Upcoming Receptions
Matt Demers
Reception: Thursday, January 23, 2020 (6-8pm) Rochester Performance & Arts Center (RPAC) Matt Demers is a visual Artist living in Gardiner, Maine. His work has been featured in a variety of venues including Jumee Kim Gallery, UMVA Gallery, Frank Brockman Gallery, Common Street Arts, Sheepscot General Gallery, Harmon’s and Barton’s Gallery, Harlow Gallery, and many more. Learn more at www.mattdemersart.com. "I grew up making the kind of crafts you make out of toilet paper tubes and pipe cleaners, coloring outside the lines of coloring books, scribbling everywhere and on everything, reading old comics, and customizing everything I owned. My childhood home was very old and filled with old stuff which led to my passion for old objects and material." "I studied graphic arts in high school and college and I was really inspired by graffiti and street art at that time. I’ve worked as a screen printer, embroiderer, sign maker, antiques dealer, and gravedigger. These are the things that have shaped me the most and affect my observation and inspiration. I create non objective compositions working quickly and spontaneously using elements of all these things to create new visual objects with a variety of materials and techniques." 
Lisa Paige
Reception: Thursday, January 23, 2020 (6-8pm) Rochester Performance & Arts Center (RPAC) "I once was a painter. Making art my whole life. But after finishing art school I was burnt out. The entire art world, the pretense, the self-importance of making art all day and then pandering to a following which an artist depends to make a living. It felt tight. Inspiration and passion ran low... I became a nurse. A really good cardiac nurse actually. There is much involved in medical science that is like creating art. Observing, connecting threads, processes, tactile work, every patient is different and requires creative thinking to meet help heal them. My paints were ignored for years, however I missed making. Therefore I started trying out complicated recipes, making children’s clothes, sewing costumes, recreating Masterworks with perler beads and the odd painting here and there. I stumbled upon embroidery. The thread making marks similar to the way I once painted strokes. The subject matter though was just fun, not constricted or stuffy. It’s enjoyable to embroider subjects not traditionally thought to be decorative. To pair flowery fabrics with ham or lumberjack plaid with a uterus. The juxtaposition when pairing subject and fabric is a joy. And bonus, I get to create art while watching my children or on my lunch break at the hospital, relaxing in bed before falling asleep because thread is portable and the residual mess is nothing compared to oil paint. So many people have returned to embroidery lately as an art form, you could talk about it being elevated from craft to art, with the comfort of why you do it as an artist as opposed to being able to paint, because it's handy and you can pick it up easily and keep returning to it. There is a turning away from slick commercial art, back to "evidence of hand" people want to know the art they are holding was made by someone that is accessible to them and not high brow. Our grandmothers embroidered so it connects us through time and place. The irreverent subject matter makes it even more accessible because it's humorous." 
Josh Dannin
Reception: Thursday, January 23, 2020 (6-8pm) Rochester Performance & Arts Center (RPAC) Josh Dannin is an artist and printmaker based in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Working primarily with relief and risograph print processes, he is interested in the intersection between modern technology, traditional craft, and mass production. Dannin has a BFA in Printmaking and Photography from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania and an MFA in printmaking from Ohio University. His printed and bound works have been exhibited both nationally and internationally. Dannin runs Directangle Press, a small printshop that specializes in letterpress and risograph printing and publishing. He co-edits Power Washer Zine: a semiannual publication about screenprinting that asks soft questions and thinks hard thoughts. In addition to running group workshops at Directangle Press, he teaches printmaking, letterpress, and design at Saint Anselm College and the New Hampshire Institute of Art. 
Susan Schwake
Reception: Thursday, February 13, 2020 (6-8pm) Mayor Harvey E. Bernier Room Susan Schwake is an artist, art educator, and best selling author. In her artwork, she is inspired most by the natural world and the changes it goes through – both inherent and external forces. She often abstracts these interactions through simplification, distortion, heightened or changed color and viewpoint. She works with ink, acrylic, watercolor, gouache and paper on paper, panel and canvas. Her work has been exhibited on the East Coast of the US, Mexico and Europe. Susan is also an owner and art teacher at Artstream Studios in Rollinsford NH. Her students, both children and adult have inspired her endlessly for the past 25 years. She has written six books about making art with children to date, with a seventh one being published early next year. She paints and draws most every day. Learn more at www.susanschwake.com. |
About UsThe Rochester Museum of Fine Arts is a community art initiative dedicated to the accessibility of contemporary works made by regionally, nationally, and internationally recognized artists.
Founded in 2011, the museum works to enrich people’s lives through the presentation of fine art. The museum is located in the Rochester Community Center (Suite 135) and Rochester Public Library.
The historic Andrew Carnegie Gallery (at the Rochester Public Library) and Mayor Harvey E. Bernier Room (at the Rochester Community Center, Suite 135) feature temporary art exhibits by emerging and seasoned artists, on an alternating monthly basis. The museum also curates The Art Gallery at the Rochester Performance & Arts Center (RPAC). support usAll gifts to the museum are meaningful, no matter how big or small. Donations from community members help us to realize our goals to present exceptional exhibits and events to the public. Your contribution will not only allow us to continue to fulfill our mission but to further deepen our impact in the community.
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