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Sara Baker Michalak will be joined in conversation by Max Collins, Parrish Gibbons, Gerald Mead, Lynn Northrop and Richard Rockford as they discuss the joy of working with reclaimed materials, the environmental implications of art making and how artists can respond to concerns of climate and conservation by use of the medium. 

 

The COMMA is proud to present their voices and perspectives on Earth Day for a conversation on their medium and the greater good.

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The public is invited to visit the gallery before the panel discussion at 1 p.m. and share how their view of the work is altered after the conversation. The gallery will be open from 12 - 3 p.m.

 

Sara Baker Michalak:
I developed an artistic practice in expressive design, surface treatment and fine craft while completing an undergraduate Fine Arts Program in Textile Processes. My work grew to include other 3-D processes along with painting and drawing. As environmental issues entered more and more into daily discourse and became a focus for artists, I entered the Interdisciplinary (Geoscience/Humanities) Graduate Program at SUNY Fredonia. Coursework and readings there led to subsequent creative exploration and my current mixed media works that reflect an interest in the beauty and ephemerality of the natural world.

My work has been shown at the American Craft Museum in New York; the Burchfield Penny and Albright Knox galleries in Buffalo; International Small Art Show in Atlanta, Georgia; and Cleveland Museum of Art. My studio is located on the banks of the Canadaway Creek in western New York, where in addition to continuing my creative work I propagate native wildflowers.

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Sara is a member of Buffalo Society of Artists and the North Shore Alliance. She describes her practice as arising from an interestr in the natural world's materiality and the fluid forces that animate it. Completed pieces convey my impressions of growth, decline and return: as such, these are landscapes of time.

Baker Michalak has four pieces of work in WONDERS, WILD AND NEW:
Autumn Sublime, Meadowmorphosis I, Meadowmorphosis II + Meadowmorphosis III

She is active on Facebook. View her profile on www.buffalosocietyofartists.com.

 

Richard Rockford:
My artwork began about 30 years ago and uses strictly old, antique, and original materials, all of which I gather myself. I make richly colored and heavily patinated works reflecting my love of old surfaces. I use vintage framing where possible to match the art. Some things are extremely simply presented, some are quite complex, but the point of all is to share the experiences gathering and the colors and textures of the materials. If you enjoy looking at this work or it transforms how you see some of the discards and remnants of our culture, I am pleased.

Richard Rockford is 76, lives in Clarence, NY, and is widowed. Honors program at Monroe High School, Rochester, 1965, BA in Politics, Brandeis University, 1969. Richard has operated an antiques business since 1972, in Toronto and Clarence. He is represented by ERLO Contemporary in East Aurora, and currently has work at the Burchfield Penney Art Center as part of the 2023 Art in Craft Media Biennial, on view through March 10, 2024, and 22 of his works continue to decorate the banquet area of The Mansion on Delaware.

Rockford has three pieces of work in WONDERS, WILD AND NEW:
Sun, Shore, Sea, Unsquare Dance, Shelf Improvement + Harmony
He is active on Facebook and accessible through social media and email.

 

Gerald Mead:
Gerald Mead’s found object and photographic collages and assemblages are in the collections of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, George Eastman Museum, Castellani Art Museum, Oregon State University, Sprint Foundation, and the International Museum of Collage, Assemblage and Construction among others. They have been in museum and gallery exhibitions throughout the US and in Australia, Canada, China, England, France, Poland, and Russia, and are published in six collegiate textbooks. He has lectured on his work at Cambridge University and Chautauqua Institution and received grants from New York Foundation for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.

 

Parrish Gibbons:
Parrish Gibbons, based in Lockport, NY, is a versatile artist specializing in analog collage, graphic design, and photography. Originally from Elmira, NY, Parrish holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration Management from Buffalo State College and has been actively engaged in the Western New York arts scene since 2009. Parrish is a mother to her seven year old daughter and one year old cat.

Parrish's artwork has been exhibited at notable venues including Five Points Bakery, Vayo Gallery, River Art Gallery, and The Crucible Art Collective. Her current analog collage exhibit, "Views Of and From," is currently captivating audiences at the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Museum.

 

Parrish's recent Buffalo Eclipse clothing design gained regional media attention with the proceeds supporting the Buffalo Museum of Science. With a focus on themes of dreams, memory, and culture, Parrish invites viewers to explore their own perspectives on the world through her dreamlike artistic prompts.

 

She can be found online at www.planetparrish.com and on Instagram at @planetpea

 

Max Collins:
Max Collins is an acclaimed photographer and artist known for creating artworks and installations by wheat-pasting images onto various materials and objects. He has a BFA in Photojournalism from the University of Michigan (2011) and an MFA in Visual Studies from the University at Buffalo (2016). As a community-focused artist in Buffalo, Max has been a part of numerous public art projects, art exhibitions, and workshops over the last decade working with various institutions and organizations. He has work in the permanent collection of The Burchfield-Penney Art Museum and was invited to participate in a public art residency with The Buffalo AKG Museum in the summer of 2021 where he created a body of work and mural commemorating the loss of Humboldt Parkway. Max is currently finishing a two year residency as a staff artist with the Springville Center for the Arts.

He can be found online at makscollins.com.

 

Lynn B. Northrop:
Lynn B. Northrop received her BFA from Syracuse University. She was employed by Fisher Price as a product designer from 1970 through 1978 when she became an independent toy inventor working with Hasbro, Mego, Tonka, Panosh Place, and
others. Northrop has often exhibited her work with the Buffalo Society of Artists, also serving as president in 2003 and 2004. Her work has been exhibited in over 50 juried exhibitions, including “Metamorphormations”, a solo show at Indigo Gallery.
Her work has been included at the Schweinfurth Museum (Auburn,
NY), Erie Museum (Erie, PA), and the 2013, 2015, and 2019 editions of Art in Craft Media at the Burchfield Penny Art Center.
She has won many awards including the Buffalo Society of Artists Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals, and her work is in the permanent collection of the Burchfield Penny Art Center.

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More information on Lynn Northrop can be found on her profile at Buffalo Society of Artists

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We look forward to hosting these fine artist and the opportunity to learn from their experience, perspective and imagination on Sunday, April 21.

Pause. Breathe. Change the way you see.

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