Rochester-area Hosts Wanted

I am currently looking for volunteer hosts in Rochester and Monroe County for the 2010 local version of my Itinerant Artist Project. Anyone with room (preferably a private bedroom) and interest is eligible. For more information about hosting, please see: hosting, or contact: jim@jimmott.com . To learn more about the project, see my previous blog.

Hosting can work any time of year. It requires a 1-3 day commitment to provide room and board. Hosts receive a painting done on location. Ultimately I expect more offers than the number I need for the project, and my selections will be based on diversity in setting and hosts' background. Please let me know if you're interested, and pass on this info to any friends.

INTRODUCING ROC-ART

The first local version of my Itinerant Artist Project, the Rochester Community Artist in Residence Tour (ROC-ART) is my way of using art to learn more about my community and to share the exploration with others.

ROC-ART began in 2010 and continues through 2011. Like the Itinerant Artist Project, ROC-ART is based on the principle of gift exchange – “trading art for hospitality” – and on the rich quality of sharing that comes from situating my painting practice in other people’s homes for a few days.

This Project involves finding volunteer hosts in 12-15 locations in and around Rochester and at each location: living 1-3 days on site; making several small paintings based on the local surroundings; and giving one painting to my host in thanks for the food, lodging, and sociability.

Unlike my usual art road trips, this Greater Rochester “tour” will be done in installments - about one stop per month. This will better allow me to share the project’s development and generate a more meaningful interaction with the public, through this blog.

My goal for ROC-ART is to create a sort of composite portrait of Greater Rochester through a series of approximately 100 small-format landscape paintings (oil on panel) from locations that reflect a wide and representative range of physical environments, from rural outskirts to inner city neighborhoods.  The resulting paintings will be posted on this blog and eventually displayed in a public exhibition.

This project is supported in part by the NY State Council on the Arts and the Arts and Cultural Council for Greater Rochester.