Grand Opening

GRAND OPENING

GRAND OPENING

F

ifty years ago, in the fall of 1968, Rochester Institute of Technology moved to a new suburban campus, built whole in the middle of a corn field in Henrietta, New York. Since that time RIT has looked back to the city with a growing nostalgia and longing gradually tempering the initial exhilaration of the move from crowded and crumbling city to more open, quiet, clean, and safe pastures.

Although remnants of the RIT Art and Design programs remained in downtown Rochester for many years after the initial move, most students, faculty, and staff had no occasion to go downtown on a regular basis. It was not uncommon to encounter car-less students during the 1980s and 1990s who had never once been to the city.

This began to change in the late 1990s when the College of Art and Design (then called the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences) opened Gallery r at 775 Park Avenue near Culver Avenue in the century-old Doctor’s Hospital building. At first the new gallery exhibited work of faculty and students in the School of Art, but gradually became a showcase for work from across the college. Eventually the needs of the college outgrew Park Avenue, and in January, 2012, opened a new space at 100 College Avenue in the Neighborhood of the Arts near the Memorial Art Gallery.

While larger than the original space, the lack of foot traffic in the area left the gallery quiet and empty during normal hours of operation.

Now the RIT College of Art and Design opens its new City Art Space in Rochester at Liberty Pole Plaza. With this newest move, RIT is returning to the heart of downtown at a time when the population of the Center City is beginning to grow once again. The grand opening of the new gallery features the monumental and strikingly complementary work of Professors Willie Osterman and Len Urso.

Frank Cost Friday, December 7, 2018

For Willie and Len

About the Author Frank Cost is the James E. McGhee Professor of Visual Media in the School of Photography at Rochester Institute of Technology. He has taught a wide variety of courses in the field of visual media for more than three decades. Frank has been photographing professionally since 1975 and has authored both textbooks and experimental photobooks exploring new forms of graphic expression enabled by digital technologies. He can be contacted at frank.cost@rit.edu. To learn more about Frank Cost and RIT, visit the following URL: http://cias.rit.edu/faculty-staff/2 This book is a Fossil Press Instant Book, published on the same day as the events depicted. The book is available from Amazon for $5.00.

Books that gain value with the passing of time.

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