By the time you've traversed through the 68 buildings that make up the circa 19th-century Genesee Country Village & Museum (GCVM) and made your way to the furthest point of the 600-acre grounds, your brain may be convinced you've traveled back in time. Especially once you step through a wooded tree line and beneath an arch donning the field's name — Silver Base Ball Park — onto a 19th-century replica baseball field (think the 1919 Black Sox stepping through the corn in “Field of Dreams”), the first of its kind in the U.S. On this field, America's favorite pastime is kept to its purest form: teams outfitted in period woolen uniforms, wood benches instead of elaborately covered dugouts, brown balls, a simple fence lining the outfield and a single scorekeeper changing the games strikeouts and runs by hand over in left field. ROBERTO FELIPE LAGARES. GCVM is the largest living history museum in New York State and the third-largest in the United States. This year will mark its 50th anniversary, and the vintage base ball program is rounding 26 years. The volunteer league is made up of four teams: Rochester B.B.C, Flower City, Spring Creek, and Oatka B.B.C. At Silver Base Ball Park, [...]

Listeners who gravitate toward punk rock, fast-paced music that makes them jump as well as engaging messaging will feel a sense of belonging with Handsy Grandma. The band's “Hard Candy for Hard Times,” available July 24, brings all the energy with 16 dynamic tracks ready to pump up listeners for the heat of summer. The Rochester-based trio with an unforgettable name made their first debut back in 2025 with the EP “Sweaty and Weird.” Relatively new to the scene in this lineup, the group is here to showcase a penchant for punk on its first full-length album, “Hard Candy for Hard Times.” Album opener “Digital Ghost” introduces Handsy Grandma's gnarly skate punk sound, turning up the hype with breakneck instrumentals and vocals. This is what a solid day at the skatepark sounds like, sweat and spirit seeping through the speakers. The band's energy is high throughout the whole album, like on the groovy “No Escape,” the unapologetic “Alien” or the melodic anthem “Lie to Me.” It feels almost wrong to listen alone in a room rather than with a circle pit forming around oneself, pulsating along with the music. (Don't miss out on experiencing the album live at its July 24 release [...]

"Edward Steichen And The Garden"at The George Eastman Housethru September 6, 2026Up from Brooklyn, New York, my brother, Paul Singer, stopped in for a summer visit, and we went out on a sunny day to The George Eastman House, and then later to The Memorial Art Gallery. Paul is a graphic designer and artist, so we like to go and see what is on view in the museums. I grew up in a family of artists and we are always curious about visual culture, and this week in Rochester, there are many reasons to go out and see the exhibitions.In my early years working in the arts, I was very involved as a botanical artist, so naturally I wanted to see the show now at The George Eastman House featuring "Edward Steichen And The Garden". Paul and I were both surprised to see paintings made by the American photographer, Edward Steichen, and we were really in awe of the work he did as a gardener who went way beyond the norm and developed award winning varieties of Delphiniums - beautiful tall flowers that were once presented at The Museum of Modern Art! ( See photo [...]

At Rochester Contemporary137 East AvenueRochester, New YorkHere we are at the beginning of a new season, and the art community here is a buzz. Talking with Bleu Cease, the seasoned Director at Rochester Contemporary, he mentions that this is the 19th year for the 6 x 6 show that recently opened at 137 East Avenue. He said that this year there is slightly more than 6000 entries for the show which is now up on the gallery walls! You could say that there is really something for everyone in this year's exhibition. At $20 per piece you could start an art collection, or add to the one you have already started!Great variety at the 2026 Summer Show for 6 x 6Since it is my birthday, I treat myself to a couple of interesting works of art, and I have just the right place in mind for them at my studio! It is remarkable what people can do with such a small dimension of 6 inches by 6 inches! I look for the standouts, these are the pieces which I find are memorable, but you might have already passed them up! I know [...]

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 [...]