Interview by Emily Hessney Lynch.

Published January 4, 2019.

Where are you originally from? What brought you to Rochester at this time in your life?

I’m from Rochester originally; I grew up in the Ballantyne neighborhood, across the river from RIT. I went to Wheatland Chili for high school. I heard from relatives that Rochester had a depressed economy, rainy summers, and was generally too cold. But after attending the University of Dayton, living in Africa for three years, and marrying a guy from the Philippines, we moved back to Rochester and I was able to see it with fresh eyes. We fell in love with the city.

What is your favorite part of living in Rochester? 

When I first came back, it was mostly the seasons. I only experienced summer in Africa for three years, and when I was in college in Ohio, the winters are much shorter. I love to ski and go outside during the winter, so I missed Rochester winters.

One thing that’s really striking is how little traffic there is in Rochester. Commutes are 15-20 minutes, and they’re so much worse in other major cities. My husband was also pleasantly surprised to find how much easy access Rochester has to fresh water and parks, not to mention other larger cities like Toronto, Boston, and D.C. It feels like we’re right in the middle of everything.

What are some of your favorite/secret Rochester spots?

• I enjoy visiting Washington Grove in all seasons—checking out the new graffiti on the water towers, seeing the mushrooms, or trees that have fallen down. We take some of our Studio 678 kids there and some of them have never been in a non-urban environment before. Even just a three hour visit to the woods has a sizable impact. You take for granted how stimulating the city is—even though we’re a small city. All of that is stripped away in the forest, and you have a chance to let the wonderment come back.
• One of my favorite parts of town is the WALLTHERAPY murals over by the El Camino Trail—it’s one big long strip. When you see that kind of art in an unexpected place, it makes you feel much happier and more positive.
• Next to High Falls on the Genesee Brewing side, there’s a little trail through the gorge—and an observation tower hidden behind a billboard. We always go there in the winter, and no one is around. It’s so beautiful. I also really enjoy walking around the old part of High Falls, near the mill. Many of our friends have come to visit us in Rochester, and we always take them to High Falls.
• We also enjoy Corbett’s Glen, and of course Ellison Park. We love disc golf and cross country skiing, and Ellison has a great disc golf course.
• I work out in Victor and enjoy taking walks at lunchtime; I’ll go explore the Auburn and Lehigh Trails.
• We enjoy sailing at the Newport Yacht Club. There’s lots going on on the bay. They even do ice boating when the bay freezes! They put a skate on the bottom of the boat.
• Pultneyville is beautiful—the weeping willows at the edge of the water are lovely. We like to take a day trip out and pick apples, eat at the market, and hang out at the park. One year, we went all the way out to Pultneyville to watch a meteor shower, and we watched these big fireballs in the sky, drank hot cocoa, and ate donuts for an hour in the dark. It was magical.

If you had $100 and two hours to kill in Rochester, how would you spend the money/time? 

I’d go to Relish and get the chef’s tasting menu. Stephen Rees is a friend of mine. $50 for a chef’s tasting menu is the cheapest in the city, and they let you take your time; you don’t get rushed out. I supported the restaurant on Kickstarter and love getting to taste all the new menus now as they come out. It’s one of the few places in town that does French cuisine.

What is your personal coping mechanism for cold/gray weather?

I love to go for walks all year round. We go walk around our neighborhood, no matter the weather, for an hour every night. We also like to cross country ski on the deep, fresh-fallen snow on golf courses. And, if I’ve had a truly awful day? I’ll go to the dark room. It helps you feel like you’re a world away.

What is your favorite Rochester memory?

Visiting Sibley’s is a cherished memory. My artwork was often featured in the gallery there as a child, and I would get taken out of school to go see my own artwork on the wall there! I’d get pie at the restaurant and drink hot cocoa as well; it was so special. The decor was amazing and the whole place smelled like perfume. That was a cool time for Rochester when Midtown and Sibley’s were on Main Street. I remember going to Midtown as a child and seeing Santa and going shopping. My mom was always a bit stressed about it though, parking was tough and there never seemed to be enough time.

As a teenager, I used to visit all the dance clubs around the Liberty Pole. We all had fake IDs and we’d just go out dancing at spots like Heaven and Scrap. Then we’d go to Nick Tahou’s afterwards, and throw the lids of butter packets onto the ceiling.

I vividly remember the Roller Studio in Village Gate. My mom would go there to roll herself, and then we’d all get candy. Rolling was an activity thought to reduce cellulite by helping blood flow. I loved Village Gate then—it was this cavernous space full of flea markets and I was a flea market junkie. I still own a hat I got at one of the vintage shops there.

What makes Rochester unique? 

The combination of green space and the public access to waterfalls and lakes. Other cities have those things, but you have to drive further to it, and it’s not right downtown. We also have amazing access to farm fresh food at the Public Market. The Public Market is my happy place.

What do you think could be improved? 

I remember a conversation I had with a German exchange student and some folks who had relocated to Rochester from Germany. I expressed how I thought he was so lucky to come to Rochester for his program, but the folks who were new to our city felt that Rochester was a very difficult place to live, riddled with segregation and socioeconomic stratification. That conversation surprised and frustrated me. I never saw it like that. I go everywhere. I think there’s fear on both sides of not belonging in certain areas. There’s institutionalized divisiveness that needs to change. Leaders have ideas but they’re not well implemented. We’re not doing much on the west side of town. Why are we letting it be that way?

When we run the Studio 678 program each year, we ask the kids: “Where have you been in Rochester? Have you been to a park? A gallery?” It turns out very few have experienced things outside of their home neighborhoods or school, and in our program they get to go everywhere. They have this restricted perspective on what’s available in life, and we try to broaden that perspective.    They have this tiny perspective on what’s available in life, and we try to broaden that perspective. Having more programs like ours would help. Ours is only one day a week, and we can only help 30 kids a year. At least one of those 30 kids has been impacted by violence in some way. We need to target and nurture kids. Everyone should be able to walk around everywhere and feel safe.

Tell me a little bit about your involvement with Flower City Arts. 

I’ve been involved for 17 years. I took a class there when I got laid off, a black and white photography refresher. I started volunteering shortly after that and would get dark room time for free. I spent six years on the board, and one of the tasks we accomplished was making the building handicapped accessible. I’ve taken classes and I’ve taught with the youth program. I’m now an Artist-in-Residence. I took a kallitype class four times and kept at it until I started getting results I liked. I take iPhone photos, import them to the cloud, bring them into PhotoShop for some minor edits, then create plastic negatives from them. Then I mix a photo-sensitive emulsion, hand paint it onto watercolor paper, and make a contact print using the plastic negative. This is exposed in a light box. Each one comes out totally unique! I’ve been doing my residency since August, and I’ll have a show in January, then finish the residency in February. Flower City Arts is like my second home. The energy there is awesome and so positive. I love every nook and cranny of that building.

Who inspires you? 

Frida Kahlo is my all-time favorite painter. Her subtle coloring inspired my hand coloring. I take lots of landscape photos and think of Ansel Adams often. Mark Osterman at the George Eastman Museum is an inspiration, and Jen Libby of Genesee Libby at the Hungerford is great—she makes beautiful alternative work with tintypes. Pat Bacon is based in the Sodus/Williamson area, and photographs fields; her work is amazing. And I love Mitch Goldstein’s photograms.

How would you describe the Rochester arts community?

It’s huge, productive, and collaborative. The people from RoCo, the George Eastman Museum, the Memorial Art Gallery, Flower City Arts Center, and the Yards are fantastic—and these bands of people do a great job of coming together. For example, a band of photographers and former Kodakers came together to found Image City Photography Gallery. Minority artists can be successful here. We have the legacy of Albert Paley and Wendell Castle, public art with WALL\THERAPY, and people are generally encouraging, always interested in seeing your work and getting feedback on theirs. We have a ton of space and a ton of people that are supportive.

What advice would you give to up and coming artists in Rochester?

Don’t be afraid to fail. You have to try something in order to learn something. Failure builds relationships that may encourage you.