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MAG Commissions Monumental Work by Albert Paley for Centennial Sculpture Park
Rochester sculptor Albert Paley has earned an international reputation for his ability to manipulate cold, hard metal into organic, seemingly impossible forms. Over a career spanning more than three decades, he has completed more than 60 monumental commissions for sites from Washington DC to Houston to Los Angeles.
So it’s not surprising that the Memorial Art Gallery has commissioned a 25-foot stainless steel sculpture by Paley as one of the anchor installations of its planned Centennial Sculpture Park. The new work, titled Soliloquy, will be sited at the Goodman Street entrance and installed next year.
Paley joins three other celebrated artists commissioned to create site-specific works for the park—Wendell Castle, Jackie Ferrara and Tom Otterness. “The Paley commission completes our vision of four new works by internationally acclaimed artists for the Centennial Sculpture Park,” says director Grant Holcomb. “Best of all, two of the four are Rochester’s.”
Soliloquy is the gift of the Cameros Family and Ann Mowris Mulligan, with additional support from Robert and Joanne Gianniny, the Herdle-Moore Fund, the Rubens Family Foundation, and Nancy R. Turner.
Above: Photo rendering by Bayer Landscape Architects, PLLP; drawing by the artist.
On May 6, more than 900 visitors were on hand for the Gallery’s annual celebration of Asian cultures and art. They enjoyed children’s art activities, storytelling, a family friendly art talk, cultural displays, and music and dance workshops and performances by Asian community groups.
Pictured are (top row) cultural display by the Pakistani American Society of Rochester, drumming demonstration by the Rochester Korean American Association, performance by the Lao Harmony Dancers; (bottom row) performance by dancers from the Karen Association, music presentation by the Chinese School of Rochester, and performance by the Taiwanese Association of Rochester.
The most important Renaissance tapestry in the Gallery’s collection went back on view April 18 for the first time in nearly two decades. Woven of wool and silk in 16th-century Flanders and measuring 12 by 15 feet, Trellised Garden with Animals shows a colonnaded garden with lush foliage and wildlife including lions, birds and fish. But until recently, it was only too obvious that the centuries had taken their toll on the work. In 2009, thanks to a major grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Gallery was at last able to send the tapestry to the Textile Conservation Laboratory in New York City. Read the whole story and see details from the tapestry’s “Genesis border”
Above: On April 16, MAG curatorial staff, assisted by Marlene Eidelheit, director of the Textile Conservation Laboratory, reinstalled the tapestry in the second floor Renaissance Gallery.
As preparations for Centennial Sculpture Park continue, one favorite work, by pioneering kinetic sculptor George Rickey, is temporarily off view. On March 30, curatorial and facilities staff removed the sculpture’s moving parts (two 12-foot stainless steel blades), dismantled the base and relocated the work to storage until park construction is completed next year. Two Lines Up Excentric—Twelve Feet was the 1994 gift of Richard F. Brush.
Betty O’Brien has been volunteering in the Gallery Store for 45 years and still comes in almost every Thursday to help the Store accountant with the books and organize the files. Not bad, considering she will turn 100 years old on March 3. (According to Betty, who still lives independently, “100 just sneaks up on you.”)
On March 1, MAG staff and volunteers gathered to celebrate Betty’s big day.
Pictured: Betty sits surrounded by Store sales associate Heidi Friederich, administrator of volunteers Mary Ann Monley, and Store manager Colleen Griffin Underhill. The birthday cake. Betty with MAG director Grant Holcomb.
On February 25, nearly 1,700 visitors were on hand for the opening of Crafting Modernism: Midcentury American Art and Design. Among the highlights: music by the Metropolitan Stompers, Zach and Lacey Lee, and the Ben Thomas Jazz Duo; screening of Rebel Without a Cause, and even a swanky “Frank Sinatra room” (aka cocktail lounge).
Above, from left: Guests lining up to see the show, mingling in the Pavilion, and even striking a pose that would do Maxfield Parrish proud.
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