“Please watch for wandering turtles,” reads the sign on the door leading into Lamberton Conservatory. Brimming with plant varieties from across the world and a horde of tortoises, turtles and quails, the conservatory in Highland Park welcomed nearly 70,000 visitors through that door last year, a 46% increase from 2021. The Lamberton Conservatory was built in 1911 and was named for then-president of the parks board and park commissioner Alexander B. Lamberton. Originally focused primarily on unique flowers, it wasn't until 1985 that the conservatory expanded to its current size, explained horticultural aide Nancy Mastin, with two new rooms added on each side of the building. With this newfound space came additional plants and the development of distinct ‘houses': seasonal, epiphyte, tropical, desert and houseplant. ROBERTO FELIPE LAGARES The seasonal house is the busiest, hosting five shows a year. The space is currently transformed with a colorful array of tulips and daffodils for the spring show, which runs through May 3. Any of the show plants that can be saved for future use are brought back to Monroe County's approximately 9,000-square-foot greenhouse, which provides growth and storage space for plants across all the county's parks. The other houses remain relatively static throughout the year, [...]

Along Monroe Avenue, buildings don't just stand. They lean into traffic, watch the sidewalks and quietly record the neighborhood's evolution. The Monroe Theatre, with its Art Deco façade still intact and its marquee frozen mid-thought, feels less like an abandoned structure than an unfinished sentence. People notice it. They ask about it. They debate it. Why does one of the most recognizable buildings on one of Rochester's busiest corridors remain dark, and how long will it stay that way? This isn't nostalgia. Monroe Avenue is one of the city's most active mixed-use corridors, where nightlife, small businesses, apartments and historic spaces collide. When a prominent building goes quiet, the absence doesn't stay contained. It reshapes the block around it. That concern surfaced in a recent community survey conducted by the Monroe Avenue Revitalization Coalition (MARC) to which more than 1,000 people responded. About 60% of respondents do not live along Monroe Avenue, yet one question surfaced repeatedly: what is going to happen to the Monroe Theatre? The persistence of that question suggests something deeper than redevelopment curiosity. The theater has become a visible symbol of stalled potential along an intersection that rarely stands still, and residents are increasingly wondering whether the delay [...]

Luvon Sheppard At The Memorial Art GalleryRochester, New YorkWe spent years in the same office, but I did not know that Luvon Sheppard was a high school wrestler! I did know that Luvon was born in Florida, but I did not know that his father was always away.. I do remember that we attended a memorial service for Luvon's mom after she passed, and that we have her edict "Meet The Requirements" pasted up on our refrigerator!Three days ago, we went to "Meet The Artist" at The Memorial Art Gallery, and heard a wonderful interview with Luvon that was a real inspiration.Interview with Luvon Sheppard in April 16, 2026Mr. Sheppard has been teaching at Rochester Institute of Technology for over 50 years! Today, his specialty is watercolor and he is also into collage. Images of his artwork were projected onto the big screen as the interview progressed, and as the "Book of Luvon" opened, one could get a real sense of the contributions he has made to our community, and our country.Luvon also owns the Joy Gallery on West Main Street, and there he has supported many exhibitions by other artists over the years. This is [...]

Luvon Sheppard holds his portrait in a recent show at R.I.T.We are in a quickly changing environment, it will soon be Spring, and the flowers are already blooming in our yard... I wanted to write about my colleague Luvon Sheppard, and let you know that he will give a talk at The Memorial Art Gallery this coming Thursday, April 16th from 6 to 7 pm. There is a need to book tickets, so you can go online and check it out! Luvon is also the subject of a survey show of his recent artwork at the Rochester Museum and Science Center. This exhibition at RMSC features his plein air paintings from along the Erie Canal and it will run from now thru March 21, 2027! The RMSC does have an admission charge, so be prepared!While I was teaching at Rochester Institute of Technology, Luvon and I shared an office, and so we have a lot in common, not the least is the fact that we both have painted watercolors along the Erie Canal, so I am looking forward to seeing what he has done there! Luvon has made a real contribution to the arts scene [...]

Merry Christmas Eve! Tonight, some of you will be going to a Christmas vigil mass and will probably hear a retelling of the birth of Jesus. It is a familiar story with some key elements - Jesus in a manger, shepherds in a field, and three kings bearing gifts to the newborn child. With these key points, the story is complete, but it was not always this way. The nativity story that we are familiar with today is actually a composite narrative of canonical and non-canonical writings. In the early years of Christianity, the Church leaders spread this hybrid tale to the masses through art, which Pope Gregory the Great described as “the Bible of the illiterate." The Dijion Nativity by Robert Campin is an example of several nativity stories melded into one. Campin pulled from the canonical gospel of Luke, the non-canonical gospels of Pseudo-James and Pseudo-Matthew, and the popular (at the time) vision of Saint Bridget of Sweden. Dijion Nativity, Robert Campin, c. 1420 Shepherds from Portinari Altarpiece, Hugo van der Goes, c. 1475 The three shepherds peering in at Jesus are from the canonical gospel of Luke. Each of the gospel writers played towards their audience. Luke wrote in Asia [...]

If my calculations are correct, you probably got your midterm research paper back a couple weeks ago, and it was covered with red pen marks. With only four short weeks left before your final paper is due, you're wondering how you can improve your writing to boost your grade for this last assignment. Below, I have listed some of the most common mistakes you should look out for while editing your paper. This is a lengthy post, with no pictures, but I promise it will be helpful for you art history students out there. 1. Using “WH” words outside of a question Who, what, where, when, why, and how. In everyday conversation we say things like “that is where I bought my watch” or “this is how you tie a shoe.” However, in a formal paper, “wh” words should only be used when posing a question. So, if this was a formal paper, that last sentence would be a mistake. I could rephrase it as “…words should only be used if posing a question.” I don't bother making that edit here on the blog because I want to have a conversational tone, but I would never (knowingly) submit a paper with that [...]

Wheeling Community: Exploring Rochester's Little Known Public Art by Kitty Jospé On Sunday, May 3, over 80 people joined Bleu Cease, Executive Director/Curator at RoCo and Photographer Richard Margolis for a tour of eight hidden treasures of public art. This tour, in conjunction with the current exhibit, “Ride It: Art and Bicycles in Rochester” at Rochester Contemporary Art Center (RoCo) celebrated the idea of “slow art” and a chance to notice not only what we often are hurrying by, but to think of larger implications of how we live in our environment. It is heart-warming to join with others on a sunny spring day, and discover art and the stories and contexts behind it—and this incredible dividend: No, not the sounds of trains, or the way sculptures frame fascinating details of buildings, but a sense of feeling connected to others, and connected to our city. Did you know Rochester has had Liberty Poles at the same site since 1830? What a surprise to arrive on site-specific six-part Rochester Project, by Richard Fleischner. It is a magnificent outdoor amphitheatre, looking out on three stone lattices, all the same size but with variations on [...]

“A photograph presents the artist and the viewer with a challenge, because we always want to know what it is—as if the photograph were not there. For over 165 years, an extraordinary number of forces have made us instinctively believe that photographs are windows on reality—even when reason tells us otherwise.” — Carl Chiarenza, 2013 lecture excerpt A photograph of you is not you. It is, in fact, an illusion. That simple viewpoint is perhaps the cornerstone of famed photographer Carl Chiarenza's body of work—and his role as a mentor to other artists. “It's not unreasonable for people who are interested in photography to accept what has been broadcast since the 1830s, which is that the photograph captures reality, actuality,” Carl says. "Mulligan Print," by Carl Chiarenza. Carl's work has been shown around the world and can be found in the collections of more than 50 museums, including The Getty Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, The Art Institute of Chicago, and Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. “From my point of view, it never did that. Every photograph is an abstraction.” That perspective has so informed his work, he avoids some of the [...]

Rochester musician and SUNY Potsdam student Mikaela Davis plays a semi-grand harp, one size down from a concert grand. When she first began to play as a child, she started on a smaller-style troubador harp. “I've always known I wanted to go to school for music,” she says. “I wanted to be a professional harpist in an orchestra and teach harp at a college—until my own music became my main focus.” (photo by Aaron Winters) Let's play word association. “Harpist.” Go. Did you respond with “pop-music newcomer”? You will. Rochester-born Mikaela Davis knows how to show a harp who's boss. Backed by a mix of guitar, keyboards, and her own lilting vocals, Mikaela has deftly plucked a classic instrument out of its past. Spun it into a modern sound. And wrapped it in sparkling lights, ready for download. Her self-titled debut album came out in 2012, and she describes it as indie-pop. Just the same, she's hesitant to commit to a category. “I don't like to put myself in a genre. The music we're doing now, it's nothing like my first album. We went something that's more psychedelic rock on the new EP,” Mikaela says. Brian Moore, audio engineer and owner of Red Booth [...]

The Beauty of Gray: Scapes exhibit showcases video art that's not all black and whiteby Geoff Graser If you don't “get it” right away, Debora and Jason Bernagozzi understand. When the couple tells people they do video art, most people say, “Oh, you do commercials.” Nope. “Oh, you do those weird foreign movies.” Not exactly. The Bernagozzis' art form is more like abstract art—abstract art that moves and talks and sometimes chirps. The Bernagozzis' work is part of RoCo's “Scapes” exhibit on display until Sunday, November 13. On my first try, I didn't exactly “get it.” And that's all right, Jason says, that's partly his point. He thinks Americans are spoon fed so many messages through the media and popular art that people believe what others want them to believe rather than making up their own minds. This echoes some of the work of Nam June Paik, considered the father of video art for his innovations in the 1960s. Paik would take footage of the Beatles and manipulate the waves so the Fab Four would disintegrate. He did this with politicians and other TV celebrities, hoping to convince viewers that the people on TV weren't indestructible gods. So you're not alone if you [...]