The Sentinel Reaches High Visibility at RIT

Paley puts finishing touches on monumental sculpture; tentative completion, July 28-29

MEDIA—PHOTO OPPORTUNITY

Fabricated steel designs—transported, cut, formed, fitted, adjusted, assembled and welded. Six weeks later, The Sentinel sculpture stands at attention on the campus of Rochester Institute of Technology.

Although the logistics of installing a 110-ton, 73-foot high, steel-stainless steel-bronze work of art are staggering and complex, in reality it was a seamless process for commissioned artist Albert Paley and his crew.

The Sentinel, the largest sculpture on any campus across the U.S., is scheduled for tentative completion, July 28-29. To see the final work and interview Paley, call 475-4951 for the latest updates.

“The sculpture refers to the technological dimension of the institute and the dynamic trans-formative nature of the educational process,” says Paley, who designed the piece as an identifying icon to RIT’s main entrance. “The Sentinel combined with other artworks on campus aids in defining the cultural profile of this university complex.” During the next few weeks, RIT will be busy reconfiguring the area around The Sentinel into a pedestrian park-like plaza.

While the silent sentry greets incoming RIT students this fall, a formal dedication will take place on Oct. 2—welcoming the Rochester community to celebrate Paley’s symbolic masterpiece at RIT.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Albert Paley is the Charlotte Fredericks Mowris Endowed Chair in the School for American Crafts, http://www.rit.edu/~652www, at RIT’s College of Imaging Arts and Sciences. The school offers associate, bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in glass, woodworking and furniture design, metalcrafts and jewelry, and ceramics and ceramic sculpture.

Internationally recognized as a leader in computing, imaging, technology, fine and applied arts, and education of the deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology, www.rit.edu, enrolls 15,000 full- and part-time students in more than 250 career-oriented and professional programs. U.S. News and World Report has consistently ranked RIT as one of the nation’s leading comprehensive universities.