From music to dance and theatre to concerts, Rochester is a city filled with passionate art culture. Located in the heart of the Neighborhood of the Arts is The Memorial Art Gallery, a civic museum of the University. Founded in 1913 by Emily Sibley Watson, MAG contains a collection of more than 12,000 artworks, offering visitors an experience with 5,000 years of art history.
MAG also frequently hosts temporary exhibitions such as Monet’s Waterloo Bridge, which gained significant popularity among UR students. While the museum is free to visit for all UR students, exhibitions require a five dollar ticket.
Besides the museum, the main component of MAG, there is the outdoor Centennial Sculpture Park. Some main sculptures include “Soliloquy,” a 25-foot steel sculpture, and “Unicorn Family,” a sculpture transformed into a grouping of usable tables and chairs.
While touring the museum, visitors can use the MAGEXPLORE service from their phones, which provides services such as tour guides for the art collections and reminders for interested art pieces. There are also audio recordings of Poetry Talks and Story Talks that guides visitors to explore the neighborhood sidewalks with pavers that have poems and phrases.
Students who are new to Rochester should visit the museum and the Neighborhood of Art to experience local art. The first mural of local artist Sarah C. Rutherford’s “Her Voice Carries,” a public art project that features “women who are lifting up the voices of others,” is found in the end of the MAG’s collection. It’s a series of murals across Rochester promoting the representation of women, with five outdoor — and one indoor —murals.
The atmosphere of MAG is casual and relaxing, and students can also enjoy some afternoon tea at MAG’s botanic garden.Since a full detailed tour of the museum only takes around 90 minutes, MAG is a worthwhile place to visit in the weekends, especially since there are often free shuttles provided for students.
