Carol Acquilano at AxomRochester, New YorkIt 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, [...]

Exhibition at The Memorial Art GalleryRochester, New YorkThe 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 [...]

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Imagine spotting your favorite singer grabbing a drink before her concert. You're thrilled enough just to say hi, but soon she's sitting with your friends, requesting you keep an eye on her drummer and accepting your invitation to sleep over at your house… [...]

Merry Christmas Eve! Tonight, some of you will be going to a Christmas vigil mass and will probably hear a retelling of the birth of Jesus. It is a familiar story with some key elements - Jesus in a manger, shepherds in a field, and three kings bearing gifts to the newborn child. With these key points, the story is complete, but it was not always this way. The nativity story that we are familiar with today is actually a composite narrative of canonical and non-canonical writings. In the early years of Christianity, the Church leaders spread this hybrid tale to the masses through art, which Pope Gregory the Great described as “the Bible of the illiterate." The Dijion Nativity by Robert Campin is an example of several nativity stories melded into one. Campin pulled from the canonical gospel of Luke, the non-canonical gospels of Pseudo-James and Pseudo-Matthew, and the popular (at the time) vision of Saint Bridget of Sweden. Dijion Nativity, Robert Campin, c. 1420 Shepherds from Portinari Altarpiece, Hugo van der Goes, c. 1475 The three shepherds peering in at Jesus are from the canonical gospel of Luke. Each of the gospel writers played towards their audience. Luke wrote in Asia [...]

If my calculations are correct, you probably got your midterm research paper back a couple weeks ago, and it was covered with red pen marks. With only four short weeks left before your final paper is due, you're wondering how you can improve your writing to boost your grade for this last assignment. Below, I have listed some of the most common mistakes you should look out for while editing your paper. This is a lengthy post, with no pictures, but I promise it will be helpful for you art history students out there. 1. Using “WH” words outside of a question Who, what, where, when, why, and how. In everyday conversation we say things like “that is where I bought my watch” or “this is how you tie a shoe.” However, in a formal paper, “wh” words should only be used when posing a question. So, if this was a formal paper, that last sentence would be a mistake. I could rephrase it as “…words should only be used if posing a question.” I don't bother making that edit here on the blog because I want to have a conversational tone, but I would never (knowingly) submit a paper with that [...]

Wheeling Community: Exploring Rochester's Little Known Public Art by Kitty Jospé On Sunday, May 3, over 80 people joined Bleu Cease, Executive Director/Curator at RoCo and Photographer Richard Margolis for a tour of eight hidden treasures of public art. This tour, in conjunction with the current exhibit, “Ride It: Art and Bicycles in Rochester” at Rochester Contemporary Art Center (RoCo) celebrated the idea of “slow art” and a chance to notice not only what we often are hurrying by, but to think of larger implications of how we live in our environment. It is heart-warming to join with others on a sunny spring day, and discover art and the stories and contexts behind it—and this incredible dividend: No, not the sounds of trains, or the way sculptures frame fascinating details of buildings, but a sense of feeling connected to others, and connected to our city. Did you know Rochester has had Liberty Poles at the same site since 1830? What a surprise to arrive on site-specific six-part Rochester Project, by Richard Fleischner. It is a magnificent outdoor amphitheatre, looking out on three stone lattices, all the same size but with variations on [...]

“A photograph presents the artist and the viewer with a challenge, because we always want to know what it is—as if the photograph were not there. For over 165 years, an extraordinary number of forces have made us instinctively believe that photographs are windows on reality—even when reason tells us otherwise.” — Carl Chiarenza, 2013 lecture excerpt A photograph of you is not you. It is, in fact, an illusion. That simple viewpoint is perhaps the cornerstone of famed photographer Carl Chiarenza's body of work—and his role as a mentor to other artists. “It's not unreasonable for people who are interested in photography to accept what has been broadcast since the 1830s, which is that the photograph captures reality, actuality,” Carl says. "Mulligan Print," by Carl Chiarenza. Carl's work has been shown around the world and can be found in the collections of more than 50 museums, including The Getty Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, The Art Institute of Chicago, and Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. “From my point of view, it never did that. Every photograph is an abstraction.” That perspective has so informed his work, he avoids some of the [...]

Rochester musician and SUNY Potsdam student Mikaela Davis plays a semi-grand harp, one size down from a concert grand. When she first began to play as a child, she started on a smaller-style troubador harp. “I've always known I wanted to go to school for music,” she says. “I wanted to be a professional harpist in an orchestra and teach harp at a college—until my own music became my main focus.” (photo by Aaron Winters) Let's play word association. “Harpist.” Go. Did you respond with “pop-music newcomer”? You will. Rochester-born Mikaela Davis knows how to show a harp who's boss. Backed by a mix of guitar, keyboards, and her own lilting vocals, Mikaela has deftly plucked a classic instrument out of its past. Spun it into a modern sound. And wrapped it in sparkling lights, ready for download. Her self-titled debut album came out in 2012, and she describes it as indie-pop. Just the same, she's hesitant to commit to a category. “I don't like to put myself in a genre. The music we're doing now, it's nothing like my first album. We went something that's more psychedelic rock on the new EP,” Mikaela says. Brian Moore, audio engineer and owner of Red Booth [...]

The Beauty of Gray: Scapes exhibit showcases video art that's not all black and whiteby Geoff Graser If you don't “get it” right away, Debora and Jason Bernagozzi understand. When the couple tells people they do video art, most people say, “Oh, you do commercials.” Nope. “Oh, you do those weird foreign movies.” Not exactly. The Bernagozzis' art form is more like abstract art—abstract art that moves and talks and sometimes chirps. The Bernagozzis' work is part of RoCo's “Scapes” exhibit on display until Sunday, November 13. On my first try, I didn't exactly “get it.” And that's all right, Jason says, that's partly his point. He thinks Americans are spoon fed so many messages through the media and popular art that people believe what others want them to believe rather than making up their own minds. This echoes some of the work of Nam June Paik, considered the father of video art for his innovations in the 1960s. Paik would take footage of the Beatles and manipulate the waves so the Fab Four would disintegrate. He did this with politicians and other TV celebrities, hoping to convince viewers that the people on TV weren't indestructible gods. So you're not alone if you [...]