01/09/2020
Eleven Rochester area artists from Ithaca to Brockport and points in between have formed a co-op recently to promote their work. Pittsford Fine Art is their new gallery, located at the corner of State and Main Streets in the Village of Pittsford, by the village clock. The gallery will hold its Grand Opening on Saturday, January 18 from 1 to 4 p.m. The public is invited. Live music and refreshments will complement the artwork on display.
Pittsford Fine Art is open afternoons (starting tomorrow) six days a week (closed on Mondays), and will be open late until 8 PM each Friday, including “First Friday” special events each month. The Gallery can also be found at PittsfordFineArt.com on the web and on Facebook.
Members of the group include several accomplished painters whose work has received recognition both locally and nationally. Kathy Armstrong and Larry Keefe were represented in the Memorial Art Gallery’s Finger Lakes Exhibit this fall, while Steve BonDurant was a competitor in Canandaigua’s Finger Lakes Plein Air Festival and Competition each of the past two years. Retired architect Chip Stevens has won national awards for his watercolors, and Nancy Lane was recently recognized by the Portrait Society of America. Ithacan Bill Mowson shows annually in the Canandaigua and Webster Lakefront Art Shows, as well as in festivals in his Florida winter home.
Each of the eleven artists are active members in various local art clubs, and each has an established sales history in area exhibition venues. Rounding out the group are Gil Jordan of Pittsford, Chris Kolupski of Chili, Robin McCondichie from Naples, Becky Maynard of Brockport, and Chris Manaseri from Kent.
The group’s gallery will also host a Visiting Guest Artist every other month beginning in March, bringing in fresh work from other area artists to enhance their own. Several of the artists who teach will also offer workshops, art lessons, and classes at the gallery location.
“We think Pittsford Fine Art will be another positive contributor to the Village’s small business atmosphere, and that events at the gallery will be welcome additions to an already culturally vibrant and active community,” co-owner Chris Manaseri posited.
The gallery had a very successful “soft opening” in December with “Pop-Up” hours on weekends, and at the Candlelight Night sponsored by the Town of Pittsford and the Pittsford Chamber of Commerce.
