Past Exhibits
Exhibition Archive
2024
Campus design, like urban design, treats the entirety as a whole comprising discrete elements. At RIT, our buildings, infrastructure, campus loop, paths, ponds, and pavilions contribute to the campus genius loci or the spirit of place. Long known as Brick City, our campus
Mushroom mycelium – sometimes likened to the root structure of plants - has the unique ability to grow into a shape encouraged by its surroundings. Here that capability is utilized to form light shades that will maintain their structure and stability during use, but decompose in
Thematic Form Studies 2, an exhibit of new paintings by R. Roger Remington, opens at RIT’s Grid Space/University Gallery on February 12, 2024. In these paintings Remington continues his personal exploration of formal visual elements The work is a continuing blend of systematic
This exhibition explores and highlights the Ramsey-Lemon Family Archive as an example of Black life in response to historical events in the 20th century as depicted by photographs from Pulitzer Prize-nominated photojournalist and RIT Alumni Bernie Boston. To be Black in America
Take a historical journey to explore the history of World Wars I and II through the lens of the artists who translated war posters into community-influencing propaganda. For centuries, emotionally charged imagery has been used to demonize the enemy, inspire patriotism, boost
This exhibition showcases twelve unique lamp designs created during the Vignelli Center for Design Studies 2023 Summer Workshop. Students and designers from the global art community participated in a week-long workshop divided between the Vignelli Center for Design Studies at RIT
2023
Vignelli Center for Design Studies sponsors an annual and much anticipated event, Beyond Fashion.
This exhibition is curated by Etta Arnold, RIT College of Liberal Arts, Museum Studies, BS 2024, and features the original fashion designs from the 2022 event and will
The Rochester Eclipse Task Force sponsors a traveling art exhibition by eclipse artist and astronomer Tyler Nordgren, who designed the posters for Rochester, New York (in the and whose 2017 eclipse artwork is in the Smithsonian collection.
The exhibit that consists of posters
A solo exhibition by Isa Maxine (aka Bella Walters), MFA candidate in the School of American Crafts (Glass). "This work is about a fuller understanding of domestic spaces and the realities of the things that make up our lives outside of ourselves."
"Small things can change you; they might not seem significant at the time and perhaps they don’t happen all at once, but the change is inevitable. The work I’ve made are representations of that change, rooted in my own personal narrative as a transgender woman. The starting point
Rochester Institute of Technology’s chapter of the National Press Photographers Association is a forum for education and discussion among young professionals in the photojournalism industry. What We Do is an annual student competition hosted by RIT NPPA. The contest is an
Many objects of interest in cultural heritage have been damaged, erased, or overwritten to the point where the original text is unreadable. Some contemporary materials, such as fax paper, have likewise degraded so that they appear as if printed with “invisible” ink. Fortunately
2022
Immerse yourself in the art and music of San Francisco, 1967. During this pivotal era, psychedelic music was born and poster art flourished. The poster art in the exhibition represents a snapshot of this historic period and the emergence of the counterculture. Stylistically, the
The storied history of the RIT Big Shot, one of Rochester Institute of Technology's signature events, is being celebrated in this exhibition. The show is a dynamic display of the stories behind the first 35 years of the nighttime community photographic project. It features large
University Gallery presents a satellite exhibition in collaboration with Memorial Art Gallery’s “Up Against the Wall” main exhibition, March 6 - June 19, 2022. The 42 HIV/AIDS posters in the RIT exhibition showcase a range of public health communication strategies employed in
Brooklyn-based designer, entrepreneur, and creative director, Joe Doucet and co-founders Dean di Simone and Evan Clabots, established OTHR as a technology-and-design initiative framed around the creation of a handful of established and emerging designers who were called upon to
Julia Abbonizio is a recent graduate of RIT’s Advertising Photography program. Her photographic work is inspired by notions of performance and surrealism, delivered with elegance and curiosity. Abbonizio’s imagery expands beyond the photographic medium. From events and commercial
2021
The Industrial Design MFA at the Rochester Institute of Technology is an interdisciplinary, multinational program focused on design foundations and guided exploration. The faculty represent a diverse range of industry and academic backgrounds, providing students balanced exposure
An exclusive online exhibition of Rebecca Aloisio's images of industrial futurism and archaic techno graphics are integrated through a collage-based process that abstracts spatial continuity and surface texture. Three-dimensional forms are derived from disposable, ubiquitous
2020
Pat Pauly uses bold color and unusual juxtapositions of printed and painted fabric. With undergraduate and graduate study in art and design, she utilizes her experiences in various media to focus on constructing printed textiles. Pat shows her award-winning quilts internationally
The Industrial Design MFA at the Rochester Institute of Technology is an interdisciplinary, multinational program focused on design foundations and guided exploration. The faculty represent a diverse range of industry and academic backgrounds, providing students balanced exposure
Susan Ferrari Rowley (b.1950) has spent her professional life in pursuit of excellence and developing an impressive body of work that shows the evolution of her personal artistic language. Ferrari Rowley began as a sculptor and found fabric to be her medium of choice, combined
2019
William Keyser (b.1936), Professor Emeritus, taught Furniture Design at the School for American Crafts at Rochester Institute of Technology for thirty-five years while also creating commissioned furniture for residential, commercial, ecclesiastical and public applications. Keyser
Denis Defibaugh (b. 1955) lived and photographed in four communities in Greenland from April 2016 to July 2017: Nuuk the capital and largest city of 17,000, Sisimiut, Uummannaq and Illorsuit a settlement of 70 people of no cars or roads. The work produced is an intimate portrait
Renewable Futures: The cultivation and propagation of creativity rooted in the 1960s is an exhibit of a notable group of artists who convened as teachers and students at Rochester Institute of Technology’s School of Art and Design during the decade of the 1960s. This was a time
Steff Geissbuhler (b.1942) is considered as one of the most important graphic designers and illustrators in history. He created branding and design programs for corporations such as Time Warner Cable, NBC, Voice of America, Merck, Telemundo, Crane & Co, Toledo Museum of Art
Abram Games (1914–1996) was a prominent British graphic designer. The style of his work–refined but vigorous compared to the work of contemporaries–has earned him a place in the pantheon of the best of 20th-century graphic designers. In acknowledging his power as a propagandist
2018
This exhibition draws from the vast photograph collections in the RIT Archives to tell the story of the lives of RIT students and illustrate the Henrietta campus experience since the founding. Typical activities in the lives of students, from the annual move-in days, to sporting
Andrew Franklin (PH ‘75) documented life at RIT in the early 1970s and amassed one of the largest single collections of images of student life during the early years on the new campus in Henrietta, New York.
Franklin came to RIT in 1971 as an art major, but soon transferred to
Rebecca Aloisio (b. 1982) is a native of central NY. She received a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art and a MFA from Syracuse University. She works in a variety of media including painting, drawing, digital printing, and serigraphy. Rebecca has exhibited work nationally and
Carl Chiarenza (b.1935) and Roger Bruce (b. 1946) share a deep interest in the history and aesthetics of photography. Carl is a scholar, educator, and an established artist of major reputation. And it was only five years ago that Roger began to make photographs in earnest.
Portraits of a Planet: Photographer in Space is the first gallery exhibition of Donald Pettit’s photographic journey. Captured during 370 days orbing our planet, his imagery ranges from single momentary captures of reflected light, to carefully timed once-in-a-lifetime sequences
Lester Beall (1903-1969) is acknowledged as a pioneer of Modernist American Graphic Design. Throughout his dynamic career, Beall was creatively involved in drawing, painting and photography.
Beall studied at the Technical School in Chicago and received a bachelor's degree in
2017
Roberto Bertoia explores site, context, material, and craft as it relates to his investigation of isolation, absence, and presence – at the intersection of sculpture, landscape, architecture, and design. Bertoia, Associate Professor at Cornell, has taught sculpture and drawing
Arthur Singer, (b.1917) emerged in the 1950s as one of the world’s finest illustrators and painters of birds and helped redefine the concept of the bird guide with his 1966 release, The Golden Field Guide to Birds of North America. His fascination with wildlife began early, with
A mind-blowing technicolor installation of satirical portrait paintings depicting scientists, musicians, poets, saints, and sinners – Steven W. Justice (b. 1956) exults in and examines a plethora of personalities and introduces unlikely partnerships on multi-hued and patterned
The Industrial Design MFA at the Rochester Institute of Technology is an interdisciplinary, multinational program focused on design foundations and guided exploration. The faculty represent a diverse range of industry and academic backgrounds, providing students balanced exposure
University Gallery hosts Minding the Gap: an exhibition on research and creativity that singles out one faculty member, one graduate and one undergraduate student from each of the College of Imaging Arts and Science's schools, in addition to a recent project by the Imaging
Bernard C. Meyers (b. 1955) is an abstract artist creating works on paper. His unique abstract sensibilities and distinct design style radiates from all his imagery. He is a master printer of his own works which include archival ink jet, etching, lithography, mono-prints and
2016
Norman Ives (1923-1978) the son of a career naval officer, spent his childhood in California, Connecticut and Hawaii. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 1950, and then entered Yale University as a member of the first graphic design class, studying for a time with Josef
Celebrated American designer/craftsman Wendell Castle (1932 - 2018) was born and educated in Kansas. He earned degrees in Industrial Design and Sculpture at the University of Kansas. Castle moved to Rochester, NY in 1962 to teach woodworking and furniture design at Rochester
In celebration of the Print Club of Rochester's 85th Exhibition Year, members were asked to respond to a print in the Print Club of Rochester’s significant archive with an image of their own. The juried exhibition includes the artist’s interpretation, the archived print and an
Ryszard Horowitz (b.1939) is recognized and celebrated as a pioneer of special effects photography that predates digital imaging. Ryszard Horowitz was born in Krakow, Poland on May 5th 1939. Four months later, the Nazis invaded his homeland. Ryszard and his entire family
2015
Milton Glaser (b.1929) is the embodiment of American graphic design during the latter half of this century. His presence and impact on the profession internationally is formidable. Immensely creative and articulate, he is a modern renaissance man – one of a rare breed of
Benigna Chilla (b. 1940), began her art studies in her native Germany at the Folkwangschule fuer Gestaltung in Essen and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin. She moved to the United States in 1969, completing her graduate studies at the State University of New York at
Robert G. (Bob) Cato (1923–1999) was born in New Orleans, the son of Ysabel Soto, a teacher who immigrated to the United States from Cuba, and Robert Bailey Cato, a business executive. At the age of 15, on a family trip to Mexico City, he met the painters Pablo O’Higgins and José
2014
Pierre Mendell (1929-2008) was one of the world’s leading graphic designers. German-born, Mendell had a turbulent early life, moving from his hometown of Essen, Germany to the Netherlands, on to Paris, down to Marseille and eventually across to America following the liberation of
Josef Albers (1888-1976) was born in Bottrop, Westphalia, Germany. Albers enrolled as a student in the preliminary course (Vorkurs) of Johannes Itten at the Weimar Bauhaus in 1920. Although, Albers had studied painting, it was a maker of stained glass that he joined the faculty
World War I began in Europe in 1914, but the United States maintained a policy of neutrality through the presidential election of 1916. Woodrow Wilson’s successful reelection captured America’s isolationist stance in the campaign slogan, “He Kept Us Out of War.” However, several
2013
Toby Thompson (1932 - 2012) was born in Kvinesdahl, Norway, emigrated to the US in 1934 and grew up in New York City. In 1950 he attended Brooklyn College and studied Liberal Arts. From 1952 to 1954, he was drafted into the US Army infantry and served in Berlin, Germany. He
This exhibition highlights eight seating designs built by students in RIT's Industrial Design and Woodworking & Furniture Design programs who studied abroad during the summer of 2012. The Furniture Design in Scandinavia program, conducted in collaboration with the Royal Danish
2012
Neil Montanus (1927-2019) was Kodak’s most famous photographer. For nearly four decades, his images promoted photography to millions of people around the world through Kodak Advertising. Starting from when he was a small boy growing up in a tiny Midwestern town during the
Burton Kramer (b.1932) is a graphic designer who trained in the United States, pursued an influential career in Zurich, and then moved to Toronto, where he revitalized the design community with bold interpretations of the Swiss and International styles of typography and image.
H
For more than 30 years, Frances Paley has been exploring various media. Her work has evolved from early investigations in sculpture using machine technology to large-format black and white photography and on to airbrushed watercolor and pen and ink drawings in the 1980s.
Doug Manchee (1954-2018) was an Associate Professor and the Program Chairperson of the advertising photography program in the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Early in his education, Doug studied graphic design in California
2011
Pat Pauly uses personal imagery and freeform surface design in her fiber work, a process she describes as "painting with fabric." The work is bold, graphic, and often suggestive of natural forms and patterns. Using commercial and artist-designed textiles as the medium, these
Bruno Monguzzi (b. 1941) is a Swiss graphic designer. Born in Mendrisio, Switzerland, he later moved to Geneva with his family and attended the Graphic Design Course at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs. In 1960, he travelled to London and attended Gestalt psychology, typography and
George Lois (b.1931) is the most creative, controversial, and prolific advertising communicator of our time. Running his own ad agencies, he is renowned for dozens of marketing miracles that triggered innovative and populist changes in American (and world) culture. In his
Michael Bierut studied graphic design at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, graduating summa cum laude in 1980. Prior to joining Pentagram in 1990 as a partner in the firm’s New York office, he worked for ten years at Vignelli