Rochester

ROCHESTER
While here I am staying with Servas hosts and I spend Saturday with the female host as the male left on an epic month long bike journey at 7am.

Rochester is a mixed bag of a town. Some blocks are ugly and deserted while others are simply gorgeous. Seems the town is in decline after a number of major companies moved their head offices out of town. Houses are cheap and in the area I stayed in the houses are worth about $90,000 or less. And that is the typical four story building in average condition. There is a basement, two floors of living space, and an attic. No fences in between properties, but nothing to stop one being put up. Yards are quite small, but enough to make it easy to maintain and enjoy.

GEORGE EASTMAN
A lot of the town revolves around the legacy of George Eastman, founder of Kodak. He was a bachelor with squillions of dollars; probably gay - that's my guess; and spent $100 million or more on community projects and other philanthropic projects before he died by his own hand at 77 years of age. His suicide note read: "My work is done. Why wait?"

His mansion was completed in 1905 and it is amazing as he was a total control freak and a gadget geek. He even had his own power plant so he could have electricity all the time in his house. Here is the link for the website about him, the photography museum, and his house.

After a guided tour of the house, my host and I enjoy a picnic lunch in the lovely gardens. Again, the weather is perfect and I really think the universe has forgotten about me for a few days in order for things to be just right.

FIBRE ART EXHIBITION
Again, the universe has lost track of me and I luck upon a major fibre art exhibition being displayed in Rochester, as one of only three destinations on its USA tour. Just about everywhere else I have been to the galleries and craft precincts have been closed on the day I am in town.

What can I say - fantastic, glorious, beautiful, creative - just an excellent exhibition. Two Australians, one male and one female, have works on display but I don't recognise their names.

I particularly enjoy the work of one artist who hails from Wales, so I am hoping to hunt her down while I am there and buy a small work direct.

But even though I am boggled by the exhibition, it is a work in the permanent collection that really blows my mind.

An artist has arranged over 4000 reels of cotton, one reel deep, but about two metres wide by 2.5 metres high on a wall. At first glance it is just a very beautiful abstract work with exceptional colour usage. BUT, after reading the info, I find out I have to stand on an indicated mark on the floor and view it through a small sphere of about four centimetres in diameter.

I am amazed that this abstract colour array becomes a detailed image of Grant Wood's famous painting, American Gothic. The artist has scanned in an image of the painting, turned it upside-down, then pixelated it and used that as a guide to the placement of the different coloured reels of cotton. The sphere turns the image right way up and the brain fills in the detail. Absolutely mind blowing.

The gallery gift shop had some very accomplished works on sale by local artists. If I had more money and didn't have to lug my purchases around for the next two months I could have gone on a major spending spree.

GENESEE HIGH FALLS
Rochester has its own waterfall in the heart of town, and it actually isn't that much smaller than the first part of Niagara Falls. Unfortunately it is located in an underdeveloped part of the town, but an attempt is being made to make it more tourist and resident friendly. More info here.

ERIE CANAL
Passing through Rochester is New York State's Erie Canal. I had no clue that there was a canal system in the USA! Would have made a point of looking into it more while I am here. On the bus leaving Rochester I have passed a few sections of it but not enough warning to snap a piccie.