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Visual Studies Workshop

@visualstudiesworkshop

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VSW nurtures experimental & expansive approaches to photo, film & media art & builds community through exhibitions, publications and residencies.

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Alongside our silent auction, we’ll also be holding a live auction featuring additional works for sale during the Gala October 3rd! Swipe through to see the amazing works that could be yours!

Pictured: Dawoud Bey (American, b.1953), A Young Man with His Hair Brush, Rochester, NY, 1989 / printed 2021, Gelatin silver print

Online bidding for these works starts 9/25/26 (today) but once the live auction begins on October 3rd, if you’re not in person you can still send an online form with a maximum bid and win from afar! Items in the live auction will be closed for ONLINE bidding at 5pm. For more information and to start bidding, check the link in our bio!

And thank you again to the Gala Sponsors!

7 Crest Financial Partners, M&T Bank, Ann Carol and Paul Goldberg, The Rochester Area Community Foundation, The University of Rochester, Light Work UVP, Colleen Buzzard Studio, Stefano Law Firm, PLLC, Christopher Carretta, Burger Art Services, Stephen Daiter Gallery, Archival Methods, Keith Smith Books, Cottone Auctions, Lumiere, Frontier Abstract, Robert and Rae Gilson, George Eastman Museum, James Bearden, Elizabeth Alpert and Nancy Rosin

VSW programs are supported by in part by the Joy of Giving Something Foundation, @nyscouncilonthearts and @warholfoundation

Lot 4: Louis Chavez, Untitled (from the series “New Intimacies”)

Lot 6: John Wood, Untitled from Portfolio of Offset Lithographs - VSW, 1980

Lot 5: Nathan Lyons, Untitled (diptych, Mexico City)

Lot 7: Extraordinary Historical Portfolio: 1st VSW Rip-Off Show Sample Set (Robert Heineken, Bea Nettles, John Wood, and more)

Lot 8: Bonnie Gordon, Stretching in & Spreading Out, 1975

Lot 10: NASA, two Untitled images from the Apollo 15 mission

Lot 2: Joan Lyons, Untitled from “Land(landscape)Scape” series

Lot 1: Alfred Stieglitz, A Dirigible, 1910

Lot 3: Dawoud Bey, A Young Man with His Hair Brush, Rochester, NY, 1989 by @visualstudiesworkshop

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9 days ago

We are excited to announce VSW’s Fall 2026 events!

✰Beginning September 4th with the opening reception for Explorations in the Ecotone: Works by Meredith Davenport and Margaret LeJeune!

Swipe through to see what else we have line up this season! Mark your calendars, check out our online calendar at the link in our bio, and stop by VSW to pick up your physical calendar today! ✰ by @visualstudiesworkshop

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2 months ago

Thursday October 8, 6-9pm | Open Studio with Project Space Resident Sabine Gruffat

(In conjunction with Monster in Me: Films by Cecelia Condit)

Sabine Gruffat (FR) works in digital art, media installation, and cinema. During her residency, Sabine will be working on an ongoing series of videos that challenge emerging technologies and their effect on a viewer’s body and perception. Sabine will be using VSW’s film and video archive as research material and her work will include a conversation with a practitioner of healing touch.

Sabine Gruffat is a French-American artist born in Bangkok, Thailand. She co-founded and co-programs the Cosmic Rays Film Festival in Chapel Hill, NC with filmmaker Bill Brown. Currently she lives in Marseille, France. Sabine Gruffat works on experimental and essay forms and exhibits her work as installations, performances, and single-channel screenings. By actively engaging with both current and outmoded technology, Gruffat ’s work questions our standardized and mediated world.

On October 8 at 6pm, Gruffat will open her studio for visitors to learn more about her new and recent work and practice.

[Pictured: Still from Souvenir Statuette, Sabine Gruffat, 2024] by @visualstudiesworkshop

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3 days ago

Monster in Me: Video Work by Cecelia Condit. October 10th, 19h - Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester

"Visual Studies Workshop presents Monster in Me: Video Work by Cecelia Condit, a screening of works from across the four decade career of video artist Cecelia Condit. Her experimental videos are deeply personal, dense with texture, and threaded with wry humor as they explore themes of feminist horror. These videos connect surreal dream spaces to the real, waking world, commenting on everyday cycles of violence.

Condit's 1983 video Possibly in Michigan recently received a wide recirculation on social media, inspiring new audiences to engage with her unique blend of visceral terror and resilient humor. Condit will be at VSW for conversation after the screening, which will include her most recent video, Monster in Me.

This event is presented in conjunction with Project Space Resident Sabine Gruffat's Open Studio, 6-9pm"

https://expcinema.org/site/en/events/monster-me-video-work-cecelia-condit by @visualstudiesworkshop

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3 days ago

One of the lots in this year’s Live Auction is The 1st VSW Rip-Off Show Sample Set which consists of 20 pads of offset lithograph prints by 20 artists, which were meant to be removed and taken at will by the renting gallery’s viewers.

From the colophon: “This folder contains a sample copy of our first offset rip-off show. This is a one way traveling exhibition; no return postage, no crates, no frames or glass. The exhibition consists of pads of each of the prints included here to hang on the wall and distribute in any way the exhibitor chooses. The show exists in an edition of twenty copies...We feel that these pieces are a step toward realizing the potentials of offset lithography as an original printmaking media, rather than a means of reproducing work. ”

The participating artists in this exhibition were Michael Bishop, Leif Brush, Eileen Cowin, Robert Fichter, Robert Heinecken, Scott Hyde, Syl Labrot, Joan Lyons, Cynthia Marsh, Bea Nettles, Tony Petracca, Sonia Sheridan, Keith Smith, Harland Snodgrass, Michael Sowden, Joel Swartz, Charles Swedland, Todd Walker, Barbara Wilson and John Wood.

Swipe through to see some of VSW history that’s up for auction and check the link in our bio to make your bids now!

Eileen Cowin

Robert Fichter

Joan Lyons

Robert Heineken

Bea Nettles

Barbara Wilson

Sonia Sheridan

Michael Sowden by @visualstudiesworkshop

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4 days ago

VSW SCREENING: Cecilia Condit | Thurs. Oct. 8th 7pm

VSW is excited to present a screening of works from across the career of video artist Cecilia Condit. Her experimental videos are deeply personal, dense with texture, and threaded with wry humor as they explore themes of feminist horror. These videos connect surreal dream spaces to the real, waking world, commenting on everyday cycles of violence.

Condit’s 1983 video Possibly in Michigan recently received a wide recirculation on social media, inspiring new audiences to engage with her unique blend of visceral terror and resilient humor.
Condit will be present for conversation after the screening, which will include her most recent video, Monster in Me.

——-—————————————————————————

This program is made possible through funding from the The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts by @visualstudiesworkshop

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8 days ago

On October 3 in addition to our other Gala festivities, we’ll be holding auctions featuring local Rochester artists, among others. Proceeds from the auctions support VSW’s community arts programming which furthers our vision for a society that values the human need to create and share ideas.

For the silent auction you can bid online starting 9/25/26. The auction ends at 8:30pm on October 3, 2026. You can bid and win online from VSW or anywhere in the world.

Check the link in our bio for more information and swipe through for a preview of some of the amazing work that’s up for grabs!

@lumiere ❤️our framing partner

And thank you to the Gala Sponsors!

7 Crest Financial Partners, Ann Carol and Paul Goldberg, The Rochester Area Community Foundation, The University of Rochester, Light Work UVP, Colleen Buzzard Studio, Stefano Law Firm, PLLC, Christopher Carretta, Burger Art Services, Stephen Daiter Gallery, Archival Methods, Keith Smith Books, Cottone Auctions, Lumiere, Frontier Abstract, Robert and Rae Gilson, George Eastman Museum, James Bearden, Elizabeth Alpert and Nancy Rosin

VSW programs are supported by in part by the Joy of Giving Something Foundation, @nyscouncilonthearts and @warholfoundation

[Pictured: Nick Marshall (American, b.), Screen / Time, 2019, Silver gelatin lumen print ]

(Lot 13) Mary Rouse, 3 Untitled Works

(Lot 20) Colleen Buzzard, Untitled (DNA film in black scaffolding)

(Lot 16) Jasna Bogdanovska, Nebula, 2026

(Lot 12) Alec Soth, Leech Lake, 2007

(Lot 25) Ellsworth Tripp, Marylin Monroe

(Lot 17) Boo Poulin, Sterling Silver and Lava Stone Necklace

(Lot 15) Scott McCarney, AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, 1999

(Lot 27) Untitled Snapshot (Gymnasts), c.1930

(Lot 11) William Wegman, Flora and Fauna, 1987

(Lot 24) Nick Marshall, Screen / Time, 2019 by @visualstudiesworkshop

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10 days ago

Join us in celebrating Dawoud Bey at Visual Studies Workshop Oct 3!

VSW is honored to welcome visionary photographer, educator, and MacArthur Fellow Dawoud Bey back to Rochester for a special evening of celebration. Bey’s ties to the Workshop date to 1989, when he continued his celebrated Street Portrait series during an artist residency, capturing compelling images of Rochesterians as part of this landmark series. Bey will be in conversation with VSW curator Hernease Davis on Sunday, October 4th at 2pm. Limited tickets to the gala are still available through the link in the bio. Tickets to the talk are sold out.

Portrait of Dawoud Bey by Frank Ishman
Nathan Lyons and Dawoud Bey at VSW, 1989

Thank you to the Gala Sponsors!

7 Crest Financial Partners, Ann Carol and Paul Goldberg, The Rochester Area Community Foundation, The University of Rochester, Light Work UVP, Colleen Buzzard Studio, Stefano Law Firm, PLLC, Christopher Carretta, Burger Art Services, Stephen Daiter Gallery, Archival Methods, Keith Smith Books, Cottone Auctions, Lumiere, Frontier Abstract, Robert and Rae Gilson, George Eastman Museum, James Bearden, Elizabeth Alpert and Nancy Rosin

VSW programs are supported by in part by the Joy of Giving Something Foundation, @nyscouncilonthearts and @warholfoundation taken in Visual Studies Workshop by @visualstudiesworkshop

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11 days ago

thank you so much to our resident Jenna Caravello for an amazing open studio + pop up arcade this past Friday to close out her time here at VSW! and thank you to everyone who joined us in playing through Gifts in Time! Be sure to keep up with Jenna’s work at @jennafruit ! by @visualstudiesworkshop

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12 days ago

This Saturday, September 26, 2 – 4pm

Join exhibition artists Margaret LeJeune and Meredith Davenport, and Dr. Solon Morse, conservation ecologist, for a tour of the exhibition followed by a conversation. Together, they will examine the vital role that creativity and exploration play in both science and the arts and discuss strategies for incorporating ecological care and wonder in our daily lives. Register for this free event at the link in our bio!

VSW programs are supported in part by @nyscouncilonthearts @warholfoundation @monroecountyny and the Joy of Giving Something Foundation by @visualstudiesworkshop

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12 days ago

On October 3 from 6-9pm VSW will honor visionary photographer, educator, and MacArthur Fellow Dawoud Bey during a special evening of celebration.

The evening will include the opportunity for people to bid, win and support the bold and experimental programming VSW brings to the Rochester community through two auctions!

Preview over 30 incredible items available in the VSW auctions. Bidding opens on September 25, and closes on October 3, 2026. See link in bio.

The auction includes a Dawoud Bey photograph of a Rochesterian from his famous Street Portraits series, as well as rare offerings of a Nathan Lyons diptych made in Mexico City, and a sample set of the 1974 VSW Rip Off Show featuring works by Joan Lyons, Bea Nettles, Robert Heinecken, and Eileen Cowin, among others.

There are also many local contemporary artists who donated works including Scott McCarney, Jasna Bogdanovska, Boo Poulin, Colleen Buzzard, Joshua Thorson, and Louis Chavez. We can’t wait to see you there!

Images show
Lot 10: NASA, Untitled image from the Apollo 15 mission

Lot 3: Dawoud Bey, A Young Man with His Hair Brush, Rochester, NY, 1989

Thank you to our Gala Sponsors!

7 Crest Financial Partners, Ann Carol and Paul Goldberg, The Rochester Area Community Foundation, The University of Rochester, Light Work UVP, Colleen Buzzard Studio, Stefano Law Firm, PLLC, Christopher Carretta, Burger Art Services, Stephen Daiter Gallery, Archival Methods, and Keith Smith Books

Thank you to our framing partner! @100lumierephoto by @visualstudiesworkshop

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17 days ago

Had an awesome weekend teaching the Explorations in the Ecotone Field Study Workshop: Foraging for Photo Botanicals with @meredithdavenport and @jeffreykosiorek We spent Saturday at @visualstudiesworkshop discussing the environmental history of the Genesee River and then we hiked the river trail to collect displaced botanicals that can be used to make anthotype photographs. On Sunday, we worked together to make emulsions and coat papers. Anthotypes are a slow exposure process (days, weeks, or months). Hopefully we can share sample images from the workshop later this fall! Thank you to all who participated! It was a great group and another reminder of why relocating back to Rochester was the right move :)

#sustainablephotography
#ecoart
#artsci by @visualstudiesworkshop

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18 days ago