that because the pieces have to fit on a table top?  There also was a kind of  surreal work in ceramic by Gregory Lawson which  caught my eye.

Gregory Lawson's LYME LIGHT

I guess I will just have to come back to look over the rest of the exhibition.  My little abstraction I found along the Great Wall and was happy to see that it stood out, maybe because of the colors and details...  

Now it is time to go and visit the other group which I found out on Monroe Avenue at The Bird House.

"Put A Bird On It" is the show and it lines the back walls of this retail store dedicated to bird watchers and other nature lovers.  I was lucky to include in this show two paintings I made as illustrations for a Random House book titled "Birds Do The Strangest Things".

When I first moved up to Rochester with my family I got this contract to illustrate a 64 page book for young readers.  So my hummingbird composition was one piece in this book and hangs in the  current show along with a little painting I made of loons on a pond.

Now on at The Bird House on Monroe Avenue

Rochester , New York

Loons by Alan Singer

on view now at "The Bird House" thru December 27th

Painting by Phyllis Bryce Ely

at the

Annual Member Show, Rochester Contemporary

East Avenue, Rochester, NY

See Sea Painting

 

Carol Acquilano at Axom

Rochester, New York

It is great to see artwork in an environment like Axom, in the South Wedge.  Even in a new exhibition like this one, you get to see the paintings the way they may appear later in your own home!  Before I say something about this new show, let me back up and say something about the artist and how I met her....

When I left New York City in 1988, I would travel up to work at Rochester Institute of Technology where I was assigned to teach in the School of Art.  I brought some paintings with me from my studio in Brooklyn, but I needed to get them framed, and I found out through the Memorial Art Gallery that they would recommend I speak with Carol Acquilano.  I called her and made an appointment and it followed that Carol would construct my frames; she had the materials and she worked at her home.

Carol has the skills and much more, and because she is an artist, she cares about how things will look!

Now, as I am writing this - it is 37 years later, and Carol has her own artwork to consider, and a selection of her paintings are exhibited at Axom in the South Wedge.  I went right over to see what she is doing and really enjoyed the new works which have themes from nature.

Carol  Acquilano's "Leaf Season"

These are not your typical landscapes though, they border on pure abstraction as they engage your eye and mind.  The environment at Axom is comfortable- you can sit in an easy chair and thoughtfully look at Carol's show!

I keep thinking of the artist Arthur Dove ( 1880-1946 ) as I look at Carol's "Leaf Season" which is on your left when you walk into Axom's main room.  This painting has the autumn colors in it and also has a rhythm in the design of the leaf shapes and ground relationships.

Carol Acquilano paints with Acrylics in her "Sea Thing"

Some of Carol's recent paintings share the theme of  swimming underwater - maybe she was snorkeling in the Caribbean!  Her colors have an ocean vibe, and her images could very well have been reflections on a coral reef.

Now thru January-

Carol Acquilano paintings at Axom

Rochester, New York

Some New Frontiers

 

Exhibition at The Memorial Art Gallery

Rochester, New York

The most recent exhibition at The Memorial Art Gallery which opened this month features paintings on loan from the Worcester Art Museum and it is well worth the time to go over there for a visit.  The "Frontiers of Impressionism" contains many notable artists and a few that I had no knowledge of.  An interesting thing that I found with this show was that many artists were just visiting in Europe when Impressionism was getting started,  and they brought back a new and exciting look for their work  here in the USA.

We can assume that Impressionism found a stronghold in France, and there were important American artists who brought home the lessons they learned in Europe when they met up with a new, refreshing style.  I have been to see many museum shows, but this one presented me with works I had never seen before including in my books about Impressionist art. Among the strongest paintings on view is the oil painting by Paul Signac called: "Golfe  Juan".  In this instance, Signac employs a pointillist technique making little dots of paint  which our eyes blend together to create a tonality of color.

Paul Signac, 1896 , oil painting called: "Golfe Juan"

Impressionism in practice let artists be much more responsive to the light in nature and it can be said that the artists captured a lot of the spirit of life in their works.  There is a little Cezanne painting of a card player here which you might realize is a study for a much larger work which you might see at The Metropolitan Museum in NYC.  Even in this small study Cezanne gives it character which he plays out again and again in his paintings.

Paul Cezanne study for Card Players

Another of my Favorite artists is Corot and he is represented here with a landscape from Ville de Avray which is located west of Paris, France.  Corot's paintings often have a certain softness which he employs  in many of his compositions.  In this painting you can see a man with his fishing pole casting out into a pond with another figure on the left.  This is a timeless artwork and Corot brings out a certain peacefulness there in the country.

Corot painting, Ville De Avray

So, the American painters certainly could learn a lot from masters like Corot, and I see this reflected in the work of artists like George Inness.  In his painting of people fishing in a wooded lake I find a deep resonance with the spirit of Corot.  

George Inness

Talking about mastery, another American painter who is in this show presents a violent seascape and that of course is Winslow Homer.  I can't think of anyone who could paint waves crashing on the shore better than Homer.  So these are just a few samples from the current exhibition on at the MAG.  There is much more to see than the landscape although this is truly one area that Impressionism can claim for posterity!

Winslow Homer at The Memorial Art Gallery

Hear ART TALK

 

Paul Brandwein at Axom

South Avenue, Rochester, New York

In the South Wedge, I relaxed on a sofa at Axom to listen to Paul Brandwein speak about the development of his art.  There was a fine group of some of his small abstract paintings on view at the time I visited in early November.  The people who attended the talk had questions to ask and we found out a lot about how his art stems from experiments he made over many years working with ceramics to create attractive surface textures.  During his talk, Paul passed around some sample sheets that looked like leopard spots on paper.

How did he get those spots to show up like that?  Maybe a little alcohol in the acrylic paint to disperse the pigment; then let it all dry.. Then, where did he get his ideas for these paintings?  Well, we got to look through pages of his sketchbooks, and there we could see the development of forms - and all they would need is some colors to make them more distinctive! Some of the forms might remind one of a certain cactus or maybe a sea creature!

I really enjoy hearing the artist talk about the work we see in the gallery.  There are many things we can learn about  a process which normally goes on in the studio and which might take years to develop.

Later in November at The Memorial Art Gallery I went to see the new exhibition of paintings on loan from the Worcester Art Museum, which I will write about later.  On the day I visited the MAG, I went into the Auditorium to hear my friend Jim Mott give his talk about his devotion to painting the scenes outdoors that he finds in his many expeditions around the country.

Jim Mott being interviewed at 

The Memorial Art Gallery

I wrote about Jim Mott's Itinerant Artist Project for American Artist  Magazine almost twenty years ago.

He would say that he could travel around the country and make small scale paintings of scenes and then a few days later move on to a new spot.  His itinerary would include overnight stays with people he  had just met and as a way of saying thank you, he would make a small painting for them in exchange for his overnight stay at their home.

At the Memorial Art Gallery, we got to look through samples from his many years painting scenes from the places he visited.  Jim is a big fan of nature, and especially birds!  I imagine he has quite a life list!

He mentioned at his talk at MAG, that he had a very deep interest in bird watching and he used my father's illustrations from his guide book, "Birds of North America" that Golden Books published so many years ago!  I actually worked on revisions to that book with my Dad, back in the 1970s...

Since this blog post is about artists talking, I need to mention that an online magazine has just published an interview with me in their digital magazine called:  Magnate View.  You can read about a bit of my background in this piece, so here is a link: https://magnateview.com/a-lifelong-journey-in-art-education-and-innovation-an-interview-with-alan-singer-a-renowned-professor-from-the-rochester-institute-of-technology/