GO ART!

The 2018 GO ART! spring awards gala will be held in a new venue this year -- at GO ART! itself, in historic Seymour Place in Downtown Batavia.

The theme of "Swing Fling" is "Come back to the 1940s," it will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, April 28, and feature music, dancing, appetizers, a cash bar, live radio show and awards. 

Geneseean Awards will go to:

• Organization of Year: Genesee Chorale
• Individual Artist of the Year: Lisa Roeseler, Medina High School Medina High School A Cappella Choir Director 
• Supporter (of the cultural sector) of the Year award will go to one of three nominees: Bryan DeGraw, 810 Meadworks, OR Diana Kastenbaum, Pinnacle Manufacturing, OR Brian Kemp, T-Shirts Etc.

Tickets: $20 for non-members, $15 for GO ART! members.

Contact GO ART! at goart.org, 343-9313, or stop in at Seymour Place, located at 201 E. Main St.

Platinum Sponsors for the Swing Fling are: WBTA, and Batavia Downs Gaming & Hotel.

Gold Sponsors are: J. Leonard McAndrew Funeral Home, Jim Burns Photography.

Silver Sponsors are: Carrotman Productions, St. Joseph Catholic School.

(To help attendees prepare with flair for this affair, we offer this link about the 1940s -- here -- and it's a real Humdinger, as they used to say. And also, for your listening pleasure, this obscure oldie, here.)

GO ART! hosted a grand opening party for members tonight of the wine and beer bar now open in Seymore Place, which is the former location of the old Batavia Club.

Press release:

The Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council has announced plans to reopen the former Batavia Club Bar in the historic Seymour building located at 201 E. Main St. in Downtown Batavia.

GO ART! members and special guests are invited to a private prelude opening at the newly named Tavern 2.o.1, from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, April 6.

Guests will be treated to hors d'oeuvres from the Red Osier Landmark Restaurant. Specially priced tasting of the selection of wine, cider and beers being served at Tavern 2.o.1 will also be available.

The doors officially open to the public immediately following the private prelude -- at 7 p.m. on April 6. Guests will enjoy live entertainment, door prizes and raffles.  

Tavern 2.o.1 will be serving a selection of wines, ciders and beers (many of which are locally created within the GLOW region).

Staff and Board members will be on site for the opening reception to promote and describe the delicious libations.

"Our bar has the capability to offer events that people are traveling to Rochester or Buffalo to attend," said GO ART! Board President Tammy Hathaway. "After numerous requests from groups to partner and hold festivities, we made the commitment to open the space as a tavern and to begin scheduling some fun evening experiences for the community.’’

Currently, Tavern 2.o.1 will be open for both public and private events held at GO ART!’s headquarters, the Seymour building. However, there is talk of the bar being open for regular hours in the future.

For more information on events at GO ART! visit our website at www.goart.org

Press release:

Call for craft artisans and vendors for the annual Picnic in the Park on July 4 at Centennial Park, Batavia. Sponsored by GO ART!

For details and application please visit GOART.ORG : Programs/ Events, Picnic in the Park applications, Art and Craft Vendors.

GO ART! hosted the opening of its annual juried art show Thursday night at Seymore Place in Batavia.

Top prize this year was awarded to Alex Sergovia for his painting (top photo) Celestial Blues. Sergovia could not be present at the opening last night.

The work displayed was selected from numerous entries by the jury, which also selected the winning entry.

Above sits Artist David Burke. His three paintings are the tree on the left, and the two paintings above him on the right.

Two art shows opened at GO ART! on Thursday night -- "Where Do I Go From Here?" a ceramics exhibit by Shirley Nigro, and "The Kite Boy,"  an acrylic exhibit by Alex Segovia.

Nigro is the owner of Fire Up Ceramics on Ellicott Street in Batavia. 

Her ceramic work is nothing like most people might associate with the word -- figurines and knickknacks to scatter around the home. Her work is complex and imaginative but still leaning heavily on realism.

The exhibit is a good demonstration of how ceramics can be used to create art.

Segovia is originally from El Salvador and now resides in Avon. He started painting three years ago after watching a documentary about Vincent Van Gogh. His work reflects that post-impressionistic style, though he says he's moving more toward abstract expressionism. The bright colors recall Henri Matisse or fauvism.

Both shows run through April 7. 

The above work by Alex Segovia is entitled "A New Beginning."

Submitted photo and press release:

"The Kite Boy" -- An Acrylic Exhibit by Alex Segovia will be displayed in the Oliver’s Gallery in the Seymour Dining Room at GO ART! in Downtown Batavia now through April 7.

There will be an artist's reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on Sunday, April 15.

Segovia writes: "I was born September 4th, 1970, in El Salvador, Central America. I come from a very humble poor family. We were cotton pickers. I had a wonderful childhood, in spite of having limited resources and also my country having a civil war, that lasted 12 years.

"I was good at drawing, writing and making kites. Sometimes kids would come up to buy from me drawings and kites. I do not have any education in arts, but I did finish (high school) and since I went to an American school, by 14 years old, I was already speaking English.

"The 2 most important jobs I've held in my life, (are) making furniture and being part of an NGO that did social work in poor communities. Since most people don't make much money in my country, and I wasn't the exception, I could not buy the proper materials for painting. It was until I came to the U.S. that I eventually started drawing and painting."

GO ART!  201 E.  Main St.   Batavia, NY 14020

Gallery Hours: Thursday, Friday 11-7 / Saturday 11-4 / Second Sunday 11-2

585-343-9313
www.goart.org

Press release:

GO ART! is offering the opportunity to participate in the Second Annual Juried Show. The theme is "ELEMENTAL." You can interpret it any way you would like. Any Media. No larger than 3'x3'.

Submissions will be accepted March 1-3.

The exhibit will hang from March 8 - May 5. The reception will be held on March 15, 6-8 p.m. Cash awards will be distributed at that time.

The awards will be based on the amount received from the submission fees.

GO ART! Members may submit up to 5 works for $30. $5 for each additional piece.
Non-members may submit up to 3 works for $30. $5 for each additional piece.

Contracts may be found at www.goart.org/galleries

An opening reception was held at GO Art! last night for a show by artist Sean Madden.

Madden's work is recognized throughout Western New York. He is a teacher at Byron-Bergen High School.

Madden's early influences were Ernst Fuchs and Salvador Dali. He as also influenced by the psychedelic-era work of Robert Crumb, Robert Williams, and S. Clay Wilson.

In the paintings on display, Madden mixes well-executed realism with surrealism and his wild imagination and love of color.

The show runs through March 2.

GO Art! will be featured on WGRZ CH 2 at about 6:25 a.m. and 6:55 a.m. They are here to do a community segment on the great works that are currently at GO Art! 

Pictured above Kevin O'Neill, Tammy Hathaway, Gregory Hallock.

Press release:

The third ARTiculations Ability Exhibition -- a forum for artists with disabilities in Genesee, Wyoming and Orleans counties to display their work publicly -- will open at Independent Living of the Genesee Region (ILGR) in Batavia on Jan. 19.

Titled "8 X 10," it features the work of Chris Humel, who uses intensely hued acrylics, to depict postage stamps and other mail-related themes. Twenty years ago, he cofounded the still-active band BC Psychos; he will be teaching a five-week course, “Cartoons by Kids” for young people 10 to 15, at GO ART! (Genesee-Orleans Regional Art Council) in Batavia.

A product of a partnership between ILGR and the University Heights Arts Association (UHAA), the exhibit will be on display through March 29^th. The opening reception, featuring Humel on his guitar, is 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan.19th at ILGR’s office, 113 Main St., Suite 5, in Batavia. 

In Humel's own words, "I am a person with disabilities. I am 55 years old. I have been battling schizophrenia and related depressing problems for most of my life. My work is about breaking out of isolation and 'going postal' in a good way, by making contact with artists, writers and through the Post Office."

Other artists with disabilities residing in Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties are encouraged to submit their work to this juried competition, as there will be additional ARTiculations planned quarterly exhibits in the future.

For over a year, ILGR has been “art partnering” for people with disabilities with the UHAA, a group of artists in North Buffalo with a commitment to community that places art in businesses and nonprofits through an established ARTpartnering program.

The organizers are pleased to note that the ARTiculations Ability Exhibitions has “mapped” into UHAA’s system by placing a plaque with a Quick Response (QR) code scatter bar graph that can bring up information about it when scanned by your smartphone.

For questions on the event, please call Patricia AbdusSalaam at (585) 815-8501, ext. 400. 

Independent Living of the Genesee Region (ILGR) is a member of the Western New York Independent Living Inc. family of agencies that offers an expanding array of services to aid individuals with disabilities to take control of their own lives.

At GO ART! on Thursday night, there was both a cooking class and an art show opening.

Joseph Rojo, above, provided a demonstration of Asian fusion cooking. Below, Kimberly Perl and Marie Scofield get to participate in creating a chicken adobo.

For the art show below, Judy Wenrich poses with her painting, "My 3 Pets." Look closely and you'll find three ferrets. The show features work by GO ART! members on the theme of "Juxtaposition."

GO ART! also has an art sale in the main gallery featuring both current member works and works from the archives.

When was the last time you were at GO ART!? Well the Genesee Orleans Regional Art Council has been very busy over the last year. You may have noticed the Picnic In the Park on July 4^th was a little larger and had more activities. 

GO ART! has been busy behind the scenes, too. At Seymour Place, where GO ART! is located in Batavia (201 E. Main St.), they have increased the galleries from one to four, tripling the amount of art on display at any given time. Currently all four galleries are filled. 

For Christmas in the City, and throughout the month of December, GO ART! has assembled more than 150 pieces of classic and contemporary art, including sculpture and jewelry that are offered for sale.

“GO ART! has been very lucky to have had many great works donated to us through the years," Director Gregory Hallock said. “So much so that we don't have room to store it all and for the first time we are offering those without stipulations and owned by GO ART! up for sale to the public."

They have not just been busy with art. GO ART! has reworked the kitchen, complete with four new Viking ranges, for culinary classes. The ovens received a bit of a workout yesterday as they made cookies for Christmas in the City.

Starting at 5 p.m. on Friday GO ART! will be hosting a Slavic Christmas complete with Santa Claus and an accordion band; sandwiches from Red Osier Landmark Restaurant will also be sold at Seymour Place for the event.