Cultivate

Pat Bacon
Statement: My work draws from the environment. The view of life in a small town surrounds me. I travel in the agricultural landscape, the borderlands of woods and hedgerows, the edges of ponds and lake shores. I see land use and communities in decline or regeneration. The cycle of renewal, harvest, and decay are always in my vision. Photographic Images are the trace of taker and the moment. My camera, scanner or phone capture the moment. My work allows me to elevate the insignificant in a loud world. Each of my pieces carry the trace as well as the marks of the process of making. Currently my art incorporates printmaking, photogravures, and collage

Biography: Pat Bacon lives on a small farm with her husband John in Wayne Co. Over the last 30 years she has taught art courses in a rural high school, for a small community college and at BOCES. She now works part time as a crop insurance adjuster, traveling through six counties of New York state meeting farmers and inspecting crops. She has a studio in her home and will work on larger pieces in the print studios at Flower City Art Center, Women’s Studio Workshop or on the press at Main Street Arts. Pat is currently making plans to move her studio to Sodus Point during the warmer months.

Chad Grohman
Statement: I have been a commercial illustrator since 1993 but I have always consistently created personal work in addition to client assignments. As my desire for commercial work has decreased, my love for making art for creation’s sake has increased. My goal is very simple: to make things. To paint and make art that reflects the way that people live. If I paint something and I’m not sure what it means, then I get to enjoy it just like somebody else does…and we can make up a story together. I still want to make a living selling artwork. What is different now is that I make art more for the universe and most of the time, just the act of creation is the pay off. And if it is done right, the pay off stands alone.

Biography: Chad Grohman  started his art career in college, getting his first paycheck for an editorial illustration “live assignment”. Since then, he has been an illustrator and designer for art studios locally and down the east coast. Over the years, he has also been a tattooer, taught illustration, and worked as an art product manager for an illustration and design house. In addition, he has shown paintings and fiber art in galleries, restaurants, and small shops. Mostly, he paints landscapes and Buddhist themes. In 2010 Chad received an MFA in Illustration from the University of Hartford, West Hartford, Connecticut. In 1994 he received a BFA in Illustration from Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY.

Patrick Kana
Statement: Botany, marine biology, and environmental phenomena—all areas of influence and study from my childhood—are sources that illustrate perfection primarily in form and secondly in utility. The sheer beauty evident in these scientific forms continues to inspire me, and I try to celebrate them through a fundamentally experimental making process in wood. Carved objects, form studies, and functional furniture establish the context within which I work. I respond to the tactility of wood, its preciousness, its origin, and its identity, and I feel a responsibility to honor the medium. For me, honoring wood is an all-encompassing process that begins with the search for material. I use material from personally-milled logs that are selected for their naturally grown curves and gesture with the intent of unifying the inherent gesture of the material with natural forms found within.

Biography: Patrick Kana is a furniture designer born and raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Having been trained by traditional furniture makers, sculptors, and contemporary designers, both stateside and overseas, he creates furniture and objects that blend sculptural form with honest, traditional methods. Patrick has a BFA from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and an MFA from School for American Crafts at RIT and is studio technician and adjunct faculty at his alma mater in Geneva, NY.

Meredith Mallwitz
Statement: I'm inspired by the simple, unassuming beauty of the relationship that exists between a horizon line, the light of an expansive sky & the changing mood of the day. My work begins at a place, time or experience I've had living in the Finger Lakes region of New York. The subject is captured through a photo, sketch & memory, but the painting takes on a new identity in the studio. Paint is applied using diluted, transparent layers to build up a soft, atmospheric quality and allow the painting to glow & illuminate through the layers beneath. The work is created focusing on light & fluidity to give a nod to the overall sensation of the moment.

Biography: Meredith was born in Canandaigua, NY in 1977. She received her BFA from the Art Institute of Boston in 2001. During her time at AIB she also studied through the Mobility program at the California College of Arts in San Francisco & the Exchange program at the Scuola Lorenzo Di Medici Art Institute of Florence, Italy. Meredith's work is shown and privately collected across the United States. She currently resides in the Finger Lakes Region of New York where she lives with her husband and daughter.

Lanna Pejovic
Statement: My art practice consists primarily of painting in an impressionistic and abstract style. I am inspired by the sensory world of nature; light, color, texture and sound. These elements bring up memories especially those from childhood places that left a deep impression on me. Their particular character is always present for me and influences the creation of my artwork. I approach painting as a dialogue between my intent and the materials, open to changes as the relationships emerge during the process. A painting is finished when I feel that an image has acquired an emotional as well as a formal presence. The effect the colors have on the senses is the most important expressive element I use. I would like viewers to experience my work as if it were music, respond to the mood and find their own place in it.

Biography: Lanna was born in Belgrade, Serbia and emigrated with her family as a child to Rochester, NY. She received her MFA in painting from the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, in Philadelphia. Her studies included a year each in Florence and Rome, Italy. She has taught painting and drawing extensively in the Rochester region and is currently an adjunct professor of drawing and painting in the School of Art, College of Imaging Arts and Sciences of the Rochester Institute of Technology. Lanna lives in and maintains a studio in Honeoye Falls, NY.

Jody Selin
Statement: With these recent ceramic works, I have an interest in approaching the medium in a similar fashion to drawing. Similar to the drawing process, I spend several weeks of sketching out interchangeable parts. Initially, I do not have a final work in mind, but rather start to hone in on areas of interest in pattern, repetition & shadow, building the individual compositions over time. As if turning the pages in a sketchbook, these works naturally flow into linear wall series, each responding to the other. The imagery that emerges can be traced to my love of print media, hiking and in plant and earth sciences.  

Biography: Jody Selin holds a Masters in Fine Art, from the Rochester Institute of Technology’s School for American Craft (2004) and a Bachelors in Fine Art from the University of Florida. (2002) She has been adjunct professor in design and ceramics professor at  Niagara County Community College since 2007. In addition to teaching, Jody maintains a home studio where she works in multiple media.

Mike Tarantelli
Statement: My art comes from looking at things that I find beautiful and wanting to share them with other people. I want people to notice the details that you would see if you were actually there, talking to someone and getting to know them.

Biography: Mike Tarantelli is a painter living and working in Rochester, NY. He graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a BFA in Fine Art Studio. He is back in the region after living a few years in Texas and working for the Department of Defense as a Visual Information Specialist.

Sylvia Taylor
Statement: The imagery in my relief prints is both playful and somber, with narratives that have an undercurrent of longing, uncertainty and ambiguity. I often use images of animals in my work, as I find them to be perfect alter egos and have always felt a profound sense of kinship with them. Although much of the work is inspired by stories that are deeply personal, viewers can relate to the underlying sentiments that are shared universally.

Biography: In 2002, Sylvia completed her Master’s Degree in Fine Arts at Vermont College of Norwich University. She has been awarded Artist’s Residency status in Ireland, and is a member of Cork Printmakers. She currently lives in Ithaca, New York where she works as a full-time studio artist.