What's Showing in the Banks, April-July

Three relatively new members of GVCA are showing their work alongside our wonderful friends from the Genesee Valley Fiber Arts Guild in the Mini Gallery rotation that begins on March 31. See the box below for our bank partners’ locations and artist assignments.

First is Rocyeun Kim, who came to visit us a few years ago shortly after moving to Rochester. Roc holds a BFA and MFA in Western Painting from Chung Ang University in Korea as well as an MFA from Mount Royal School of Art in Baltimore. She jumped right into our arts council by participating in the 2007 Members’ Exhibit and has anxiously awaited her chance to show her work in the Mini Gallery Program. Livingston County, you’re in for a treat.

Roc states her work is about personal narrative, relationship and identity. “All people have various relationships with other people as they are living in society, not only living their lives, but also as members of society. I seek to express the differences between someone’s perceived role and what he/she wants in the pursuit of his/her individual life.” She incorporates diverse materials such as found objects, fabric, metal and paper, photographs and paintings.

For example, one of her works is a set of black and white photographs of one of her sculptures, “untitled.” The piece is composed of many piles of newspaper bound by strings, each with a unique shape. When all the piles lie in a group, each pile does not look special and is just like a part of an organism, however, each photograph is as singular as a person. Roc tells us, “All of these oppositions are contained in the work, and I want to encourage the viewers to interact with the separate identities.”

Roc also has interest in a feminist perspective. She explains, “I have different names wherever I am. It changes me as I acquire one more name. A name such as woman, wife, artist, offers one of the positions belonging to a society and provides a feeling of belonging with pre-existing responsibilities, rules and ethics. My work explores the differences between what is, what is expected, and what is perceived.”

Another new member of GVCA is David Matthews, and we’re delighted that he “found” us and we are able to introduce Dave’s paintings to our communities through the Mini Gallery Program.

Dave writes, “I started my self-taught journey with watercolors as a creative outlet and a record of my travels. Inspiration has come from mountains climbed, paths traversed, ruins discovered, history and culture exposed. In each piece, I strive to capture the interplay of light and shadow towards a feeling of realism.” Dave has exhibited in arts festivals and charity auctions in Arizona and local businesses in Geneseo, where he currently resides.

The Genesee Valley Fiber Arts Guild’s Mini Gallery exhibit new exhibit opens at Community Bank, Mount Morris. Fibers Afoot will portray anything related to footwear, from gilded shoes and handmade socks to who knows what. Come see this imaginative display created by Guild members.

The Genesee Valley Fiber Arts Guild offers a forum for exchange of information and inspiration among its members, to educate, develop, and promote the fiber arts. Meetings are held on the second Saturday of the January, March, May, July, September and November at the Lakeville United Church of Christ. For more information, email gvfag@yahoo.com.

And, while it is sad to share this, the Fiber Arts Guild will be discontinuing their participation in the Mini Gallery Program. The arts council is so thankful for their unique and clever displays, all of which tell us that fiber arts are alive and well. We have been the beneficiaries of their commitment to this program and willingness to share their creativity with the broader community. We’ll miss you all!

Kathleen Armitage of Cohocton is the last artist in this rotation. She received a BS in Art Education with a minor in Ceramics from Kutztown College (Pennsylvania, 1981) and moved to the Finger Lakes in 2006 from the Philadelphia area.

She tells us that she has had several career paths, such as owning and managing Armitage Antique Lighting store for ten years, kennel manager, dog trainer, insurance agent and landlord, but painting has remained a constant. “Art,” she writes, “has always been the single most motivating factor in my life. I have always tried to vary painting and ceramic mediums -- push the boundaries. For the most part, in the past 15 years, I have developed and enjoyed a unique painting medium and style that evolved from certain needs in my life. The techniques are sometimes indecipherable. Mediums were mixed before it was fashionable. Using various combinations of watercolor and paper, acrylic, oil/wax paint, leather, wood, sculpted composition and urethane, the finished paintings have a ceramic/glazed-like effect. Primarily derived from nature, the subject matter plays upon imaginary vision, embellishment, accidental as well as deliberate paint application.”

In the past several years, Kathleen began En-Plein-Aire (painting outside) for the first time. Using oil on canvas, she tries to pick up the essence of a place and express her emotions and impressions of the moment. Kathleen describes it as meditation more than a time to paint realistically. The move to Cohocton finds her experimenting with jewelry as well.

Kathleen exhibits at Artizanns in Naples, Lost Lake Gallery in Dansville, Honeoye Falls Mill Gallery, All Things Art Gallery in Canandaigua, Smith Opera House in Geneva, and at her home studio in Cohocton.

Kathleen and Dave have also committed to our Capstone Exhibition, which precedes their Mini Gallery rotation. The closing reception on March 28 (see details below) provides the unique opportunity to meet these two talented individuals.

Thank you to our bank partners. Excepting legal holidays, banks open at 9am Monday through Friday. The exhibits are free and open to the public.

To participate in the Mini Gallery Program, contact Salome Farraro at GVCA, 243-6785 or Salome@gvcaonline.org .

Click here to contact us or request more information.