More emerging artists coming of age in Rochester at the Corn Hill Arts Festival

More emerging artists coming of age in Rochester at the Corn Hill Arts Festival
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Chloe Smith’s portrait of Frida Kahlo de Rivera. 7/14/18

Corn Hill

Chalk artist Chloe Smith. 7/14/18

As seen in Emerging artists coming of age in Rochester at the Corn Hill Arts Festival (2016)  (BELOW), the Emerging Artists Expo at the Corn Hill Arts Festival is one of the most energized and stimulating features of the two day celebration of the arts (and some mini-golf.)

As fans clogged Adams Street to enjoy the work of artists coming of age, I met a few of the talented potters, painters and muralists.

A graduate of RIT and a previous participant in the Expo, Chloe Smith was invited to welcome visitors with chalk art on the Adams Street entrance.  Chloe also had a booth displaying a colorfully rendered portrait of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo de Rivera.

As seen in a recent City Newspaper article, Chloe painted in the Wall Therapy mural project at the Arnett Library.

Chloe 2 word-page0001She is also a substitute teacher in the Wheatland-Chili district. Substitute teaching offers Chloe the time and flexibility to follow her artistic visions, while also allowing her to encourage young students in their own artistic pursuits.

Bri Burke lives in the Corn Hill neighborhood so this is her home turf. She finally applied to the Emerging Artists venue after several years of “enviously watching” the exhibits.

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Bri Burke with her pottery.

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A graduate of Our Lady of Mercy High School, Bri completed a Post Baccalaureate year at Kansas State University after earning her BFA at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred.  Bri uses “mediums underestimated in their ability to convey complex meaning, and create a quiet moment for the viewer to consider what lies in the shadow.” In this way, she illuminates the unacknowledged realities she encounters as a black woman.

Bri will be on her way to Minnesota after gaining a prestigious year long Emerging Artist Residency at the Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis. The residency allows her to work with master ceramicists and in a state-of-the-art studio. Luckily for Rochester, Bri will be returning to her home turf where she hopes to be for the long haul.

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Kaori-Mei Stephens (with Mom).

Kaori-Mei Stephens recently graduated from The Harley School where she was honored by the Princeton Club of Rochester for work in improving race relations.  Kaori-Mei raves about Harley’s Art Department that she thinks prepares students at a college — or even higher — level. Kaori-Mei has participated in murals done on Clarissa Street and at the Flying Squirrel.

Kaori-Mei will attend Pepperdine University. Luckily for Rochester, Kaori-Mei wants to make her hometown her artistic home.inner loop

This year another fun feature on Adams Street was mini-golf.  A local developer, Matthew Denker of the Inner Loop Country Club, set up an 8 hole miniature golf course on a vacant lot with prizes for winners. Actually, the course used to be 9 holes but Matt gave away the 9th hole to a prize winner. As seen, I nailed a hole in one.

Nearby, at the Channel 8 News kiosk was another mini-golf adventure.  When I told the Coordinator about Matt’s venue she good-naturedly called him a “copy cat” and claimed her prizes were better.

I again nailed a hole in one. For the photo-op, the Coordinator asked that I recreate Payne Stewarts’ iconic victory pose from the 2014 US Open.  Stewart’s pose was made into a bronze statue as might mine — for the 2019 Emerging Artists Expo at the Corn Hill Festival.new mini-page0001

THE 2016 STORY

Emerging artists coming of age in Rochester at the Corn Hill Arts Festival

female gaze

with Emily Patton, Corn Hill Arts Festival Emerging Artists Expo, 7/9/16 [Photo: one of Emily’s fans]

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Harley School senior Aden Seeley. Aden foresees studying and making art in NYC. Corn Hill Arts Festival Emerging Artists Expo, 7/9/16

After three young emerging Rochester artists, Anna Overmoyer, Krit Upra and Emily Bellinger, joined our visual conversation, the Corn Hill Festival’s Emerging Artist Expo was a must-see.

At the Expo, 21 artists — ages 16 – 25 chosen by audition — displayed handmade paper, paintings, drawings, pottery, ceramic, mixed media, photography and printmaking. Many were grads of Nazareth, Alfred and RIT with high schools represented by Victor and Harley.

Holding a BFA from Alfred, with a minor in Women’s Studies, and a Master’s in Art Education from Nazareth, Emily Patton describes herself as a “research artist.” Emily’s work is self-consciously informed by feminist art theory and visual cultural studies. Having written her thesis at Alfred on representations of lingerie and burlesque, Emily’s project is to see how the “male gaze” — a termed popularized by Laura Mulvey in 1975 — can be re-imagined and embodied as a “female or feminist gaze.”

Emily says her display in the Expo is meant to “reclaim the classic American pin up” into a genre empowering and celebrating women’s presence and sexuality.

pin ups

by Emily Patton, Corn Hill Arts Festival Emerging Artists Expo, 7/10/16 [Photo: Emily]

At the entrance to Emily’s tent were two campy spoofs on the classic pin-up, two women offering gazers beer and not-so-come-hither smiles.

But inside and on the outside tent flap were 5 richly and luxuriantly rendered female subjects. As the women look outward and directly at the viewer, the full presence of the expressive figures is felt. In the classic pin-up tradition, women are normally rendered as objectified and passive sex kittens.

While the works stand on their own, Emily says the context of their production is fundamental to the overall message. Pushing back against the power dynamics within the pin-up tradition in which male producers (and by extension male consumers) direct the poses, appearance and countenances of the female models, Emily’s models exercised full control.

In the pre-painting photographs, the women — all Emily’s friends — chose their clothes, positional gestures, lighting, etc. The woman selected the photograph Emily would make into the paintings, providing input throughout the process .

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by Emily Patton, Corn Hill Arts Festival Emerging Artists Expo, 7/9/16 [Photo: Emily’]

The premise Emily offered the women was to imagine the sensations, emotional and physical, they might feel after an uninterrupted weekend spent with their boyfriends.

Emily chose “boyfriend” because at the time all the women were in heterosexual relationships. But Emily says “lover” would have worked equally well, and perhaps better. The results convey the experience from the women’s perspectives — as subjects not objects.

Emily wants the display to push back against any hesitation viewers might have entering the tent with its potential undertones of a strip joint or even a brothel. Men especially need not feel prurient, like a voyeur or even a peeping tom. By contrast, in the re-imagined pinup montage, the subjects emanate a welcoming and inviting aura where viewers see not just bodies but full women.

If you want, Emily invites viewers to pick their favorite portrait. When doing so, I tried to put aside my Y chromosome and the male gaze of sexual objectification.

Now visually embracing the figures as full women. Each comely, complex and interesting in her own way. Perhaps imagining it was I who that weekend inspired the rosy glows and satisfied smiles born of closeness. On this relaxed and ambling perfect July day, I impressionistically chose the woman (return of the Y chromosome?) who seemed the most low maintenance. And — as gauged through Emily’s insider knowledge — I had.

Bearded, dressed in jeans and t-shirt, Ryan Martin embodies the kind of vivid, gritty urban art he makes. Raised in Rochester neighborhoods, Ryan lives near the Public Market and has a Railroad Street Studio.

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Ryan Martin, Corn Hill Arts Festival Emerging Artists Expo, 7/9/16 Be sure to check out Ryan’s campaign on IndieGoGo on September 1st

In his tent were works and styles from multiple genres(instagram): hats, clothing, t-shirts and impressionistic semi-graffiti-like paintings. Designed to be worn or hung on a wall, each work is infused by the energy of urban life. Ryan’s eclectic tent mirrors his sense of rich community life in which artist, wearer and viewer are symbiotic.

Ryan explained why working and being in the city is important for him:

Living in my urban environment puts me in the heart of Rochester. I am able to see a side to the city many are afraid of, and don’t understand. My art reflects this kind of underground culture and the many anxieties/ attitudes of my surroundings.

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Ryan with his girlfriend, Kendra Hitchins, Graduate Art Therapy Intern at Charles Carroll Elementary School, Corn Hill Arts Festival Emerging Artists Expo, 7/9/16 Be sure to check out Ryan’s campaign on IndieGoGo on September 1st

I reflect the hard and “dirty” do it yourself type attitude of the real Rochester working class. Being self made in every way. Overall, the division in social classes is extremely prominent here in the city, much like Providence and the rest of the nation. I have no fear of exploring and meeting those around me, and try to in a way represent them, their struggle, and their attitude thru my work.

Interestingly, both Ryan and I lived in Providence, Rhode Island: Ryan received his BFA from Providence College and I was in the city during its so-called renaissance in the mid to late 90s. Both Ryan and I noted similarities. Rochester and Providence are similar in size and both have thriving college and university art communities. Here, the UofR, RIT and Nazareth; there, Brown, PC and RISD.

But, as we agreed, Providence is overshadowed by Boston just up the road, often absorbing or sucking up Providence’s creative energy. On the other hand, Rochester benefits from being a regional center in which Buffalo and Syracuse are not at all overbearing presences.

At the same time, Ryan does feels the seductive pull of New York City as the place where art happens. He says at about 25 or 26 many Rochester artists have to decide: should I stay or should I go? At 24, Ryan can see the decision in the horizon. But Ryan relishes the history, tradition and vibrancy of the Rochester art scene. He likes living near the Public Market, making his urban art enjoying the art of others in the community. I hope he stays.

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Kayleigh Olive, Corn Hill Arts Festival Emerging Artists Expo, 7/9/16

Like several of the exhibitors (including Emily), Kayleigh Olive is also an art educator. Having received both a B.S. in Art Education and a Master of Science in Education, Art Education from Nazareth, Kayleigh had trained and worked in watercolor, oil, and acrylic paintings, three dimensionally with clay and digital collage and story telling.

For Kayleigh, teaching and making art are inseparable. Kayleigh says students see her and their own work differently when they know after school she passionately practices her craft, often exploring new mediums she can then bring into the classroom.card

In Kayleigh’s tent were many finely-crafted watercolors and well-wrought sculptures. While Kayleigh likes working in genres that might be considered decorative, she relishes following her own personal artistic vision, painting, as she says, “what I see” — and what is most meaningful for her.

war

by Kayleigh Olive, Corn Hill Arts Festival Emerging Artists Expo, 7/9/16

For example, she is holding a precocious self-portrait done at twenty. In her war painting, she captures the cycle of violent death passed on from generation to generation.

From Long Island — in that shadow of NYC — in her seven years in Rochester Kayleigh has seen the art community grow and thrive. Although she calls herself a “traveling artist,” Kayleigh is happy to call Rochester home.

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Rebecca Boone with her cat. Corn Hill Arts Festival Emerging Artists Expo, 7/9/16

Like many of the artists, Rebecca Boone would love to make her passions a full time occupation. An RIT grad majoring in Journalism, last taking an art class 2 1/2 years ago, Rebecca’s creativity was dormant.

Then one day last spring, Rebecca’s urge to make art re-emerged when she drew a sketch of her cat. Since then Rebecca has been on a roll, and was thrilled to be chosen for the expo. Rebecca’s dream is to leave her current job and pursue her art full-time. Rebecca also wants to WWOOF around the world, drawing and drawing inspiration.

About The Author

dkramer3@naz.edu

Welcome to Talker of the Town! My name is David Kramer. I have a Ph.D in English and teach at Keuka College. I am a former and still active Fellow at the Nazareth College Center for Public History and a Storyteller in Residence at the SmallMatters Institute. Over the years, I have taught at Monroe Community College, the Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher College. I have published numerous Guest Essays, Letters, Book Reviews and Opinion pieces in The New York Times, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Buffalo News, the Rochester Patriot, the Providence Journal, the Providence Business News, the Brown Alumni Magazine, the New London Day, the Boston Herald, the Messenger Post Newspapers, the Wedge, the Empty Closet, the CITY, Lake Affect Magazine and Brighton Connections. My poetry appears in The Criterion: An International Journal in English and Rundenalia and my academic writing in War, Literature and the Arts and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Starting in February 2013, I wrote for three Democratic and Chronicle  blogs, "Make City Schools Better," "Unite Rochester," and the "Editorial Board." When my tenure at the D & C  ended, I wanted to continue conversations first begun there. And start new ones.  So we created this new space, Talker of the Town, where all are invited to join. I don’t like to say these posts are “mine.” Very few of them are the sole product of my sometimes overheated imagination. Instead, I call them partnerships and collaborations. Or as they say in education, “peer group work.” Talker of the Town might better be Talkers of the Town. The blog won’t thrive without your leads, text, pictures, ideas, facebook shares, tweets, comments and criticisms.

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