Unity

This sculpture, sited between the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, the new College of Applied Science and Technology and the College of Engineering is aptly named Unity. The work is the result of a collaboration between two RIT faculty members in the metals program of the School for American Crafts: Juan Carlos Caballero-Perez and Leonard Urso. The sculpture is composed of three individual sections, with the tallest at 24 feet. According to the artists, each piece stands individually, yet they are a family of sculptures that work as a symbolic whole. The three sections represent the unity of science, technology and art at RIT as well as alluding to the entire university, the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, and the School for American Crafts. The theme of unity is further echoed in the materials; the silver stainless steel , basic to many products of technology, contrasts with the marks on the surface, which refer back to the hand of the artist. To create the work Caballero-Perez and Urso started with rough sketches, and then worked through a series of 3-d models made from cut-out pieces of cardboard. Once the final model was completed the actual work started to take shape. The piece was constructed off-campus at the Mahaney Welding Supply Company, owned by RIT alumni Mike Krupnicki. A telescoping pipe system serves as the skeleton, and engineer had to approve the final structure.

This sculpture was created by both Len Urso and Juan Carlos Caballero-Perez.