Words and Images Intertwine in "Visible Words" exhibition - at RIT’s Gallery r, March 21–April 14

A unique exhibition at Rochester Institute of Technology’s Gallery r will blend visual art and the written word in a showcase of student talent. The "Visible Words" exhibition sponsored by Signatures: RIT’s Journal of Literature & Art, will run from Thursday, March 21, to Sunday, April 14.

The opening reception will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday, March 22, at Gallery r, 775 Park Ave. An awards reception will take place at the gallery from 4 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 27, followed by a 7:30 p.m. reading by award-winning poet Robert Creeley in RIT’s Carlson auditorium. Creeley—winner of the prestigious Bollingen Prize, author of numerous volumes of poetry, essays, and fiction, and collaborator with many of the visual artists who led the 1950s and 1960s avant-garde—will judge the finalists in the exhibition’s contest and present the awards.

The Visible Words exhibit was the idea of John Roche, visiting assistant professor of language and literature and Signatures advisor, who says the notion evolved through conversations with RIT faculty members Tom Lightfoot and Zerbe Sodervick, Gallery r advisor.

"I had seen quite an interest in poetry from art and photo majors in my classes and on the Signatures staff," Roche says. "We originally thought of the Visible Words exhibit as collaborations between artists and poets, though now it has widened to include work done by individuals who combine images with significant use of text, in any media.

"RIT seems like the perfect place to hold such an event, as we have some extraordinarily well-rounded students, whose talents are not easily bounded by conventional artistic categories," he adds.

The concept of art and poetry collaborations will be further explored at RIT during the panel discussion, "Word/Image: Theory and Practice," from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3, in the George Eastman Building, room 2000. The multidisciplinary panel will include faculty from philosophy, language and literature, art, information technology and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information, contact John Roche at 475-4922 or Gallery r at 242-9470.

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Note to Editor: For a digital image of poet Robert Creeley, contact Susan Murphy at 475-5061 or smmuns@rit.edu.

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