Painting Meets Pottery: A Collaboration

When Susan Carmen-Duffy, founder of Create Art 4 Good, a studio and gallery in Rochester's Hungerford Building, invited me to participate in a collaborative art project, I said yes. Yes! I've always wanted to collaborate with other artists and see what trying to mesh distinct styles and mediums can inspire.

The collaboration guidelines are simple. Two artists both start pieces and exchange them two months later; then they each have another two months to complete the piece that's been given to them. Ten artists have been invited to participate and paired into five teams. Each team will produce two new works. The finished works will join the other collaborators' pieces and Susan will exhibit them in her gallery.

Susan chose Jennifer Buckley to be my partner. Jen is a friend from my Hungerford studio days; she's also a talented potter who makes functional pottery and incredibly popular garden totems.

Jen and I met to discuss options for how a painter and potter could work together and she showed me some interesting samples. I realized I could create a substrate using tools and materials that are comfortable for me and she could complete it by adding ceramic elements. She could even add a ceramic frame to a small painting.

When she showed me some little clay pieces she makes into buttons, I knew we could make it work.

Some of the little clay sculptures Jen makes in a variety of sizes, shapes and glazes.

I decided to create a 20" x 20" grid of textures and patterns using a variety of acrylic texture mediums and paints on a cradled wood panel. I decided different textures and patterns would give Jen a lot of inspiration. She can cover part or all of the surface.

Ready for Jen to create, glaze and glue design elements - I''m looking forward to seeing how she'll finish this.

Here's a close up slide show so you can see the textures more clearly. I'm trying to imagine what designs and colors Jen will choose to complete this, but we'll both have to wait until the exhibition to see the finished pieces.

In Part 2, I'll show you what I get from Jen to complete and try to figure out how I'm going to do that!

The More, the Merrier

To make room for this month's two new guest artists, Greg Pavlic and Jeananne Ralston, as well as Golden Palette Art Trail's featured artist, Scott Grove, I reset the whole space.

There's definitely variety and something to appeal to every taste and price range, whether you like Greg Pavlic's bold skies, Jeananne Ralston's atmospheric lake views or Scott Grove's unique contemporary furniture designs.

It's all working together - an eclectic array for sure with my nonobjective paintings in the mix - all ready for tomorrow afternoon's opening reception 4-7 PM. You'll have a great time seeing all these diverse works in one expansive space.

To introduce you to Greg and Jeananne, here is a little bit about them:

Skies, Oil paintings by Greg Pavlic, Waterloo 

Art and bass fishing are Greg's two greatest passions in life. He has been oil painting since he was in 8th grade. He has a BA in painting and a MA in art education from Montclair University, N.J.  Greg has been an avid bass fisherman since 1968. Retired since 2015, he competes in local, regional and state level tournaments. He is also an active member of Seneca County Arts Council in Seneca Falls.

Lake Lover, Acrylic paintings by Jeananne Cassarino Ralston, Canandaigua

​Using acrylic paint on canvas, Jeananne enjoys playing with hue, value and intensity in a somewhat improvisational manner. By showing her process with unrefined brushstrokes she evokes a memory or essence of a place. All of these paintings are from around Canandaigua lake. The results are “open field” paintings, some of which are very active and others unified and quiet. 

Jeananne is a Canandaigua native and lake lover. Her earliest memory of wanting to be an artist is from when her mother took her in hand to the Waterfront Art Festival. She studied with Fred Johnson at the Canandaigua Academy and has fond memories of designing silk screened posters for the music events. Jeananne earned a B.A. in 1985 with a double major in both music and art. She is presently teaching piano as an adjunct at FLCC and Hobart and William Smith colleges

Yes or No to a Second Story Sign?

If you have visited my gallery, you already know I'm not a downtown storefront. My entrance is on the Mill Street rather than the Main Street side of the building and I'm on the second floor. I absolutely love my space and have not found anything nicer in all of downtown, so moving would be a tough, plus more expensive, choice.

The front of my building. The second story Mischief and Laughs sign is where my sign would go. My gallery is upstairs, directly above the engraving shop. I share a Mill St. entry with the coffee shop.

Many visitors have suggested I put a sign on the front of the building. I wasn't sure it would help.

Now, however, my neighbor Cara, who runs a photography studio in the 1,000 square foot space next door to mine (interested? it will be available and would be another great studio space), will be relocating with her family to Cincinnatti, Ohio at the end of the summer. She won't be needing her signs or the hanger when she moves and would be happy to sell it to me. I am looking into the costs of recovering her circular sign or replacing it. Then I will have a sign for the gallery on Main Street. But will it make a difference?

I just purchased a sandwich board to set outside on Main Street when I'm open for people walking on the street to see. Today is the first day it's been out so I don't know if having it there will attract more people to visit.

Here's what I'm trying to determine. Will having a sign on the second story of the building increase traffic? Is it money well spent or would I do better to spend that money on advertising?