On-Demand

A Walk Through History in Mount Hope Cemetery spotlights the magnificent 196-acre piece of land, with its lofty hills and picturesque valleys, and features the mausoleums, Egyptian obelisks, Florentine cast-iron fountain, and the infinitely varied tombstones marking 350,000 graves. It shares the history behind the cemetery, the people buried there, the symbolism behind the monuments, and much more

It was a palace, a jewel among ball parks both minor league and major. Silver Stadium set the standard from the time it opened on a rainy May day in 1929 right through the 1980’s. Rochester saw athletic drama played out on it’s broad, beautiful green stage. Welcome back the smells of white hots grilling, vendors shouting, the view from your favorite seat. Welcome back your Silver Memories.

Produced by WXXI, Silver Memories shares the history of Silver Baseball Stadium through interviews and anecdotal discussions on the stadium, the players, baseball, and its relation to the community itself.

Wendell Castle: A Portrait provides a unique opportunity to see first-hand Castle at work, as WXXI’s production crew follows him through the creation of his “Dizzy” chair – from his original drawings to the finished work of art. Through Castle’s own words and interviews with family, friends, viewers will learn about his early years as an artist, his creative process, and the vision for his work.

Filmed over the course of a year by WXXI-TV’s production team, Wendell Castle: A Portrait captures the life of the master furniture artist, designer, sculptor, and educator.

Through Castle’s own words and interviews with family, friends, and colleagues, viewers will learn about his early years as an artist, his creative process, and the vision for his work.

The hour-long documentary also providesaunique opportunity to see first-hand Castle at work, as WXXI’s production crew follows him through the creation of his “Dizzy” chair – from his original drawings to the finished work of art. It was one of the last chairs Castle created before passing away on January 20, 2018 at the age of 85.

Castle was born in Kansas and received a BFA from the University of Kansas in Industrial Design and an MFA in sculpture, graduating in 1961. He then moved to Rochester in 1962 to teach at the School of American Craftsmen at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he was on staff as an “Artist in Residence” at the time of his death. An artist for more than 60 years, he is often credited as the father of American Studio Furniture and Art Furniture Movements. More than 100 of his works are installed in museums worldwide, including the Memorial Art Gallery.

The film visits Castle in his Scottsville home and studio, and looks at his masterpieces in wood, including his stack lamination method, his Technicolor gel-coated fiberglass pieces, and the Steinway 500,000^th piano he was commissioned to create. Castle’s wife Nancy Jurs, well known as a potter who trained at Rochester Institute of Technology’s School for American Craftsmen, shares how they met, how he landed his teaching job at RIT, and details about his work and technique. Castle’s daughter Alison and step son Bryon Jurs also give insight into Castle’s medium and process.

The designer, sculptor, and educator continually pushed the boundaries of inventiveness, imagination and sustained innovation. “He defined an entire world of creativity,” explains Jonathan P. Binstock, PhD, Director of the Memorial Art Gallery, in the film. Others featured in the film include:

• Josh Owen, Designer, Professor and Chair of Industrial Design, Rochester Institute of Technology
• Rick Hirsch, Professor Emeritus, Rochester Institute of Technology
• Peter Kenney, Craftsman, Wendell Castle Studio
• Marvin Pallischeck, Former Studio Director, Wendell Castle Studio
• Marc Benda, Co-Owner, Friedman Benda
• Loic Le Gaillard, Co-Founder, Carpenters Workshop Gallery
• Grant Holcomb, Director Emeritus, Memorial Art Gallery
• Evan Snyderman, Co-Founder, Creative Director, R & Company
• Daniel Herberger, Studio Director, Wendell Castle Studio
• Carole Hochman, Director, Friedman Benda
• Bridget Sheehan, Craftsman and 3D Modeler, Wendell Castle Studio

Funding for Wendell Castle:  A Portrait is generously provided by Nocon and Associates, a private wealth advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial Services, Incorporated. And, by the Sands Family Foundation. Additional support provided by Waldron Rise Foundation, Lilliputian Foundation, Louise Epstein, Tom and Ebets Judson, Martin Messinger, Mimi and Sam Tilton, Alan Cameros, Reenie and Stan Feingold, Jane Ellen Parker and Fran Cosentino, and Essie Germanow

Countless Irish people came to Rochester to escape the Irish potato famine. They were families steeped in tradition and history, and their contributions helped to make Rochester the community it is today. Don’t miss this insightful program that highlights Rochester’s Irish Americans and their effort to maintain their heritage through song, dance and stories.

19th century American women were seen but never heard. That is, until suffragists Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, ordained minister Antoinette Brown Blackwell, and business women Kate Gleason and Martha Matilda Harper changed American history. All were from the Rochester area.

Chester Carlson was a quiet genius with an idea that might work. Joe Wilson was the lone business man who shared Carlson’s vision. Together they saw Carlson’s kitchen table experiment become the machine that changed the world. This documentary profiles the Xerox Corporation from its earliest days as Haloid to a company that is a world leader in documents and imaging.

George Eastman actually invented very little. His real genius lay in organizing a business and in recognizing the bright young minds that surrounded him in the foundation of the Eastman Kodak Company. Through this group on inventors, the world came alive in the colors of Kodachrome, The inventive spirit continues are Kodak as it heads into the digital age.

What do Jello-O, machine guns, Snoopy Sniffers and bloomers have in common? They were all invented in Rochester, NY. This is the first in a series of programs that look at Rochester’s golden age of inventions, its current crop of creative genius and the efforts to blaze new trails into the 21st century.