Not that it is ever easy or lucrative to be an artist but two recent calls for artists came my way and I want to share them. I'm debating applying for the first and my application was accepted to the other (so that maybe means they make some good decisions and are sweet on painters, maybe it just means I'm sweet on them).

Painting traffic signal boxes on the west side of Rochester
I went to an information session for a project that will hire artists to paint the traffic signal boxes in my neighborhood. Similar to what happened in Stamford, CT and was reported in an article in the New York Time and Brisbane's Artforce and Palm Desert and the west shore of Tampa Beach designed to clear up what are pretty dull and ugly boxes. Artist Vanessa Stafford made a little movie about a similar project. In Rochester's case, the mission is also booster-ism and re-development.
Here's what I know about it right now:


Stop! Look! Art! Traffic Box Art
Call for EntriesArtWest announces a call for entries for Stop! Look! Art! an outdoor
public art gallery in which mini-murals will be created on traffic
signal boxes. Artists selected by a jury of neighborhood leaders and
community artists will create works at intersections through
SouthWest Rochester's five main business corridors.
Artists 18 years of age or older residing in the Greater
Rochester/Monroe County metropolitan area are eligible. Artists
residing in the City of Rochester may be given preference. Stipends
will be provided for winning entries.
For additional information please contact Sector 4 Community Development 585-328-
5750, 585-455-6921 or e-mail to sector4cdc@yahoo. com
Stop! Look! Art!
is the inaugural project of ArtWest, a subsidiary of Sector 4
Community Development Corporation dedicated to the creation, funding
and promotion of visual and performance art in SouthWest Rochester.
Stop! Look! Art!
is made possible through the award of a Culture Builds Communities
grant by the Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester,
the City of Rochester, and Citibank.
CONTACT
Sector 4 Community Development
E-Mail: sector4cdc@yahoo. com

and in the next few days more resources should be available at their website at http://www.sector4cdc.org/.


Art Bars are looking for artists
The Chocolate bars are Ithaca Fine Chocolates and yes, I was an Art Bar artist a few years ago. I ate my body weight in those chocolate bars and I got a small sprinkle of fame but most rewarding was knowing that at least two people kept my trading card. They support art education and chose good artists like these ones. And the chocolate truly is yummy. Their call for artists is below straight from my inbox:



Dear Artists,

Hello, everyone! Please forward the call for artists (attached and
pasted in below) to anyone you think might be interested.... The
deadline for submissions is next Friday, July 27, 2007.

Hope you're all enjoying the summer!

~Erika
--------------------------------------------

CALL FOR ARTISTS

The mission of Ithaca Fine Chocolates is to both promote the works of
contemporary artists and directly fund art education programs through
Art Bars. Art Bars are exquisite, organic, and fair trade certified
Swiss chocolate bars that feature an art reproduction by a contemporary

adult artist or an international child artist on a card inside the
wrapper. A minimum of ten percent of profits from sales are donated to
the International Child Art Foundation in Washington, DC, and the
Community School of Music & Arts in Ithaca, NY.

Twenty-four total artists ranging from emerging to internationally
known, such as Patrick Dougherty, Carrie Mae Weems, Jim Goldberg, Buzz
Spector, and Kay WalkingStick are selected annually. Images of the
works are included in our online gallery and on the art card
reproductions, which are sent out with the bars nationwide for one year

beginning in November. The original works may be featured in an
exhibition in the Ithaca gallery from November through December.

Art Bars have been covered in such publications as the New York Times,
Art News, Time Magazine, and USA Today. They are currently available
for
purchase in forty-four states in venues such as museum stores, opera
houses, theaters and specialty and natural food stores. There is no
commission taken on art sales made through the art cards or the online
gallery. Sales made in connection with an Ithaca show require a 20%
commission to help defray exhibition costs. Selected artists receive a
free case of up to 25 Art Bars featuring their own image and a lifetime

artist discount on any subsequent Art Bar purchases.

If you are interested in having your work featured in Art Bars, please
submit the following by July 27, 2007:
- 5-10 digital images in jpg format at 72 dpi only
- numbered image list, including the title, medium, date and dimensions

of each image. Please be sure that the image document names are both
numbered and titled to match the image list.
- artist statement (one page maximum)
- resume, including mailing address, email and telephone number (one
page maximum)

Please note that reproductions are printed on cards measuring 1 3/4 x
4" for the small bars and 2 3/4 x 4 1/2" for the large bars. A selected
work must be available in a good print-quality digital image (300 dpi or
greater).

Please name each document in the following format:
last name, comma, first name, document title
Examples:
Modigliani, Amedeo Resume
Modigliani, Amedeo 1. Portrait of Young Woman

Email submissions to:
erika@ithacafinechocolates.com
or mail them to:
Ithaca Fine Chocolates Art Panel
125 Heights Court
Ithaca, NY 14850

A panel of artists, art historians and museum professionals reviews the applications. Selected artists will be notified by September.

For more information about the mission and philosophies of Ithaca Fine
Chocolates or to view the works of previous Art Bar artists, please
visit www.ithacafinechocolates.com


So , then, I think we all essentially try to make good work, make plenty of it, and not hide it when opportunities arise.
take care,
Rachael

good luck!

Lucinda sang like a bird (maybe one with a broken wing or two, healed up mostly and more resilient for the breaks) and we were charmed by the space of the old armory.

I left my sketchbook at work which was dumb and meant I couldn't sketch the gathering crowd or Charlie Louvins up on the stage with his suspenders and cowboy hat. I don't know that I would have been able to draw but I certainly enjoyed seeing everyone dance their own personal sexy dance, from the biker guy playing air guitar to the young dancer moving to the music (and the moment they collided).

I'm not a professional music critic, but Jeff Spevak is and his report matches my memory about right.

goodnight then,
Rachael



some proof is in this video from my friend Amy's brother, Mark, close to the stage when she sang
unchain my heart

Well, it gets even better. Since it may rain tomorrow night, Lucinda Williams will be playing a free show in the concert venue right around the corner from where I work. She'll be in the Main Street Armory and this show will be great.

see ya there, rochesterians.

Rachael

I know Rochester, NY is not an art mecca like New York City or San Francisco or Chicago or LA but I also firmly believe that it is not only possible but advisable to make art wherever one may be geographically located. There's a bunch of creative and interesting things happening in the small city where I live.


For example:

in my small city, a young couple of non-profiters can buy a good solid house at a very reasonable price (our monthly mortage on a two bedroom, hardwood filled, 1917 house with all sorts of charm is equal to what we paid in rent for a small one bedroom apartment in metro Atlanta)

we drive simple calm 10 minute commutes to work.

it is harder for an art market in a smaller city to be driven by galleries. With artists increasingly showing in non-profit spaces, in open-studios in their own spaces, and in coffeeshops and whatnot the public truly will reward artists who are making work that matters to people who may not have big pockets of disposable income.

the artworld as I see it and experience it is one of community more than competition and with limited resources available for artists to sell work, get commissions, find teaching positions and all that, more artists are connecting and combining efforts than beating each other up

In the next couple of weeks in Rochester and nearby, there are a bunch of things I'm looking forward to:

there's a show of drawings at the Rochester Contemporary which will include opportunities to pry open sketchbooks, see drawing process, and draw along

a barbeque (rather an art-a-que) organized by artists for artists in a few days

There are some books published by the vibrant poetry press here, BOA editions, that I want to read and

my city is bringing Lucinda Williams to town to sing for the people in a free concert in a beautiful downtown location on July 19th. While we are expecting all of the area to come out for this, it simply rocks that she'll be singing for us...

There's more but that's all I am remembering right now. Forgive me for my city boosterism, use the resources if you are nearby, and remember that art and communty are everywhere.

I'll step off of my soapbox right about now and get to sleep but thanks for listening,
Rachael

Hunting down images of offices in the 1920s and 30s, I found this photo of posters in an office by Russell Lee (Russell Lee. (American, 1903-1986). Bulletin Board in Post Office Showing a Large Collection of "Wanted Men" Signs, Ames, Iowa. 1936. Gelatin silver print, 7 1/2 x 9 1/8" (19 x 23.1 cm)) and this image of postal workers from Stamford Connecticut, 1926.



We're all anonymous after we are gone, the hunted and the deliverers and I simply wanted to share these rich images of anonymous men.

take care and record your world,
Rachael