Exhibitions
Sensations of Light: Annual Members Exhibition
Opening: Friday, April 5, 5 to 7 pm
Exhibition: April 6 through 28
This year The Dove Block Project is proud to present the artwork of our members on the theme of Sensations of Light. This theme is appropriately influenced by the work of Arthur Dove.
Music for the opening will be provided by Slik Sly. I'm born and raised in Trenton New Jersey. I've been playing guitar since age 8, never took lessons, and was playing in clubs by the age of 12 years old. At age 19 I played the Apollo Theater in New York City with the Legendary Jazz Organist Charles "The Mighty Burner" Erland. I released my Debut Album in Syracuse NY called"SlikSly The Awakening!" In 2012. Moved to Geneva in 2019 and Began doing Solo Performances At Kashong Creek, which is now Hog Wallow Tavern, Lake Drum Brewery, Hotel Exchange, The Geneva Finger Lakes Welcome Center, Farmers Market. Live From Linden Street and Many other Venues. I'm currently the Bassist for a 12 Piece Show Band out of Syracuse called The Blacklites, And 6/7 Piece Band out of Syracuse called SMX.
Geneva Schools and Moodie’s Children’s Hours
Opening: Friday, May 3, 5 to 7 pm
Exhibition: May 4 through 26
This annual exhibition at The Dove Block Project highlights the talents of Geneva’s art teachers and students. A surprising array of work in various media demonstrates the work and abilities of Geneva area youth in city and private schools.
This exhibition is supported by a generous grant from The Wyckoff Family Foundation and The Linden Shop.
Music for the opening will be provided by Smooth Groovy. Smooth Groovy, rooted in the heart of the Finger Lakes have a sound all their own. Their music is written collectively and contains a dominant bass sound that blends enjoyably into their distinct funk. The band, formed in 2017, consists of two musicians who have performed and recorded together for a decade, the boyfriend-girlfriend team of Wesley John Greco and Diana Modera of Geneva.
A poem will be read by Steve Lewandowski written in 1976 while he was working in Poets-in-the-Schools.
John Loftus
Opening: Friday, May 31, 5 to 7 pm
Exhibition: June 1 through 30
John Loftus described himself as a “buoyant malcontent” -- a man at odds with the world around him yet still productive. However, his teacher and legendary painter, Hans Hofmann, understood his former pupil in a different way. He saw a novice who persevered despite his surroundings, and recognized in him an artist with a unique vision who faced the world courageously.
Loftus was as active a teacher as he was an artist. He spent 1963 to 1967 at the Philadelphia College of Art, during which time he was recruited to become head of the art department at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Loftus died in 2008, but he lives on as a legend in Geneva.
Music for the opening will be provided by Smooth Groovy. Smooth Groovy, rooted in the heart of the Finger Lakes have a sound all their own. Their music is written collectively and contains a dominant bass sound that blends enjoyably into their distinct funk. The band, formed in 2017, consists of two musicians who have performed and recorded together for a decade, the boyfriend-girlfriend team of Wesley John Greco and Diana Modera of Geneva.
Ara McCorkle: Paintings
Opening: Friday, May 31, 5 to 7 pm
Exhibition: June 1 through 30
My work explores color as a way of creating movement, depth and structure. I’m inspired by natural and organic forms as well as unexpected meetings of color. Intuitively placed brush strokes combine to form landscapes and swirling abstract forms. As an art exhibit, I would be displaying a body of work including the examples included below.
Music for the opening will be provided by Smooth Groovy. Smooth Groovy, rooted in the heart of the Finger Lakes have a sound all their own. Their music is written collectively and contains a dominant bass sound that blends enjoyably into their distinct funk. The band, formed in 2017, consists of two musicians who have performed and recorded together for a decade, the boyfriend-girlfriend team of Wesley John Greco and Diana Modera of Geneva.
Genesee Valley Plein Air Painters: 2024 Members Exhibition
Opening: Friday, July 5, 5 to 7 pm
Exhibition: July 6 through 28
Genesee Valley Plein Air Painters, Inc. (GVPAP), a plein air artist association, promotes and inspires quality plein air painting throughout the year. Through regularly scheduled outdoor painting sessions, GVPAP provides diverse plein air painting opportunities throughout the Greater Rochester and Finger Lakes Region. Incorporated in 2006, Genesee Valley Plein Air Painters Inc. members are practicing, experienced plein air artists.
We are committed artists who paint in the out of doors, on site in natural light all year long. We hold to the definition of plein air painting that 85% of plein air painting must be completed on site "in plein air" (in natural daylight).
Music for the opening will be provided by Unholy Alliance. Unholy Alliance is a duo featuring traditional Appalachian/Adirondack fiddle/banjo.
Trust the Land: Four Views: Connie Ehindero, Karen Frutiger, Pat Pauly, & Bill Stephens
Opening: Friday, August 2, 5 to 7 pm
Exhibition: August 3 through September 3
Trust the Land: Four Views is the work of four artists who have internalized the upstate New York landscape. The artists offer a dynamic dialog among four bodies of work, each using diverse media. Ehindero’s carved encaustic surfaces dig into subterranean layers, while Stephens’s meditative drawings float in surreal atmospheric dreamscapes. Frutiger’s layered mixed media paintings invite the viewer to lean in, while Pauly’s large scale textile compositions use botanical imagery. As a group, the works span from monochromatic to high chroma, all with distinct gestural marks. The response to the landscape is seen in geologic forms, flora, and pure abstraction.
Taking a cue from Arthur Dove who believed art was “the form the idea takes in the imagination, rather than the form as it exists outside.” This exhibition reflects the kinship to Dove’s art work through abstraction and the generative richness of the Finger Lakes.
Music for the opening will be provided by Smooth Groovy. Smooth Groovy, rooted in the heart of the Finger Lakes have a sound all their own. Their music is written collectively and contains a dominant bass sound that blends enjoyably into their distinct funk. The band, formed in 2017, consists of two musicians who have performed and recorded together for a decade, the boyfriend-girlfriend team of Wesley John Greco and Diana Modera of Geneva.
Mad Printers
Opening: Friday, September 6, 5 to 7 pm
Exhibition: September 7 through 29
The Mad Printers group was founded to address and support those artists using printmaking as part of their creative practice. Contemporary printmaking employs both traditional methods as well as new media. Artists within the group support and share their expertise to meet challenges of new technology. Each month members present their current work, in photogravure, intaglio, monotype, block-printing, to name a few. Members exhibit in diverse group and solo exhibits throughout the year, regionally and nationally. Our annual Mad Printers exhibit provides the opportunity to showcase our diversity, passion and commitment to printmaking.
This exhibition is sponsored by a generous gift of The Spencer Tullis Giving Fund.
Music for the opening will be provided by Smooth Groovy. Smooth Groovy, rooted in the heart of the Finger Lakes have a sound all their own. Their music is written collectively and contains a dominant bass sound that blends enjoyably into their distinct funk. The band, formed in 2017, consists of two musicians who have performed and recorded together for a decade, the boyfriend-girlfriend team of Wesley John Greco and Diana Modera of Geneva.
A Post-Industrial Muse: JJ Nicholson
Opening: Saturday, October 5, 4 to 6 pm
Exhibition: October 5 through 27
A massed pile of rusted debris resides reposed in a vacant feeling, a field... reflected in a small pool of water as part of a basin created by heavy equipment traveled many years ago. Its rutted grounding holds the stormwater, as a moat around a towering slanted transformation of metal junk juxtaposed to a heavily traveled paved road. The roar of tractor trailers stream by it, the assemblage that holds a precarious angle of repose. When will it collapse? This is one sentiment of the artist, as he reflects back on work he’s “performed”, an ongoing physical thing he’s still doing to this day. The work of JJ Nicholson coalesces this landscape to which every discarded mechanism is considered a necessary component. He draws influence from Acconci, Beuys, and Marcel
Duchamp.As a trained sculptor and painter, who has studied art at University of Colorado at Boulder, School of Visual Arts in New York, and also Cornell, Nicholson began conceptual installation work in Geneva as early as 1997 choosing to execute his processes here. A strong follower of the movements
Dada and Fluxus, he looks to relate the banal to whimsical assemblages as sculpture. This type of work has sustained within a specific plot of land up until present time as well as at a specific location on Linden Street. He has sought to recognize a language of post-industrial representation from using obscure or recognizable materials toward comical approaches. This work has garnered
some recognition amongst peers within a burgeoning local scene and post-modernist art climate in the community of Geneva. Installation work has even filled a vacant storefront in the city for several years, marking a transcendence of the post agricultural toward an urban catalog. The artist is highly dedicated to new styles of work, publicly portrayed to at various scales.
Music for the opening will be provided by Wayne Gottlieb. Wayne is a jazz guitarist and vocalist who has been performing in and around Ithaca since 1995, playing a variety of styles, but specializing in swing jazz. In addition to performing jazz, blues, R and B, rock, and old country songs, Wayne has written songs in all of these styles. In his voice you will hear traces of his influences, Nat King Cole, Diana Krall, and the early R amd. B vocalists.
Learning to See: An Artist’s Journey with Michael Smith
Opening: Saturday, October 5, 4 to 6 pm
Exhibition: October 5 through 27
Looking at and seeing the familiar in new ways is the beginning. How we see shapes who we become. “Learning to See” invites viewers into a world of exploration and discovery through textured, gestural, semi-abstract landscape paintings. The exhibition aims to explore the process of perceiving and appreciating the world around us in new and meaningful ways.
Music for the opening will be provided by Wayne Gottlieb. Wayne is a jazz guitarist and vocalist who has been performing in and around Ithaca since 1995, playing a variety of styles, but specializing in swing jazz. In addition to performing jazz, blues, R and B, rock, and old country songs, Wayne has written songs in all of these styles. In his voice you will hear traces of his influences, Nat King Cole, Diana Krall, and the early R amd. B vocalists.
James Thomas: A Retrospective
Opening: Saturday, Novmber 2, 4-6 pm
Exhibition: November 2 through December 1
Thomas’s body of work, created over 60 years, presents a consistent interest in the human figure and the natural world with recurring motifs expressed over decades. With a background in industrial design, science and technology factor deeply into his creative output. Jim’s keen observation of industrial uses of technology and materials like plexiglass, light, medical x-rays, and photographic films have caused him to ask—and answer—the question “What would happen if I...?” Following his curiosity, Thomas achieved mastery of his vision and innovative use of materials. As a teacher, he encouraged students to look beyond, and by example he showed us what it means to live an artist’s life with integrity.
The exhibit will consist of 2D and 3D works from 1964 to 2024 in the form of paintings and light-emitting sculptures.
Music for the opening will be provided by Smooth Groovy. Smooth Groovy, rooted in the heart of the Finger Lakes have a sound all their own. Their music is written collectively and contains a dominant bass sound that blends enjoyably into their distinct funk. The band, formed in 2017, consists of two musicians who have performed and recorded together for a decade, the boyfriend-girlfriend team of Wesley John Greco and Diana Modera of Geneva.
Moments of Wonder Paintings: Anne Gomez-Greenspon
Opening: Saturday, November 2, 4 to 6 pm
Exhibition: November 2 through December 1
Moments of Wonder Paintings depict landscapes around the Finger Lakes or other scenic locations. When photographing a scene, I focus on textures and movement to create an interesting composition. I am drawn to the grounding views of mountains, oceans and lakes and have always found solace in nature. The natural colors of my landscape photographs are often exaggerated or changed to reflect the hues of dawn and dusk. The landscapes in this collection portray moments of wonder that I have experienced in the Finger Lakes, and other scenic locations. The textures seen in nature allow me to experiment with painting techniques.
Beauty surrounds us, particularly in the Finger Lakes. We only need to take a moment to savor it. Our environment is precarious. Some of the paintings depict the human impact on the landscape. This is a reminder for all of us to be good stewards of our environment and not to take for granted the beautiful landscape that surrounds us.
Music for the opening will be provided by Smooth Groovy. Smooth Groovy, rooted in the heart of the Finger Lakes have a sound all their own. Their music is written collectively and contains a dominant bass sound that blends enjoyably into their distinct funk. The band, formed in 2017, consists of two musicians who have performed and recorded together for a decade, the boyfriend-girlfriend team of Wesley John Greco and Diana Modera of Geneva.
ARC Ontario Expressions Exhibition
Opening: Saturday, December 7, 4 to 6 pm
Exhibition: December 7 through 15
Every Monday, the Creative Expressions Team from The Arc Ontario visits the Dove Block. Creative Expressions is a comprehensive service/therapeutic experience that fosters creativity through visual arts, music, and horticulture, encouraging individual to expand upon traditional methods of communication and interaction in an educational environment.
Creative Expressions is designed for people seeking to improve their physical, emotional, cognitive, and social skills by expressing themselves in a variety of creative ways, while getting involved in their community.
They offer an Art Program that gives individuals access to a variety of mediums including drawing, painting, sculpture, book arts and digital animation by guided by our art specialist.
The Music program offers a wide range of musical experiences to promote the health and well-being of individuals by enhancing and transforming their lives.
Music by Nathan Merrill and Students. A graduate of SUNY Brockport, Nathan moved into his role as Music Specialist in 2017 at The ARCOntario. He designs musical experiences for individuals with developmental disabilities to help them meet goals related to their physical, social and emotional wellbeing. Nathan also works as a singer and performer at area schools and retirement communities. He plays a wide range of standards across many genres including Country, Pop and Jazz. Often, he will have his Creative Expressions students join him on stage during performances.
Boys & Girls Clubs Art Show
Opening: Saturday, December 21, 4 to 6 pm
Exhibition: December 21 through January 5
In the Art Room, Members are able to explore all kinds of creative mediums and build on their existing skills. The first three days of the week are dedicated to the specific disciplines of Drawing, Painting, and Crafts, with group stations and new projects every week. On Thursdays, the Art Room hosts the BGCA Program Lyricism 101, dedicated to developing young voices in the medium of spoken word poetry and rap. Friday hosts an open studio where members are able to choose what they want to work on. As opposed to an Academic Art Experience, the cornerstone of daily activity at Carter Road is art as a form of connection and communication. By incorporating collaborative design and sharing materials, Members learn how to work together in a studio setting and assist in each other’s creative endeavors without hard deadlines, internal competition, or grades. Focus is also on useful, transferable skills such as sewing, braiding, color mixing, hand lettering, and creative problem solving. As the year kicks off, projects have already included pillow making, line drawing, finger knitting, and watercolor still life painting. Our Art Room is home to all the necessary materials and equipment to facilitate future projects in ceramics, printmaking, screen-printing, fashion design, and multiple other mixed-media mediums. By providing members with the opportunity to learn directly about what they’re interested in, and showing them how art can exist in and change the world around them, the Carter Road Art program gives them the freedom to create without fear.
Music for the opening will be provided by Smooth Groovy. Smooth Groovy, rooted in the heart of the Finger Lakes have a sound all their own. Their music is written collectively and contains a dominant bass sound that blends enjoyably into their distinct funk. The band, formed in 2017, consists of two musicians who have performed and recorded together for a decade, the boyfriend-girlfriend team of Wesley John Greco and Diana Modera of Geneva.
This exhibition is supported by a generous grant from The Wyckoff Family Foundation and The Linden Shop.
Wine and beer are provided by Billsboro Winery and Lake Drum Brewing
Want to propose an exhibition at The Dove? Click here.