Integrated Voices: A Female Perspective

Update on the exhibition:

The work is starting to come in to be carefully hung in my gallery. I am ecstatic! There are so many lessons learned, so much incredible work. I cannot wait to share this with you. 

Our story: Several years ago I had an idea about a collaborative exhibition. These are usually three am moments and often they take a bit of time to perk for a little while. Last year, I decided to proceed with the idea.

For me, it was about choosing the right people. The requirements were simple. Talented, cooperative, kind, tenacious, and intelligent women. This would definitely be a challenge, but attainable, I was certain.  

Of the thirteen original women asked, TEN said yes. Each woman begins a piece of art and then switches it with her partner. Each participant begins one piece and finishes the other piece. On August 2nd we shall share our hours of work and collaboration. We will share the opportunity and wonder.

Meet the Artists 

Left to right- Rachael Gootnick, Jeanne Beck, Christine Norris, Jennifer Buckley, Jeanne Simpson, Nancy Radzik, Susan Carmen-Duffy, Maia Horvath, Jodie Traugott, and Joy Argento

And so it begins

Joy Argento- Joy Argento is an artist and author. She spends her time not only creating art but teaching others. Joy has this to say about her work.

Painting is usually a very solitary endeavor and I love that part. I turn on some music and start to work. I lose all sense of time and often lose myself in the process. It becomes a form of meditation, a connection with a higher power.
     I started drawing as a small child. I carefully drew outlines of dogs or cats or ducks with umbrellas. I loved coloring. I loved the big box of 64 Crayola Crayons. Life didn’t get much better than having a brand new box, with all of the crayons still intact. All the points were poised and ready for action. Aqua was always my favorite color. Not quite blue and not quite green, it stood in a class of its own. Crayons in hand, my artistic endeavors had begun.
     My art has changed and evolved throughout the years. I dabble in pastel and color pencil, but oil painting is my favorite medium, on its own or added to acrylic pours.
I don’t try to tell a story with my paintings. I want my paintings to remind you of your own stories. That is how you and I connect.

Jeanne Beck

I was was born in Pittsburgh PA and have lived in Canandaigua since 1990.  I’m an artist, writer, and instructor who creates mixed media paintings and metallic leaf constructions. I operate Jeanne Beck Art Gallery & Studio in a large loft space in Canandaigua, New York’s historic downtown district above a popular coffee shop. 

My works have appeared in numerous publications, curated invitational and juried exhibitions. They are part of private and public collections, including the University of Rochester Gleason’s Library and MacVittie Student Union, SUNY Geneseo. I exhibited and lectured at SOFA Chicago 2009 and won a national Niche Award in 2013. I’m represented by Meibohm Fine Art Gallery in East Aurora, NY and am an exhibiting member of Buffalo Society of Artists.

Jeanne’s shimmering mixed-media installation, “Book of Longings” is part of the 66th Rochester Finger Lakes Exhibition at Memorial Art Gallery, June 17- September 18, 2019. This prestigious regional exhibition includes 62 selected artists’ works from a 27 county region.

Jennifer Buckley

Jennifer’s passionate interest in ceramics started when she took a pottery class as an elective during business school. She continued to study and practice ceramics while raising a family and working in foodservice management. Now retired, she works full-time in her studio, sharing her imaginative works with appreciative customers.

Jen creates functional pieces that help people set beautiful tables. These are inspired by her culinary career and her love of colorful gardens. Jen also is the owner of Garden Totem, a partnership started with her cousin. The whimsical ceramic totems she offers add wonderful decorative touches to outdoor living spaces and gardens.

Susan Carmen-Duffy

Susan is an award-winning mixed-media artist with a special dedication toward the spiritual arts. Her work is collected throughout the United States as well as Europe. Susan embraces the wonder of color, texture, and layer as she begins each piece of art. Whether creating a mandala or other whimsical pieces, Susan’s instinctive process results in a spectacular display of color and imagery. Susan’s passion for watercolor, in, and collage marry well into each piece, her interests are not limited to 2-D mixed media work, but also include photography, jewelry design, and sculpture.

Susan is joyful the owner of Create Art 4 Good. Create Art 4 Good is a working studio and gallery in the historic Hungerford building that shares the work of Susan as well as local guest artists. Create Art 4 Good offers creative and artistic workshops for a wide variety of skill levels. Create Art 4 Good is a tiny little gallery with a great big heART!

Find out the good things Susan is up to at her gallery Create Art 4 Good, her greeting card company, Greetings 4 Good, and her pet happiness project, The Thoughtfulness Project!

Rachael Gootnick-

Rachael Gootnick is the artist behind Just Terrific, a small bookbinding studio in Rochester NY. A book lover and crafter her entire life, her true love for bookmaking started at RIT where she studied Printing and Publishing and specialized in Layout and Book Design. She worked in publishing for several years, but it wasn’t until she saw a distinct shift in the industry, that she decided to leave her full-time job as a book designer to start her own bookmaking business. 
 
Now her days are filled with working on all types of book projects – her favorite being her signature miniature book jewelry. Rachael also creates custom books for special occasions, like weddings, retirements, and graduations. In addition to creating books, she also specializes in book repairs and restorations. Rachael cherishes the unique opportunity to prolong the life of many rare and antique books. And when time permits, she enjoy playing with paper to create upcycled book art pieces. 
 
A full-time artist for the past seven years, Rachael is very grateful for the support of the Rochester community. She can be found online at www.justterrific.com.

Maia Horvath

Maia Horvath is an accomplished mixed-media artist whose work is collected throughout the United States, Asia, and other wonderful places. Maia has spent most of her life working with a plethora of materials combining them in unique and powerful ways in her figurative 2-D and 3-D works. Maia shares her work through several local galleries, outdoor art exhibits, and invitational opportunities. Maia is a gifted instructor, teaching her techniques privately and through local galleries. Follow Maia’s work on social Media: Maia’s Ethereal Creations.

Christine Norris

Christine has always wanted to be an artist and is thrilled to be a signature member of the Rochester Art Club, as well as a founding member of the Main Street Artists. She paints portraits and landscapes in oil and pastel. Her favorite subjects are Cape Cod and “slice of life” vignettes. Christine has two grown sons, Alex and Jack, and lives in Irondequoit with her husband, John, and her rowdy Cairn terrier, Rocky. Christine is mostly self-taught but has taken classes/workshops with artists like Brian O’Neill, David Kassan, Rob Liberace and Kate Stone. She sends thanks to Bill Stephens and Sari Gaby for teaching her, Rosemary Pergolizzi for the gentle nudge to paint again, Susan Carmen Duffy for her inspiration, and her fellow artists for their unwavering support.

Nancy Radzik

my collage/assemblage art pieces are meant as an homage to all the arts – poetry, music and literature – in that I am dealing with quotes that I feel are significant and worthy of remembering. 

as a person who feels strongly about the importance of recycling, my medium of choice is the found object and reclaimed wood owning remnants of past lives. incorporating fragments of wood, natural elements, and photos – blending the sacred, the everyday and the humorous into imagined environs. 

to borrow a quote from the artist, Asher Durand, 

“the artist….will have seen more than the mere matter of fact, but no more than is there and that another may see if it is pointed out to him.” 

I hope my work will point out something worth remembering for the viewer. 

thanks for observing……. nancy radzik 

Jeanne Simpson-

With a preference for abstract design, Jeanne Simpson uses hand-dyed, surface designed and commercial fabrics to create her art. She draws inspiration from a nearby forest and the urban landscapes in Rochester, New York. Her work is then enhanced with machine and hand stitching. Jeanne’s use of stitching invites the viewer to take a closer look which often takes them on a different journey.

Jeanne’s career began in the late ’90s with traditional quilt making. She immersed herself in the world of quilting and began teaching within two years. Her experience includes participating in juried shows, operating a long arm machine, working in a quilt shop, repping a line of fabric, working for a fabric designer, writing patterns and organizing and facilitating over 35 quilt retreats attracting both national and international participants.

Jeanne has crafted her art education by careful selection of classes from international masters in their field of improvisational piecing, color theory, collage, dyeing and surface design. Her painterly use of cloth and strong compositions are what makes Jeanne’s work distinctive.  

Jodie Traugott- 

Jodie Traugott has been an exhibiting and award-winning artist for over 45 years and is represented in public and private collections in twelve states, Scotland, Italy and Germany.  Also known as jm-ART, which is an acronym that includes the initials of her full name, Jodie Marie Anne Richardson Traugott, she signs her work with this acronym and/or with a star that she has tattooed on her left index finger.
 
A Summa Cum Laude graduate from Elmira College, she started full time at the age of 32, with 2 children at home and a very supportive husband.  She was also the first adult, off-campus student to go Junior Year Abroad, refining her craft as she studied in Florence, Italy for 7 months.  She immediately continued her education by commuting to Rochester, to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree from RIT’s College of Fine and Applied Arts. Jodie has been the Education Curator and Program Director for the Arnot Art Museum in Elmira, a Program Director for the YWCA, Education Director at a Boys and Girls Club, Artists League Director, a commissioned mural artist, interior designer, and a Program Coordinator for a dementia daycare, with an emphasis on art therapy and the creation of a yearly, client art show and sale.  
 
Fine Art and family have been core elements throughout Jodie’s life and her granddaughter, her muse, features prominently in her work. She currently uses her creative vision in a variety of artistic mediums, from traditional painting in acrylic, oil, and pastel, to fabric art, photography and digital manipulation.   Jodie’s work presents the viewer with unique perspectives on design and often extreme color, a rainbow palette.  Her artistic range is broad, from Old Masters works through Impressionism up to Abstraction.  
 
Jodie’s website is www.jm-ART.com and she would be pleased to take commissions for custom portraits or reproductions of Master’s Works and teaches painting privately, individually or in small groups. 

Press release:

Integrated Voices, A Female Perspective 

What happens when ten women are presented with the opportunity to collaborate on a piece of art? Magic! Ten female artists, paired into five groups, stepped up the challenge, through the frustration, the stress, and the wonder. Ten women, said yes to the art of collaboration. 

Please join us for this extraordinary exhibit showcasing the art and collaboration of this talented group at Create Art 4 Good Studio & Gallery. The gallery is located at the Hungerford building, 1115 E. Main Street, in Rochester, 14609. Enter through door #5, near the smokestacks past door #4. 

The exhibit will open August 2nd through August 24th. Hours are Friday, August 2, 5-9pm, Hours after the opening or Saturdays 10 am -3 pm, Wednesdays 10 am -2 pm, Thursdays 3-7 pm, Fridays 2-5 pm, by appointment, or by chance. 

The Gallery website is CreateArt4Good.org 

More information about the exhibit can be found at http://createart4good.org/current-exhibit/integrated-voices-a-female-perspective/

For more information contact the gallery owner, Susan Carmen-Duffy @ Susan@CreateArt4Good.org, or phone 585.210.3161