A day before the show opens to the public, I gathered along with artists and invited guests for a reception at the JGK Gallery, 10 Vick Park A in Rochester. I looked over the 2013 Art Roc Showcase and I was especially pleased to see one of my students ( Gareth Fitzgerald Barry ) as a featured sculptor among eleven other artists chosen for this exhibition. The JGK Gallery is in what appears to be a renovated carriage house close to the museums in the Neighborhood of the Arts. Relatively new to the area, the JGK Gallery brings together regional talent in this new show, and I was attracted to the nearly abstract landscape images in Alejandro Gutierrez's paintings made with enamels and resin. Other artists deal with abstraction such as Carey Corea and Jeanne Beck who is also known for her art quilts. A nice article accompanied the show (published in Rochester Magazine written by Michelle Cardulla) and hopefully that will bring in curious gallery goers.
Rochester Contemporary Art Center, 137 East Ave., Rochester
From the left: Bleu Cease,Director, and artists: Peter Monacelli, Kurt Feuerherm, and Kristine Bouyoucos.
This week is witness also to a new edition of the "Makers and Mentors" series at Rochester Contemporary Art Center. This year's artists include Kurt Feuerherm, Peter Monacelli, Kristine Bouyoucos, and Patricia Dreher and all of these artists contribute two dimensional works that have color and verve. It is good to see Kurt again in this area, he's moved back to Rochester from the seaside community of Wellfleet, MA. I can see a bit of the scrubby landscape elements from the Cape in Kurt's paintings - which are very vigorous - brushy yet still descriptive - and all of a modest size.
Kurt is a well known teacher having been at Empire State College, and the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. Kurt was mentor to many budding artists. I think he was pleased to be so honored with an exhibition at RoCo especially in light of the fact that there is now a campaign to buy the building where the show is being held.
One could say that Kurt's paintings are very environmental - all about kinds of space with a great sensitivity towards nature without being realist in his approach. Peter Monacelli's series titled "Midtown Transfiguration" is also a guide to space but in this case it appears to be about architecture and the abstract patterns and geometry of many a building site. Peter told me that it is important to known that he had a construction company and that the Little Theatre had been one of his jobs. Peter's wall of artwork at RoCo is thrilling - and once again it is all about color and space.
Kristine Bouyoucos makes prints which feature music notation and aspects of nature; fine old trees - almost somber in their tonality - yet these works of art are also about space, rhythm, and color. Of all the work on exhibition in "Makers and Mentors" Kristine's art demands a closer look, in effect to really see it is to get up close enough to read the notes. These prints also have a friendly quality, the botanical elements along with the musical theme is uplifting.
The small paintings of Patricia Dreher portray gritty scenes from the Port of Oakland, California. If you fly into the airport during day you can see acres and acres of containers waiting to be put on board boats bound for voyages elsewhere. Maybe it is a coincidence, but Patricia's paintings have some of the same colors and abstracted space as Kurt's. One hopes that the "Makers and Mentors" project will continue to shine a light on the relationships among the many working artists in our midst.
