Written by Elizabeth Lenz, Rochester Brainery Assistant
Lining the walls of our room conveniently named The Gallery Room are works of art created by some talented, local ladies part of a group here in town called Dudes Night Out. We're excited to premier their work this Saturday at our very first art opening in our new space from 6-9pm. Organized by our own curator, Jason Barber, the ladies of Dudes Night Out have a chance to show off their funny, witty, and imaginative art.
Jason has a vision for The Gallery Room: to showcase female artists. “It’s something that isn’t done a lot,” he says. With the Brainery being owned and staffed by women, it’s something that Jason wanted to focus on.
Dudes Night Out is a co-ed, Rochester-based art collective and when Jason heard that Megan Murphy was a part of the Dudes, as they are affectionately called, "I was like 'that's it.' There's a whole bunch of girl artists in the group that haven't shown except with the other guys. And their stuff is more poppy- it fits the summer feel. This stuff, you look at it and it's like bright colors; they're funny, they're witty, they're imaginative. It's good for the summer."
“I had actually become friends with some of the members, like knew them casually, and I was kind of like 'What's this Dudes Night Out? How do you get involved?' I ended up doing a Halloween show with them and then Jess [another artist from our show] was like 'So is she a dude now?' and we asked Matt and everyone else and they were like 'Yeah she's a dude.' I mean I was kind of expecting a ceremony, but I'll take it,” said artist Meghan Murphy.
The other artists within the show shared similar stories of getting connected with Dudes Night Out and all sang high praises of the other members. Artist Gia Conti even went so far to say that she’s "...been waiting for friends like this my whole life.”
Their backgrounds all vary. Meghan went to high school at School of the Arts, and SUNY New Paltz for visual arts as an undergrad. Then she came back to Rochester, to RIT more specifically, to get her masters in computer graphics design. Artist Katherine Arisumi also went to RIT, but for medical illustration. That’s where she met Matt, who introduced her to the Dudes. Gia had a bit of a different path. She is a self taught artist, having been drawing since she can remember.
The ladies are either inspired by the city around us or in Meghan’s case, time. “You get to the Neighborhood of the Arts and you see old school Rochester art like at the Memorial Art Gallery, where you see that gorgeous Creation Myth. I just love driving down there and it's just stunning. This is the kind of city people want to hang out in. More stuff is happening. It's more like the time that's inspiring rather than a place,” she says.
Katherine enjoys Mendon Ponds Park, specifically Wild Wings to sketch the birds.
Gia couldn’t pick just one place: “Rubino's. The heavenly smell of Italian cheese that hits you as you walk through the door. And Mount Hope Cemetery is beautiful. I love the pier at Charlotte too! The Mercury statue downtown and of course Wegmans, my foodie paradise!”
But there's more! Other artists featured in this show include Carter Burwell and Colleen Virdi. Please join us on July 30th from 6:00pm-9:00pm for our Art Opening! (Psst! There's going to be food!)