City of Rochester
News Release
(Monday, May 17, 2021) —Mayor Lovely A. Warren today announced that local Rochester artists, including Image City Photography Gallery owner/artists, will exhibit images of their works in an online contemporary art exhibition organized by Rochester’s Italian sister city, Caltanissetta (Sicily), through June 27; works from Rochester’s sister cities Krakow, Poland, and Velikiy Novgorod, Russia, are also included. The exhibition, entitled “Bridges 2—Round Trip” may be viewed www.creativespaces.it/museo/covi3d-gallery.
“Art truly imitates life and I am so excited for the opportunity for local artists to be featured in our sister city’s exhibit,” said Mayor Warren. “This art connects us to cities and citizens across globe, sharing hope and beautiful artistic expression for the world to see.”
“Bridges 2—Round Trip” is the second art exhibition organized by the AGERICA Cultural Association of Caltanissetta. It celebrates the Caltanissetta-Rochester sister cities relationship, established in 1965. The exhibit will feature 60 images of art works produced in a variety of media by 25 artists from Caltanissetta and 18 from Rochester and two of Rochester’s other sister cities.
“The aim of this initiative is to restore energy, through art, to the relations between the two Sister Cities, during a period in which human and intercultural contacts have been severely limited due to the pandemic by COVID-19,” says artist and Professor Leonardo Cumbo of the Academy of Fine Arts of Catania who conceived of and directs the project.
The Caltanissetta-Rochester Sister Cities Committee of Rochester’s volunteer sister cities organization, International Sister Cities of Rochester, NY, Inc., called for local artists to participate and received entries from four independent local artists, one each from Krakow and Velikiy Novgorod, and from twelve of the artist/owners and resident artists of Image City Photography Gallery.
ISCOR President Carolee Conklin said that. “The Caltanissetta-Rochester art exhibition initiative and Image City’s invaluable support open an exciting new dimension to Rochester’s sister cities program and the benefits it brings to our community.”
“We have focused mainly on high school student exchanges for the 56 years of our sister cities connection,” said Caltanissetta committee chairperson Rosalba Pisaturo. “The ‘Bridges 2-Round Trip’ exhibition dramatically expands the scope of our Caltanissetta-Rochester activities.”
The Rochester artists are Carol Acquilano (woodcut), Jolanda Chesonis, Angela Amato, and Maureen Outlaw Church (paintings) and photographer Nathan Miller. Dorota Hajduk (painting) of Krakow, Poland, and Alexander Oligerof (graphic) of Velikiy Novgorod, Russia, are also featured.
The ten Artist/Owners of Rochester’s Image City Photography Gallery, located at 722 University Ave. and two resident artists responded with great enthusiasm. “This sister cities ‘Bridges 2’ exhibition presents a unique opportunity to broaden public awareness of photographic art and the diversity in our offerings,” says artist/owner Sheridan Vincent. The participating photographic artists include Artist/Owners Dick Bennett, Tom Kredo, Steve Levinson, Gil Maker, Don Menges, Luann Pero, Betsy Phillips, John Solberg, Sheridan Vincent, and Gallery Artists-in-Residence David Perlman, Gary Thompson, and Phyllis Thompson.
The Caltanissetta artists are Paolo Amico, Noemi Ballacchino, Fernando Barbieri, Filippo Bordonaro, Marzia Calì, Patrizia Cataldo, Serena Di Caro, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Sara Di Ventura, Arcangelo Favata, Alberto Antonio Foresta, Mauro Fornasero, Donatella Frangiamone, Anna Giannone, Michelangelo Lacagnina, Mara Librizzi, Lorenzo Lombardo, Marco Madonia, Lillo Signorello, Maurizio Tomasello, Agostino Tulumello, Stefania Turco, Ivana Urso, Stefania Zappalà.
Rochester’s sister cities program was established in 1958 under the people-to-people citizen diplomacy movement initiated by then-President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower to contribute to international understanding and world peace one community, one person at a time. Rochester’s sister cities relationships are initiated by community volunteers and approved by the city councils and mayors of Rochester and the partner cities. The currently 12-sister cities program is based on a variety of mutually-beneficial activities developed, maintained, and funded by Rochester-region volunteers through International Sister Cities of Rochester, NY, Inc. (ISCOR). Caltanissetta is the third of Rochester’s 12 sister cities.
Rochester’s sister cities program includes relationships with Rennes, France (1958); Würzburg, Germany (1964); Caltanissetta, Italy (1965); Rehovot, Israel (1972); Kraków, Poland (1973); Bamako, Mali (1975); Waterford, Ireland (1983); Velikiy Novgorod, Russia (1990); Hamamatsu, Japan (1996); Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic (1997); Xianyang, Shaanxi Province, China (2007); and Alytus, Lithuania (2009).
For further information about Rochester’s Sister Cities program, contact Michael Leach at Michael.Leach@CityofRochester.gov, visit www.cityofrochester.gov/sistercities or ISCOR News on Facebook. For further information about Image City Photography Gallery, visit www.imagecityphotographygallery.com.
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