Susan Ferrari Rowley is an American sculptor who has made profound contributions to the medium. She has continued to push the boundaries of public art, and has enhanced communities through her work. Since October 2023, Susan Ferrari Rowley has been working to create a unique sculpture to fit within the main campus of Genesee Community College. Ms. Ferrari Rowley likes to be part of the selection process for where her art will be installed. Her philosophy is “to place the art where it would serve the greatest inspiration and enhancement”. Once she views a space, she is able to begin the design process.
It was decided Ferrari Rowley would design a piece to fit on the front wall in the lobby of the Stuart Steiner Theatre. Over the past few months, she’s created numerous sketches and models of what the sculpture would look like. She prefers to work with aluminum when creating her wall reliefs; it is lightweight, and impervious to environmental fluctuations. She has uses aluminum rods, cables, and perforated sheets of metal to create an interplay of line, plane, shape, and space. These elements advance and recede off the wall, casting shadows that offer visual complexity. This allows the piece to be viewed differently each time someone stops to see it. Time of day, amount of sun light visible, and weather patterns all enhance the experience of viewing the sculpture. Linear rods cast shadows that mimic their length and direction, while perforated forms create dots on the wall as the light passes through their planes. As a CRNY artist, Susan Ferrari Rowley’s project was granted funded by the Mellon Foundation.
When describing her process, Ferrari Rowley says “My creative process starts with designing sculptures that are a continuum of my aesthetic, developed over years of exploration and production. Sculptures spring forth from sketches and models evolving from spatial challenges that I visualize. When responding to space for either large installations or placement of individual sculptures, I specifically integrate the sculpture and space for existing resolutions.”
Susan Ferrari Rowley has a lifelong commitment to education in the arts. She holds an AA from Nassau Community College, a BA from SUNY College at Buffalo, pursued graduate studies at Arizona State University, and received both her MFA and MST from Rochester Institute of Technology. After moving to Rochester to finish her graduate studies, Ferrari Rowley was taken in by the strong arts community. She later became a professor of sculpture and 3-D design at Monroe Community College, while continuing to produce her own artwork which she has exhibited around the country.
“My designing utilizes metal-working techniques of bending, cutting, assembling and welding, prior to the placement of fabrics and other malleable materials that integrate with the forms. Fabrics are well placed, and hand stitched, or laced taught to frameworks, and sheet metals are handled similarly and screwed to their underlying forms.” While installing her latest sculpture at GCC on April 22 & 23, Ferrari Rowley was delighted to talk to curious students about her work, her process, and share her story. She passionate her work and arts education; it is evident the way she speaks and how she carries herself.
The entire installation process took two days, two lift systems, and three people. Ferrari Rowley, and her two team members had to install three aluminum wall reliefs up a two-story wall. They came back the following day to measure and string all of the cabling through the aluminum pieces. The hope is her installation in the Center for the arts will inspire students, faculty, and visitors with its interactive nature. A proper reception will be held on Thursday, May 9th for Susan Ferrari Rowley. Join us in the lobby of the Stuart Steiner Theatre at 12:30pm – 2:00pm for refreshments, and a chance to talk to the artist.
Please contact the Roz Steiner Art Gallery with any questions. (585) 343-0055 x6490 or gccgallery@genesee.edu
Follow Susan Ferrari Rowley on Facebook for behind the scenes content about this project.