Denisse DiGiorgio of The Crafting Social
The Hungerford, 1115 East Main St. Rochester, NY14609
Suite # 330 (Door 2, Floor 2)

A close-up of my own work, a hand-stitched pillow featuring applique and embroidery overlay.

In which medium(s) do you work? Tell us a little bit about your process.

I love fabric and thread! I focus mainly on sewing, quilting and embroidery to create decorative pieces that also have a practical purpose (quilts, draperies, pillows, totes, slip covers). I like to use the things I make, and for others to use and enjoy them as well. Inspiration comes from everywhere; in the last few years I’ve been especially drawn to vintage 60s and 70s colors and patterns, and these have influenced my recent stitching and fabric designs. I also like to use vintage fabrics and recycled materials as much as possible. I launched my online atelier, The Tailored Nest, in 2009, and that’s where I show my work.

Read the full Q&A here…

Web links:

• Website: www.thecraftingsocial.com
• Blog: http://thecraftingsocial.wordpress.com/
• Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/TheCraftingSocial
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/craftingsocial

Additional contact info:

• Email: info@thecraftingsocial.com

As a budding Hungerford Urban Artisans member, I took it upon myself to write up a Q&A to feature our members. I emailed Mark Osterling to see if he’d be willing to participate, lucky for you, my beloved blog readers, he said yes! Read the Q&A here.

Mark Osterling Photography
The Hungerford, 1115 East Main St. Rochester, NY14609
Suite # 240 (Door 2, Floor 2)

My studio/gallery space, set up for a shoot.

Marks Web Links:

• Website/blog: www.markosterling.com (new site coming soon…)
• Online store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/markosterling (also coming soon)
• Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/MarkOsterlingPhotography

Additional contact info:

• mark@markosterling.com
• (585) 750-0030

Cody’s website, codykroll.com

Like Crocus Clayworks on Facebook

View The Hungerford directory here for artisan info. We have four floors of artists!

4th floor, Studio 458

PRESS RELEASE:

THAW continues with FLUX at Hungerford
Diverse group show for 25+ artists opens First Friday, March 4

Rochester, NY – Rochester’s regional art exhibition, THAW, continues its openings with FLUX, a group show from the Hungerford Urban Artisans (HUA) at the Hungerford Building (1115 East Main St.) in Gallery 258 (Door 2, second floor) on Friday, March 4, 2011 from 5 to 9 p.m.  Additional artists’ studios will also be open, and FLUX will continue through March 26, open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.  Find out more at http://thehungerford.com and http://www.facebook.com/huastudios.

FLUX features one or more pieces from at least 25 of the 100+ artists who currently have studios in the Hungerford Building.

“The artistic community here is continually growing, and ideas and inspiration flow constantly,” says FLUX co-organizer, Kelly Cheatle of Airigami (www.airigami.com), which will have a balloon installation in the show.  “Since ‘flux’ means a continuous flow – such as you might get from a ‘thaw’ – we thought that the title worked well on several levels.”

“The diversity of the artists here is one of the other things that drew each of us to the Hungerford,” adds Jennifer Buckley of Crocus Clayworks (www.crocusclayworks.com), who will show ceramic work in FLUX.  “You’ll see contemporary sculpture, fine ceramics, oil paintings and everything in between!”

Showing in FLUX:   Richard Aerni (ceramic), Jeanne Beck (textiles), Mary Bohan (multimedia), Jennifer Buckley (ceramic), Adam Chalom (painting), Michael Ferreri (figure study), Chelsea Foehr & Jeremy Griffith (glass), Craig Gilbert (oil painting), Robert Goulet (painting), Hodaka Hasebe  (ceramic), Betsy Hoefen (table/sculpture) Tracy Holley (guitar), Olivia Kim (sculpture) Cody Kroll (wall-mounted ceramic), Constance Mauro (monoprint), Victor Pacheco (sculpture), Kari Petsche (painting), Rob Rogalski (puppets), Nicole Scanlon (mixed media on canvas), Bill Wolff (sculpture), Clifton Wood (wall sculpture), Suzi Zefting-Kuhn (pastel), Airigami:  Larry Moss & Kelly Cheatle (installation), Wilson-Driss Studio: John Wilson & Dori Driss (metal sculpture) and Sterz (installation).  Cobblestone School, at which Sterz is a resident artist, will have its own mini gallery as part of the exhibition as well.

Media please note:  high-resolution photos of artwork are available, and interviews as well as photo/footage opportunities can be arranged.

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Sally Cohen
585-749-1795

Bernadette Bos of Geneva, Ontario County, center, talks about her art during a meeting at Suzi Zefting-Kuhn Artworks. / JEN RYNDA staff photographer

A bright spot for this chilly winter day: an article from the D&C about Bernadette Bos- honorary member of the Main Street Artists on the 4th floor!

Geneva artist and cancer patient finds core of support

Decorative painter fighting breast cancer finds supportive community at B. Thomas Golisano Hope Lodge

written by: Chris Swingle  | original article appeared in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle 3/2/2011

Bernadette Bos was facing breast cancer for the third time in eight years, and she knew six weeks of chemo and radiation treatments would make her tired. So when she still had energy at the start of treatment, she wished aloud that she could keep painting the commissioned murals on canvas that she sells for a living, or even do some fine art for her own sake.

People in Rochester — where she stayed while undergoing treatment — scrambled to make that possible.

Bos, 53, lives with a friend in Geneva, Ontario County, but stayed in Rochester at the B. Thomas Golisano Hope Lodge Hospitality House while getting daily treatment at Wilmot Cancer Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Employees at the lodge, which is run by the American Cancer Society, connected her with local artists who had studio space to lend and encouragement to offer. The support from the artists and people at the lodge, including fellow patients, has been a big plus, Bos says.

Bos tries not to focus on the negative but says life has been hard since she almost died of cerebral malaria about 15 years ago. She was living in Japan at the time and incurred about $80,000 in medical bills.

“All my savings went down the drain,” she says.

The native of Holland lived in many countries — including England, Belgium, Australia and New Zealand — while training horses professionally for show-jumping competitions. She gave up that work after the malaria sapped her energy and since then has been self-employed as a self-taught decorative painter. She has created faux finishes and murals in homes and businesses in the Long Island area, where she lived until moving to Geneva in September.

She was offered a room at Hope Lodge and transportation to her cancer treatment because the two-hour round-trip drive from home each day would have been too costly and tiring.

But the lodge provided much more than housing, Bos says. She appreciated the community of guests. She talked with one patient who agreed that bad things can be a blessing by helping turn life in a new direction. Bos says she was once so busy working and not taking time for herself that it took her first illness to shake things up.

When Bos mentioned her hope to paint while in Rochester, arrangements were made to let her use an empty room at the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, where the lodge is housed. Then an American Cancer Society staffer reached out to a local artist she knew who knew of Suzi Zefting-Kuhn’s studio at the Hungerford building, 1115 E. Main St. in downtown Rochester. Zefting-Kuhn shares space with more than a dozen artists, who call themselves Main Street Artists and share the rent.

“We thought if we could help another artist, we’re in,” says Zefting-Kuhn, who does oil, pastel, watercolor and colored pencil work.

Bos, who finished treatment in February, didn’t end up feeling well enough to paint. But she borrowed art magazines from Zefting-Kuhn, joined a studio sketch session with the Main Street Artists and shared some of her work with the group for critique.

Gabriele Lodder of Penfield, a member of Main Street Artists who had breast cancer herself, says art helped her get through it. “I was feeling very sorry for myself and then the oncologist said to me, ‘Maybe you need to focus somewhere else.’” Lodder bought art supplies and immersed herself in her creative outlet.

Bos finds art meditative, just as horse training was. And she tries to avoid dwelling on her diagnosis. “Breast cancer: It’s not me,” she says. “When I die, the core of me, what’s me, is still going to survive.”

She has listened to self-help recordings to pull herself out of feeling in the dumps, and she reminds herself that everyone has problems and that life is a journey.

“Hopefully, in the next life, all I do is paint and paint and paint,” she says.

Bill Wolf: "Organ" | Maple, wood, copper

Thaw’: melding Rochester’s extended art scene

[ FEATURE ] Rochester is rich with creative talent, but some believe we need a little help getting our arts act together. Local collaborative and collective endeavors, such as art co-ops and the monthly First Friday gallery trek, aid in connecting the city’s creative forces with the Rochester audience. But for many reasons, these endeavors are largely focused in the city’s center, inevitably leaving many of the “peripheral” art spaces and artists out in the cold. This winter, a new collaboration aims to better connect local art houses with art enthusiasts, while providing a discussion based around one very topical concept. From late January through March, more than a dozen participating regional galleries and museums will host exhibitions based on the theme of “Thaw.” (READ MORE…)

View Photo Album

Visit all four floors of the Hungerford to check out over 30 open studios filled with fine art and fine craft on display. This event is free and open to the public. The perfect opportunity to support local working artists by holiday shopping their locally produced wares, or appreciating their traditional and contemporary art. We hope to see you there!

View Photo Album

First Floor, Door #1

All Things Reggae (Studio 159/166) Mixed media, numerous artists open Friday

Grassroots Gallery (Studio 157 Fine art and clothing open both days

First Floor, Door #2

Wilson –Driss (Loading dock) Found object & Garden Sculpture open both days

Second Floor Via Door #2

Airigami Studio (Studio 234) Balloon sculpture/art  open both days

Cody Kroll (Studio 214) Sculpture and drawing  open Friday only

Constance Mauro (Studio 236) Monoprints & mixed media open both days

Craig Gilbert (Studio 212) oil open Friday only

Crocus Clay (Studio 225) pottery and sculpture open both days (Saturday 10AM-4PM)
Guest artist: Michelle Wescott Quilted, Quaint & Quirky Exhibit through Dec. 18th

Paul Taylor Glass (Studio 242) glass blowing open both days

Robert Rogalski (Studio 222) Illustrator, sculpture, mixed media, puppeteer open both days

Stacy Mvra (Studio 244) Functional and fine art in metal  open both days

Third Floor

Jeanne Beck (Studio 366) mixed media, textiles  open both days

Cobblestone Contemporary Space (Studio 309) Cecily Culver, Greg Jones, Masa Bajc & Ratna Khanna open both days

Bill Wolff (Studio 344) New Sculpture  open Fri 5:30-9:30PM; Sat 11AM-3PM

Jason Tennant (Studio 436) Wood sculpture open both days

Main Street Artists’ Gallery & Studio (Studio 458) oils, pastels, watercolor, acrylic, colored pencil Featured Main Street Artist Gabriele Lodder Live jazz with Mike Kaupa and Gabe Condon (Fri only) open both days

Michael Piggott (Studio 441) oils, pastel, charcoal open both days

Jennifer Richter (Studio 402) mixed media, angel ornaments open both days

The Rochester Art Club (Studio 437-439) Exhibiting artists: Kevin Feary, Sari Gaby and Dick Kane open both days

Door #5, all floors

Richard Aerni Studio (Studio 106) also Carolyn Dilcher-Stutz, Shelly Green Stoler with guest Rachel Baldanza open Fri 5-9PM and Sat 10AM-4PM

Gock’s Frocks (Studio 201C) handmade clothing and accessories open both days

Gray Space Studio & Gallery (Studio 203) Guest artist: Bonnie Newton (handmade purses) acoustic music with Junkyard
Dogma open Friday only

IneRT Press (Studio 204) publisher open both days

Reckless Necklace Blynn Nelson (Studio 201C) handmade one of a kind necklaces open Fri only

Dee Topham (Studio 300) Handmade and painted jewelry open both days

Building 7

Antiek Journeys Ray Ferran  new antiques from Europe open Fri 11AM-9PM & Sat 11AM -5PM