Somedays I get little art scene envy, my friends. I remember eyedrum and fishbone andJustine and Ruth Laxson and MOCA in Atlanta. I blogsurf and see all the projects and people and ideas and galleries and open studios and whatnot that Carolyn has in Seattle and Anna has in San Fran and Todd is swimming in NYC (when he's not in Spain that is) and I notice that Martin has no shortage of art to see in DC.

I wonder if my beloved and happily returned to region of upstate new dork (what we used to call it back in high school) isn't as culturally backward and forgettable as it felt in my adolescence. My face falls. I stare at my feet.

And then twenty minutes later I'm convinced again that art gets made anywhere and enough folks with a passion to create, dilligence, smarts, and the time to brew careful and honest art are as present per capita in my neighborhood as they are in yours. I swear I can prove it, only I'm a little sleepy tonight. But I stand tall in my knowledge that if I see as many artists working hard, if I hear as much creativity as I do, if there continues to be profiles and expanded arts coverage... it's just gotta be real. There is a creative community here in Rochester.

And all over upstate. Ithaca seems to be teeming with artists and Buffalo has a pretty good art scene (living is cheap, it's too cold to be pretentious and Ani is there making things a little easier for Hallwalls and what not).

I'm going to try to calm my big city envy because I really am where I want to be. I have fewer obstacles to making art than ever before (the landlord called the other day to offer me more space to paint in, would that ever happen in a big city?) and when I want to ride public transportation to a big art fair I can get my behind to Toronto. Our fast ferry , Rochester's very own "springfield monorail " is going to be running soon but alas not soon enough to get us to the glowing house in time.

Thats it and there ain't no more for tonight except that I am collecting more upstate artstate info and will continue to fill you in on it. No more art scene envy for me, kids, I gotta better things to do with my time. Draw, sleep, and work. Rinse and repeat.

take good care,
Rachael

So the report is short: the weekend was sunny and warm-ish, we ate good food and spent good time with family, I spent more time cleaning and reading than I did drawing and painting but tonight looks different. I am inspired by watching little kids dressed up in pastels going bonkers for eggs and chocolate. I want to mix everything with white and paint pastels. Maybe (hopefully) it'll pass but in the meantime, I've got a treat to share from my inbox: 

OPEN CALL

With this open call, Art in General publicly launches its new commissions program to develop and exhibit, in its galleries or beyond, challenging new projects by artists. The application process invites New York-based artists to propose projects in any medium or discipline, from painting to sculpture to performance to video to other, perhaps undefined, types of art or inter-disciplinary work.

This open call is for artists with studio or post-studio artistic practices. It has no thematic or spatial parameters. Artists can choose to present a proposal based on long-standing or emerging interests. The selected proposals will be developed and presented during 2005–2006.

VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR MORE INFO: www.artingeneral.org
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: MAY 15, 2005

I sure like the cheerleaders...

Ok, see ya,
Rachael

Do we ever truly know all the secrets hidden in our neighborhoods?

Granted that I'm still new around here but I keep finding that there are plenty of smart painters around here and other artists blogging and creative people drawing and sharing daily. This is a creative community and lookit, Mike K.is coming to town.

Today I heard a seven year old girl sing, "I love to draw, I love to draw, I love to, I love, I love to...DRAW!" over and over and over again. Why do so many people lose that? What fer?

This stuff...the making, the messing, the sharing, the changing, the connecting...is the important stuff. Isn't it?

"I love to draw, I love to draw, I love to, I love, I love to...DRAW!"
"I love to draw, I love to draw, I love to, I love, I love to...DRAW!"
"I love to draw, I love to draw, I love to, I love, I love to...DRAW!"

Below is an attempt, sloppy but fun, to draw in photoshop. I'll be sticking to my pencil and paintbrush mostly but we learn by trying and changing, growing and going, more soon...

Keep singing it, kids, and take good care,
Rachael

My work inspires my art. The work I do is never very far from the art I make. It's all one big messy pile and I do see similar truths in the lives of other working artists I know. I love stories about how others weave their art into their lives (like this guy at google , a story I saw on the new flashy and smart artkrush).

Every day this week I have met an amazing person who with perserverance (the true characteristic of an artist?), wit, and a smile makes magical things. I might be (ok, I am) tired at the end of the day, but I know that I do work I believe in and I treat people fairly. It was a treat to read Keri's experience creating while she day jobbed (part time) recently and of course, a kick to hear all the compliments from all of my co-workers. Compliments never hurt.

I'm done reading Maxwell and now am back intoThoreau, edging my way through Economy and thinking about
the scary truth about hunger in this country and how the statistics about the working poor are scary.

So, again, I pick up my paintbrush and stand on my soapbbox and wonder how I can help in any small way. A painting in trade for anyone who makes a hefty donation to their local foodbank? Not a bad idea...Wanna take me up on that?

see ya,
Rachael

Rochester's daily paper, The Democrat and Chronicle, has been running a series of artist profiles in their Living section for the past few months. I am this week's featured artist. We'd have a great awareness of how much art was made in this country if every local paper ran a feature like this (it's very easy to be considered if you are a Rochester area artist, you just need to do a little bit of paperwork)...

I'm glad they chose to focus on the angle they did, it really did take me many years from the time my painting teacher looked me in the eye and said, "you are an artist," to the day when I trusted that about myself. That development (wouldn't say it's over yet, either) didn't happen in isolation but because I had access to a community of creative people through the art schools, non-profit art centers, the museums, the fellow artists, and the teachers and students I've met. My point is, frankly, that I have never seen anyone born an artist but I have seen plenty of people work hard to learn how to make art and spend a lot of time making it. The reason I am constantly working to de-mystify the role of the artist is because I pretty firmly believe that hard work trumps talent, that drawing is a learnable skill, and the whole process is (forgetting for the moment the paintings that are driving me crazy right now) amazing.

I'm off to draw, finish my book (So Long, See you Tomorrow), and try not to let my newly puffed ego get in the way. One of my Atlanta weed paintings, Another Humid Acre, is below, for no good reason except that not many have seen it...

take good care,
Rachael



In case there are folks coming to this blog from the D&C article, I'll point you to my other website which has more art and trouble on it, including some small paintings for sale. If you are new here, just scroll down and follow the earlier entries links to peruse. This blog is over a year old and full of entries about all sorts of things, and their are links to a bunch of other interesting artist and art related blogs and sites to the side there. I'm actively looking for upstate art blogs so let me know if you know of any, and welcome!