The winner of the 45th Anniversary Fairport Canal Days Festival poster contest is Lorraine Staunch. Staunch is the only person to achieve the distinction a third time. 

The inspiration for her latest work, New Beginnings, came from the ongoing renewal and repurposing of old structures and spaces within the village. “From the much needed facelift of our beloved bridge to the addition of the Canalside walks, to the newly renovated Cannery, everything is represented in this painting. Things are popping in Fairport.” Staunch stated.

The finished work has been printed in a limited quantity of 200 - 16 x 20 full-color posters. Staunch will be available to personally sign posters at booth SMW219 located in front of Village Hall. Poster prints may be purchased for $10 each at the Village Hall information booth during the festival.
24 years ago Staunch founded a mural/faux finishing company with a concentration in large paintings, design and color selection for commercial, residential and public spaces. Her work includes large paintings, corporate and residential murals . You can also see her latest works on her website www.LorraineStaunch.com and all over Rochester and Fairport including Comedy at the Carlson, the Perinton Rec. Center, Red Bird Market, Casa Vin Arte, Smokon’ Hot Chicks, Edibles, Digital Home Creations, Church of the Assumption, Casey to the Rescue Transport, K-9 Playtime, and many more locations in the region. 

Staunch, of Fairport, is a graduate of Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, FL, where she majored in painting and minored in sculpture. Upon graduating she was hired as head illustrator at a Christmas design firm in Forest City, NC, drew thousands of portraits at Walt Disney World, designed and painted sets for several community theater productions, exhibited one-woman shows and has won many awards for her paintings.

BY SETH VOORHEES ROCHESTER
PUBLISHED 1:26 PM ET FEB. 02, 2022
SPECTRUM NEWS

“My favorite part of the eyes,” said Staunch, while painting in her Fairport home studio. “Because the eyes, they always say the windows to the soul, but they truly are.”

Details in caricature art are not always easy to capture. The joy. The mischief. The twinkle in the eye.

“I’ve always been really, really intrigued with people and what they're trying to get across,” she said.

Staunch began painting when she was 6 years old. By her early teen years, she sold her first piece of artwork. Now, some of her better known works focus on comedy.

“In a caricature, a lot of times you need to exaggerate a feature,” she said, while painting a caricature portrait of Rochester comedian Todd Youngman.

“They're not wrinkles that, you know, that age us,” said Staunch. “They’re laugh lines. They’re well earned.”

It was another comedian whose untimely death inspired her most recently. On Jan. 9, Bob Saget was found dead inside an Orlando hotel room. He was 65.

“It was a no brainer,” said Staunch, of her decision to paint a Saget caricature. “It had to be done.”

Saget was a stand-up comedian, actor and television host, best known for his role as Danny Tanner on the TV sitcom Full House. He was scheduled to play several shows at the Rochester comedy club Comedy at the Carlson in mid-February.

“It hit me like a ton of bricks that Bob Saget had passed because he had touched so many lives," said Staunch. “He was a nice guy and a very funny, funny person. He brought a lot of joy for all those years.”

“It was a very traumatic day,” said Comedy at the Carlson co-founder Mark Ippolito. “He was such a genuine, nice accessible guy, and he really truly cared. And he was just a great, great act."

Staunch’s Saget caricature painting now hangs it the corner of the club as a tribute.

“So it's like, yes, I saw him,” said Staunch. “And then it brings back all the memories of the time that you saw them either in person or you saw him on TV and a movie and you go ‘oh my God, nailed it!”’

The wall at the Carlson is a who’s who of comedy legends lost.

“It’s not just the first thing that you see as far as the paintings go, it's literally everywhere,” said Ippolito. “Lorraine's ability to capture their character, their personality, their soul in those paintings -- it's second to none.”

Staunch hopes her art leaves the same impression as the comedians she paints.

“There's so much negativity in the world,” she said. “It's a matter of every little bit we can do to negate that, and just add kindness, a kind word, a painting that makes you smile.”

Article by Christine Green

When guests walk into Lorraine Staunch’s art gallery and studio one of the first things they encounter is a giant portrait of a cat wearing glasses.

“Whenever people come into my gallery-studio, they have a certain smile that comes across their face. I have a three-foot by four-foot painting of a beautiful angora cat and it has cat-eye glasses from the ‘50s on it. They immediately break out into a smile, because that cat has an attitude and that cat has cat-eye glasses! It is for no reason other than to make someone smile,” Staunch said.

This cat with an attitude is just one example of Staunch’s “Positive Art: Art That Makes You Smile.”

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Source: http://www.roc55.com/features/lorraine-staunchs-positive-art/

The coronavirus has hit the arts hard, but some local artists are finding ways to support one another and remind the community they'll be back when the pandemic ends.

'Drag me to Brunch' at Edibles restaurant was a popular monthly event -- then came the Coronavirus.

"When the pandemic hit and everything got shut down it really was hang up the heels and take a break,” said drag artist Ambrosia Salad.

A 10-year tradition had to be suddenly halted.

"The money that we lost doing that hurts, but the amount of fun we used to have even after 10 years it was something I just loved doing,” said Jason Herbert, owner of Edibles Restaurant.

The pandemic also impacted artist Lorraine Staunch. When her commercial work faded, she turned to her passion for caricatures.

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Whitman Works Company is pleased to present an exhibition by acclaimed artist, Lorraine Staunch. This new series titled, "Courageous Color", is a three-part study in transforming some of the more traditional art genres: still life, portraiture, and abstraction.

Look who I ran into at LOWES this morning!!!!  IRIS!!!!  My hero!!  This amazing icon is turning 100 years old this August 2021 and she is still running strong!  What a Lady!