Marking the museum’s 100th anniversary in 2013, the Centennial Sculpture Park transformed ten acres of the museum’s grounds into a public art space and urban oasis.
The park is home to twenty-five artworks by artists including Sanford Biggers, Pia Camil, Wendell Castle, Rashid Johnson, Nancy Jurs, Beverly Pepper, and Albert Paley. Daily nighttime light projection from Jim Sanborn’s sculpture animates the museum’s façade.
The park’s walkways include a series of twelve geometric brick compositions by Jackie Ferrara as well as the Poets and Story Walks with interactive waypoints featuring poems by local and nationally renowned poets and stories connected to the history of Rochester.
Rashid Johnson
Ceramic tile. Marion Stratton Gould Fund, 2023.1 © Rashid Johnson
Sanford Biggers
Bronze. Maurice R. and Maxine B. Forman Fund, Lyman K. and Eleanore B. Stuart Endowment Fund, and Thelma M. Knapp Fund, 2022.58 © Sanford Biggers
Deborah Butterfield
Bronze. Gift of Robert B. and Pamela M. Goergen, 2020.78 © Deborah Butterfield
Jim Sanborn
Bronze. Maurice R. and Maxine B. Forman Fund, Marion Stratton Gould Fund, Clara and Edwin Strasenburgh Fund, and Thelma M. Knapp Fund, with additional support from Steven Sumberg, 2017.12.1-.2 © Jim Sanborn
George Rickey
Stainless steel. Gift of Richard F. Brush, 1994.44 © Estate of George Rickey/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Tony Smith
Mild steel. Gift of the artist and Marion Stratton Gould Fund, 1970.57. ©2012 Estate of Tony Smith / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Beverly Pepper
Stainless and carbon steel with automotive paint. The Charles Rand Penney Collection of the Memorial Art Gallery, 1978.195 © Fondazione Beverly Pepper
Albert Paley
Stainless steel. Gift of Nancy R. Turner, 2000.19
William Sellers
Corten steel. Marion Stratton Gould Fund, 1968.36 © Estate of William Sellers
Digital Guide
Explore MAG’s grounds—from the works in the Centennial Sculpture Park to the Poets and Story Walks, interactive installations that run along the University Avenue and North Goodman Street sidewalks and honor poets and local authors as artists of the written word—in our digital guide!
More to Explore
Bayer Landscape Architecture, PLLC, is responsible for the Centennial Sculpture Park master site planning and design.
The Memorial Art Gallery’s centennial year was presented by Lynne Lovejoy, with additional support from Robert L. and Mary L. Sproull, ESL Charitable Foundation and Nocon & Associates, a private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc.
Phase II of Centennial Sculpture Park was made possible by lead gifts from the Estate of Elizabeth Plumb Miller, Nancy B. Miller, Sands Family Supporting Foundation, Inc., Sandra Hawks Lloyd and Justin Hawks Lloyd, Douglas S. and Abigail J. Bennett, Constellation Brands, Inc., Gallery Council of the Memorial Art Gallery, the Gallina Family, Gwen M. Greene in memory of John D. Greene, and Kathleen M. Landers and Peter J. Landers.
State support was provided by Empire State Development and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.