Every year, the Art Department gets the task of coming up with a creative concept for a Holiday card. It is always a trying thing to get done, especially having all the normal work load of an ad agency, which never stops, and the holiday event-filled calendar. I am not saying it is not fun, but it is always a challenge to make it happen. That said, this year’s idea was to make light of the whole process.

First off, we needed to get the idea approved by management so we had the okay to work on the project. For this, the Art Department made a quick pilot. We came up with the lines on the fly and with the use of iMovie we were able to show our boss how this idea could work.

Second, we had to polish the idea. We did some sketches of how the camera should film each sequence in a story board so the camera person could see what we meant as far as cropping or how many shots we would need. This also allows the filming to take place at different times even though it won’t be in sequence with the film. For example, we shot the last scenes of the movie first and then just edited them into the movie in the correct sequence at a later time.

Third, we had to come  up with the script. None of us are trained actors. Each person read a general script and added a few ideas themselves. It actually helped that everyone was basically playing themselves and not truly acting… but don’t tell them that. I did get some pleasant surprises from different people who came through as gifted actors! You would not believe how hard it is NOT to look at the camera while acting (makes me think of the rant that Christian Bale had when a film crew man walked by his line of sight while he was doing his acting… it totally screws you up!! Here the Bale and the crew try to talk about the mess…) Another thing you don’t imagine is how hard it is to keep a straight face. We think actors have it easy… it is not easy at all. You have to be a bit loopy to be able to live inside someone else. We still did screw up and crack up while filming, and it gave us a great bloopers reel that is hilarious. No wonder all the good movies show you the outtakes… they are so much fun!

Once we had the script, lines, ideas down. We were able to begin filming. Remember, we had to film during regular hours so we had to do the shots fast and we only had one camera. Having only one camera was more of an issue than you would think. We had to re-shoot lines from different angles to be able to edit them together. This led to choppy cuts and creative editing because, not having more than one camera, meant that the different shot angles did not match the audio perfectly. That gets resolved with two or three cameras shot in different angles at the same time. You can then edit a conversation seamlessly “like in the movies”. Being able to see all the people in the conversation and getting a close up while they are saying their lines, is the beauty of major movies–you feel you are right there in the conversation.  It takes true talent to get it right in the editing room.

Once the movie was shot the editing process was a lot of fun. We used iMovie to edit the whole thing, add music and effects. It is amazing how many effects there are in the iMovie program. I never used the directions and was basically able to edit the movie and learn while doing it. It was that user friendly!  One thing that freaked me out a couple of times was while editing the program shut down on me. I was afraid I had lost all this work because I had not saved the file. Well, the iMovie program saves as it goes so there is no Save or Save As in the program. It just saves to the moment you do things and you do not ever loose anything,  AMAZING!

As I mentioned before, trying to emulate how the professional movies do conversations with quick cuts and different views is not easy. It was probably the hardest thing I tried to do while editing. I did learn a lot about timing things and how to separate the audio from the video so you can show things while the audio keeps rolling. I mean, lets be honest… in my lifetime I have watched thousands of movies, and like everyone else, take the editing for granted… now that I have had this experience, not only has it changed the way I see movies but also my respect for good editors. The good ones, make you forget they are even there! You just watch a movie and get into the story THAT is a good editor!

Also, the role of Director has a new meaning for me. I directed this video (and also acted in it.) Boy, do I feel for Actor/Directors now! I think of Clint Eastwood and how hard that must have been… wow. I also understand why directors get so much attention and why they are so important to the movie. They keep the direction (no pun intended) of the movie in check. They know the trajectory the movie needs to take and capture the overall sense of how that story should be told… that’s it, they are the storytellers!

With a strong director who has a clear idea of the whole project, he (or she) is able to move the whole cast and crew at a quick pace through all that is needed, and knows when to give actors some freedom with the script and when he needs them to just do what he says. Directors in many ways have to be good actors too. I had to tell my “cast” what to do for each take and basically act it out for them so they knew what I was looking for. I can see that in big movies too. I have seen many specials of the actors rapport with the director. You know, like Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, or Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese these Actor/Director collaborations are special and you see that spark in their movies.They can put egos aside and respect each others ideas and really come up with cool shots or great lines… it must be awesome to see!

As for our little movie, yeah, it had a lot of errors and rookie mistakes… but it was a lot of fun to do and we are all eager to try again. Now I just have to get my list of equipment approved… let’s see… two DSLR cameras, directional microphone,  lights… camera… ACTION!!

And now… without further ado… Here is Archer’s movie!

We had planned for weeks to have a team celebration. Why celebrate? There are so many good reasons for Archer to celebrate. Here’s three:

• New people joined Archer in the past several months, and it was a good way to have a partial “team day”.
• The success of the Cornhill Arts Festival was the culmination of months of work for everyone, particularly Elaine and Ty.
• It’s summer.  (if you live in Rochester you have to celebrate summer!)

So we made our plan- spent the afternoon on the Mary Jemison, with a guided tour of the Genesee River and ErieCanal. We cleared the calendar for July 29^th, and everyone was looking forward to it… until the 29^thgreeted us with grey skies, rain, and cool temps; not the kind of day you want to spend on a boat, right?  We talked about other team day activities, but in the end, we all really wanted to go on the boat ride. The weather broke a little, and we took a chance! Thankfully, the rain held out for all but a few minutes of our ride, and we had a great afternoon.  Just look at the smiles! Clearly the Archer team is more than just co-workers. We’re friends,who laugh together and smile a lot.  It’s an important part of our company culture- it’s part of what makes us unique.  Our team is young and “less young”, humorous, quick-witted and sometimes sassy—in other words—FUN.  It’s one of the things I like best about my job. As the weather gets colder and the days get shorter, I’ll look back on our boat trip and smile. I didn’t need the sun and blue skies to make the day memorable, just some great smiles.

The day greeted me with Elaine’s announcement that we were to help out in a 5K race put on by the Brighton Chamber of Commerce, with the sponsorship of Fleet Feet. A quick stop for a cup of coffee, an offer to help, the donning of highlighter-colored t-shirts and flag in hand, we walked through an awakening and well-tended Brighton neighborhood to our post.

Positioning ourselves where all runners must pass, our job is simple. We only need to confirm that the runners continue straight on, ignoring the obvious fact that the finish line is much closer if they turn left.

A box of crayons had been released, and now flows down Bonnie Brae. The procession begins thin and speedy, with a clear, forthright leader and gaps between each runner. The colors thicken through the middle and effervesce into a multitude of characters. The flow sputters at times, and ultimately thins down to the last determined spirit who ambles by heroically with the aid of walking sticks.

Elaine cheers loudly. She has had a large coffee, and several runners lament at not having had as good an energy boost as she so obviously has had. I know differently. Elaine is stoked by people, and particularly by people working together to make something happen, to make a difference, or simply to share. She encourages each passer with increasing bravado.

I think about the cheer, the generations, the good will, and the sweet, intense pride of the people involved in this one event. It is easy to extend that thought and  imagine this same spirit throughout our region and country. Truly, the Fourth of July, expands each year into a menagerie of hues, defying and yet, paying homage to the traditional red, white and blue.

Since starting at Archer, I have had the opportunity to manage and work alongside great people in the art and web departments. As expected, there have been ups and downs and also many obstacles to overcome when it came to people management. Whether there have been problems regarding personalities, work ethics, equipment, vacation-time, or an array of other issues—you name it—it has happened. Thanks to these issues, I learned and grew as a manager—and not just a production manager—I learned what it meant to be a manager of people.

I have to admit, I respect anyone who has ever had to manage me and deal with my personality and my own ups and downs. It’s not that I am a total diva, (though I have been known to have my “moments”) but, being an artist, and considered a free spirit, it is always a challenge to fit into others’ ideas of how I should act. Cultural differences are always present because of my Puerto Rican background. Very seldom the issue was language, (except when I attempt to use slang or a saying, which I always screw up) still, I kept being misunderstood. The comments varied between that I was too passionate, or even that I was just plain loud to people, (which is not only personality but also a cultural thing), I was usually unaware of how I was being perceived. I had to really take a look at myself and notice what people were seeing in me. Accepting constructive criticism and being able to adjust was another step towards maturity and self development, and that is no easy task for a Latina, let me tell you!

Knowing the issues I had to overcome as an employee has definitely helped me to be more aware of my team’s issues, what they deal with and what they need overcome. Pointing out things employees need to work on, in a constructive manner, is not always an easy task. Still, people screw up and that is part of life and learning. As long as they don’t mind a bit of constructive criticism and creative supplementation mixed in with their daily dose of work, we can do wonderful things.

Maturity is something that crept up on me. It has nothing to do with age… not at ALL! (What’s my age again?) But still, there it is, and with it comes a certain way of handling yourself and the people around you. A sense of maturity is very useful to managers and it is one of the reasons most managers are a bit more seasoned than the people they manage. (I use Adobo, garlic and lime!)

Another part of my job is to discover not only what everyone on my team is good at, but also what challenges each person so they can get better at what they do. This way they stay interested in their job and feel that they can accomplish bigger and better things.

The catch is you can’t promise everyone that they will always get to do will be fun and exciting, though I wish I could. Graphic and web design both have their tedious sides: never-ending changes, endless boring copy that needs to be inserted into web pages, or even daily organization of files and photos. These can all be daunting and extremely boring tasks. At the same time, it is all necessary work and work keeps us busy. (I actually consider being idle the MOST boring thing there is.)

Another challenge of management that I have experienced is actually delegating the work. You could say it is easy to do this, but it can be very difficult. When you have work that you can do yourself, the way you want it to be done and at a speedy pace, it is easy to decide not to pass it on. The problem is, if you don’t pass the work on, your employees will never learn to do it themselves. So, you end up with a lot on your plate and employees with nothing to do (and watching YouTube instead), which is a recipe for disaster.

This is something I see a lot of small business owners going through. They have workers but they don’t teach them the way they do things, and they end up having to babysit everybody in order to get a job done well. BIG MISTAKE. The truth is that training and passing the knowledge to others eventually releases you to do bigger and brighter things. The challenge is the patience it takes to teach. My motto is teach to the point where they don’t need me anymore; teach until I put myself out of a job. Then I can do something new, which would be, in turn, my challenge.

The only wrench in this system is when you have to teach not how to drive a nail, but how you view design, layout and aesthetics, and some of these are not easy to teach. But with the right people, it becomes a very fruitful endeavor. With a little bit of praise (all artists have that diva inside, never forget that) and guidance you can push artists to create even better work.

I am glad to say we have built a good team at Archer. Looking ahead, I can see great possibilities in our company’s future. There will always be some challenges, but I am glad that I can teach and train people what I love to do, and, at the same time, I am also getting to learn a lot—keeping me on my toes and never, ever idle.

Have you ever watched a black belt Karate expert blast his bare hand through a stack of bricks? It is a powerful demonstration of focus and commitment.

Austrian pines command the lilac-filled hilltop in Highland Park.

I remember people who could perform such acts remarking that it is not difficult—all you need to do is concentrate on a point beyond the stacked barriers. But I don’t buy that.  I think it requires confidence, commitment and good technique.

Focusing beyond the target with commitment has always struck me as special and worth building upon. People are noteworthy when they demonstrate this combination. Heroic figures resonate in our hearts when their break-through accomplishments become their historic legacy.

My home city, Rochester, New York has been blessed with such heroes. George Eastman, Susan B. Anthony and Frederic Douglas all quickly come to mind, and there are many others. Two of my favorites were Frederick Law Olmstead and Dr. John R. Williams. Each of them was dedicated to our natural surroundings. Olmstead designed Highland and Seneca Parks and Williams sought out and planted the great variety of magnificent trees at Oak Hill Country Club. Both focused upon a world beyond their own days to create ongoing majesty for people to enjoy.

I used to find it a bit unsettling that people would spend lifetimes devoted to causes that would only be realized after their deaths. Now I do not. Maturation, parenting, as well as working and sharing with others altered my perspective. Today I am devoting more and more energy to building little legacies, and I suppose that, while recognition and kudos are impressive stacks to assemble, the internal warmth that accompanies legacy-focused action is simply more fulfilling.

At Archer Communications, it is more rewarding for us to help companies realize ways to perpetually grow than it is to design a single step in the process.  But, even as a step in the process, we seek to comprehend a company’s overall strategy so that our work is synergistic with it.

We want each client to build its own legacy, no matter how personal or how ambitious. Our process is intentionally flexible and customizable to build each marketing communications strategy beyond short-term success and to deliver sustainable gratification. By aligning ourselves with a client’s purpose, we accentuate a deeper legacy for them, and hopefully contribute in a small way to the betterment of our world.

Jeff Lennox

As a forethought: The person who thinks experience trumps all is not paying attention to the many contributions of youth in today’s world, and the person who thinks a good new idea trumps all is not wise to the wider repertoire of experience or the many nuances experience helps to navigate.

Marketing communications firms are more interactive and exciting places to work then ever. Employees share experience, knowledge, and technology with a back-and-forth banter unheard of a generation ago. It is not just the remarkable increase in Internet resources and the speed at which those resources can be obtained; it is the very dynamics in which employees—from new hires through well-seasoned veterans—can share to elevate proficiency for all.

Historically, the prevalent means for transferring knowledge and skills has been through apprenticeship. Apprenticeship is the age-old, proven method for teaching legacy experience to aspiring employees. It is as natural as parents passing knowledge and values to their children.

Today, marketing communications firms can no longer rely solely upon transferring skills from one generation to the next. After all, most full-time employees can’t keep up with the current pace of technology, much less teach it to new employees. Additionally, technological know-how seems to develop most quickly in youth who learn to embrace exciting new possibilities more readily than adults.

As a result, forward-thinking technology often comes into the workplace from the traditional apprenticeship position—creating a reverse-knowledge flow, where the less experienced employees are the more technologically advanced employees.

Why not build upon this dynamic and instigate a process where everyone plays a role in teaching each other new skills? This way, marketing communications firms can accelerate the development of their personnel by encouraging industry expertise (established through experienced workers) to interact with advancing technologies (brought in by younger employees from colleges, universities and training venues), and work as powerful allies! The result can yield untold opportunities.

At Archer Communications, we address this dynamic by working in teams. We often pair complementary skills together to strengthen the team, and we work conscientiously to impart wisdom to younger employees, while opening the eyes of the more seasoned employees to the new thoughts and capabilities of interns and recent hires. The result has been an environment of continued growth, and more importantly, more profound marketing communications solutions for our clients.

By: Jeff Lennox
President, Archer Communications, Inc.

Falling Waters

When I think of creative genius in architecture, I think of Frank Lloyd Wright. When I visit his homes or buildings, I experience his genius. However, I also sense some flaws—concrete that should have been reinforced (at Falling Waters), an inability to fully enjoy the art (at The Guggenheim Museum in New York) due to constantly having my right foot below my left, and low ceilings that feel claustrophobic to my 6’1” height (Throughout his work).

I have come to a realization that all of these are outcomes of a genius given carte blanche.

While none of these mitigating factors diminish my enjoyment of Mr. Wright’s ground-breaking ideas, these shortcomings have made me feel his buildings are less livable than I originally envisioned them being. More importantly, this realization has shaped the way I view the creative process and how it relates to marketing communications.

In marketing communications firms, the dichotomy of fostering exciting innovation within functional constraints is critical to a successful strategy.

Guggenheim Museum

Having an array of talent is a force best maximized when unleashed. However, empowering each talented person often comes hand-in-hand with an obstinate and well-defended position (ala Frank Lloyd Wright’s). How do you know when to get a talented person with a powerful idea to succumb to modification? How do you know when to let a new idea fly?

Obviously, your client might determine the answer for you, but how do you even know whether the idea is worthy of showing the client? Moreover, the client is paying you to know if the idea is flight-worthy to begin with!

Establishing consensus is the usual way to sort out bad ideas. Unfortunately, consensus also can contribute to the diluting of good ideas. So how much do you rely on building consensus and how much free rein do you give to maximize your talent?

At Archer, we mix a strong reliance on consensus with a tendency to add weight to the opinions of the experts whose talent was called upon. We also encourage our talents to pick their battles carefully and use time to mitigate emotional bias. This blended approach strives to capture the best attributes of all available resources.

The client does add tremendous weight to decisions, but we strive hard to discourage decisions that we as a company do not agree with. The old adage that “the client is always right” does not always apply to creative strategies. What is true is that the client will be most affected by the decisions made and needs to know when they are overriding consensus or expert opinion.

Frank Lloyd Wright is remembered for his innovation. Shortcoming are generally overlooked or fixed. I may not be qualified to second-guess the man, but I sometimes do marvel—Could Mr. Wright’s buildings have been even better if he considered the input from complementing contemporary experts a little bit more?

In our world of marketing communications, we are usually working on matters that are quite different than designing a building. The immediacy of the message is more pronounced and the ability to shift directions is more manageable. Still, generating a positive return on investment is critical. So, establishing a process that incorporates both strong creative energy and strong mass appeal is a question that marketing communications firms must work out.

By: Jeff Lennox
President, Archer Communications, Inc.

Being the Design intern here at Archer and a current RIT student, I was very happy to have the opportunity to attend FITC in San Francisco, California last week. It was an experience like none other. You’re probably wondering what FITC is and what it stands for. It’s an acronym for “Flash in the Can” (not the tin kind you buy food in). “Can” is short for Canada, where the very first FITC Flash Festival was held in 2002. Since then, FITC has traveled to 18 cities around the world with more than 30 events. Each year brings newer and more exciting presenters, to show their latest projects, concepts and designs.

Now, I know what your thinking, this sounds like a convention for Flash fanatics and Apple/HTML5 haters coming together to reinforce how awesome Flash is to web design. We are also not plotting against Steve Job because we think he is a terrible person for banning Flash from the iPhone. Still, it is called “Flash in the Can”, but the presentations held at the events are not just pin pointing the Flash platform. Presentations are sorted into different categories such as technical, business and creative, which touch on so much more than Flash alone. The topics range from the Flash Platform to general graphic design, mobile, motion graphics, programming languages (such as C++ and Javascript), and social media, including marketing and advertising. FITC originally began as a Flash Festival but has extensively evolved with presentations that even include Flash’s big competitors like HTML5 and Microsoft’s version of Flash: Silverlight. The variety of attendees and presenters make FITC a place to merge design with technology, creativity with development, and digital with physical.

One presentation that particularly stood out to me was by Lee Brimelow, Platform Evangelist for Adobe and award-winning interactive designer. It was titled “My Head Hurts” and focused on clearing up some speculation about topics such as Flash CS5, mobile devices, design for mobile content and, most interestingly, HTML5. Lee Brimelow is an active member in the Flash community and has provided notable online resources including theFlashBlog, gotoAndLearn, and Flasher Magazine. In his presentation, Lee talks about the strain HTML5 has put on Flash, which has caused turmoil for designers, developers, marketers and clients. Why? Well, following Steve Jobs’ Thoughts on Flash, clients have veered away from Flash content and moved to HTML5 as an alternative and, in some cases, have been misinformed on it’s features and abilities. What I think has rung true throughout the flash community as a whole is that it’s not about Flash and it’s not about HTML5. These are just tools at our disposal to create our vision. It’s about the message…What is the purpose of this project? What are we trying to achieve? What is the best way to voice our message? If search engine optimization (SEO) becomes a factor in choosing a medium, how can Flash compensate for SEO rankings? How can we make HTML5 look as rich and smooth as a Flash application? These questions are answered through collaboration and understanding, decisions and compromises. HTML5 may be gaining popularity across the web, but Flash is supported by 95% of desktop browsers and it’s far from dead. Just like everything else in programming, Flash may be on top now but it won’t be forever. Something will eventually take its place.

All the other presentations I attended were just as intriguing and inspiring. I suggest anyone who is interested in web/game/application design and/or development to attend one of these events. It was certainly eye opening, engaging and I highly recommend it. Plus, getting to visit San Francisco was certainly a big plus!

Today I read that large cable and TV networks are fearful of GoogleTV.

Why are they so afraid? Is it because they operate in an old style advertising lead network? Is it because they are afraid Google will force them to evolve? Afraid of changing the way they have been doing things for 50+ years?

Simple answer is YES!

GoogleTV plans to offer the viewer unlimited options allowing you to search the internet through your TV. Basically, the idea is they will sell TVs with Google enabled web browsers and keyboards so you can type in your search and get the streaming video right into your TV. I looked at this intro video. In a nutshell they are making your TV a web browser but instead of having to own a device to see the web like the computer, iPad or iPhone you will be plugged in directly to your TV. Think mega-sized-computer-screen if you own a large 46″ plus TV! Wow, that would be cool.

You can watch your game, downsize the video and, at the same time look up stats on your team on the web page… or, you can view  a news story while tweeting about it in real time with friends around the world. You have all the videos on the internet at your fingertips (think youtube, hulu, etc…) and all your photo viewing programs like picasa, Flickr, Shutterfly, Snapfish, etc… all right there for you to see or share with your friends.

That brings up the other side of having all this technology in your living room. Being a mother and having a house with other people sharing the same TV, I can tell you the problems will start very quickly. I happen to have one of the newer TVs that can go to the internet with a browser. It is definitely NOT Google by any means but you can browse certain things… I say certain things because I haven’t had the chance to really sit down and play with it. Why? Because I have a husband and a daughter who would rather watch their shows.  They get bored watching me play around with it– so basically the browser is never used.

I can just hear the arguments from people fighting over the keyboard (instead of the remote)

OK. The geek in me says the Google TV sounds like a great idea. The only problem I see with it is what I mentioned above. The TV tends to be where families gather to watch something together. Having so much control over the bazillion things you can watch on the internet is very intriguing, but I do not think it will bring families together, and it definitely will not help with the couch-potato pandemic sweeping the country.

I do agree that being able to just search for your favorite TV show is awesome. I already do that on my computer if I miss a show. I can always go to abc.com or fox.com and catch up (and with less commercial interruption!). Viewing it all in a large screen TV would definitely be a plus too. Mac actually pioneered this idea with their AppleTV. Oh yes! Apple thinks of all of these things first and then Google jumps in the bandwagon. The problem for Apple is that Google is a behemoth. Most elitists go for Apple, the world goes for Google. Sad but true. (Go Apple! )

The big cable TV conglomerates will need to adjust to the new era or be left behind. The music and print industries know this very well. Once the internet moves in, it is going to be an all out war. The way they generate money will have to change, and I am sorry to say that users  will suffer for it. We will inevitably have to view more ads online and pay for subscriptions to see our shows. Otherwise, how will they make the money to keep making expensive and cool TV? Early on, watching TV shows in abc.com for example, there were no ads! Now you watch any show and they plug in 4 to 5 areas where they place ads and force you to look at them. The only cool thing is they tell you how long it is going to last and actually have a count down, but still, they are annoying. Get ready for more of the same.

The buzz is going crazy on the internet about this Google TV. It even made headline news across the country! As one writer for the Los Angeles Times put it “…whenever new technology emerges that allows consumers more choices, it is inevitably a destructive experience for the companies making money off the old model, since they are the ones who find it most difficult to embrace and take advantage of the sweeping changes.” See the story here and also take a look at the comments.

We are talking a hot button for all things creative now. One comment says “If you go back a hundred years, actors earned money by actually doing live performances. Now, through the magic of TECHNOLOGY, they have been able to do one performance (~1 month of work) and make 20 million dollars. What technology giveth, it may also taketh away. By the way, the people who invented that technology that enable you to make a load of money, never made 1/100 of what the artistic exploiters made.” So true, but that is also the beauty of invention and capitalism!

There are a lot of contrasting and passionate views that this GoogleTV has touched upon. Having TV giants be afraid of an Internet company was unheard of 10 years ago. The truth is if you do not embrace new technology you WILL BE LEFT BEHIND. It is true for the internet, for your career, for everything you do and use. It is everywhere. Sitting there and closing yourself to it will do you no good. The good news is you can pick and choose what you want to deal with (like fuel efficient cars) and what you don’t (like 3-D TV LOL!!).

To me, the real worry is what will these big companies do to control what we can or cannot have access to and if they will be able to charge us for it. That’s in a near future, as for now, I can still plug in my Xbox to my HDTV and watch Netflix or get on Facebook and send likes to all my friends… and I don’t need GoogleTV to do so.

Archer is pleased to announce that this year’s 2nd Annual Emerging Artists Expo at the 42nd Annual Corn Hill Arts Festival was a tremendous success! As the Expo’s sponsor, we strove to create an inviting, interactive, and fun atmosphere at the main entrance to the Expo. If you stopped by to visit the A-Team, you may have walked the red carpet, posed for paparazzi pictures, and created artwork to contribute to the gallery displayed in the Archer tent.

“Everyone at Archer is extremely pleased with how the weekend went. We really tried to make the Expo the highlight of the Festival. I feel that people really enjoyed the activities we offered at the entrance of the Expo and interacting with fresh, young, Rochester-based talent,” said Jeff Lennox, President of Archer Communications.

Jeff continues, “For most of these artists, the Expo was their public debut. It was a chance for them to sell and display their artwork to a large and diverse audience. I am pleased that Archer could partake in supporting these passionate and brilliant artists.”

Be sure to check back to the Emerging Artists Expo page (www.archercom.com/emerging-artists) throughout the upcoming weeks! We will be updating the site with red carpet pictures, video interviews with the artists, and more!

Archer Communications would also like to congratulate Heather Swenson on winning 1^st place for the Emerging Artists Expo category. As promised, Ms. Swenson will be presented with a customized website to showcase her portfolio of work throughout the year. “I am grateful to Archer Communications for providing me with such a generous gift. This will really help me gain exposure to the public and help me keep in contact with other artists,” said Swenson. She continues, “I gave out a lot of business cards at the Festival, but everyone also kept asking me if I had a website. Getting a website has been something I have been putting off, so I am thrilled that Archer is going to help me finally put my art on the web.”

Heather Swenson, an Irondequoit native, is a rising junior at SUNY Purchase College of Art Design. She felt that Expo went very well for her, as she sold several pieces and networked with many of the area’s local artists and art professionals. The 2^nd Annual Emerging Arts Expo was Swenson’s inaugural showing to the general public and she was thrilled as to how many people were intrigued with her work and the process of woodcut lithograph printing. She is also excited to be recognized for her hard work and dedication to her art. Swenson said that, “Winning this honor provides me with affirmation and confidence that I can succeed within a medium that I am passionate about.” You may see Swenson’s work around Rochester at different events this Summer—events she was invited to show at by people with whom she connected with at the Expo.

Stay tuned for updates regarding the release of Ms. Swenson’s new web-based portfolio. And don’t forget to check the Emerging Artists Expo web page for the latest updates!