Founded in 1969, the Visual Studies Workshop (VSW) is one of the longest-running nonprofit media art spaces in the country. It began with a vision for a graduate program for artists, historians, and curators that would help build the field of photography. To support this vision, VSW developed its core programs of exhibitions, publications, and residencies, nurturing experimental and expansive approaches to photography, film, and media art.
Recently, VSW received a grant of $80,000 from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The workshop employs six city residents in addition to bringing exceptional artists to the neighborhood, and this grant comes at a time when federal funding for the arts is being withdrawn from many communities. “It’s a testament to the quality of programs we are offering,” says Jessica Johnston of VSW. “Funding like this is so important, as it gives us the opportunity to plan and implement more ambitious projects like the current exhibition on view and the projects we have in the planning stages for next year.”
Johnston loves working with artists and archives as much as she loves being an advocate for the arts. A curator, photography specialist, and administrator, she oversees the operations and strategic vision for VSW.
As a graduate student in Toronto, Johnston heard that Rochester was a great photo town. “When I got here, I was fascinated. Here was this mysterious place with an incredible collection of weird and wonderful photos, books, and films and a history of incredible impact on the field of photography. VSW almost seemed like it was in an alternate timeline or something.”
Before joining the workshop in 2014, Johnston spent eight years at the George Eastman Museum as an assistant curator in the photography department and also helped run the graduate program. She got to know the Rochester photo community, including VSW founders Nathan and Joan Lyons. It all started in an old woodworking studio that Nathan Lyons rented on Elton Street. Joan Lyons founded the VSW Press shortly after her husband opened the workshop, eventually publishing more than 600 books by artists.
Archives and artists
Last year marked an exciting new chapter for the workshop, with a relocation to 36 King Street, a fully accessible, 8,000-square-foot building in the historic Susan B. Anthony neighborhood. This newly renovated space is open to the public and includes a dedicated studio and workroom for artists in residence. It also features a gallery, media arts exhibition space, an analog darkroom, a research library, and a theater with raked seating for up to 100 guests.
“Our space is very welcoming, and the archives are such a big part of the culture at VSW,” says Johnston. The expansive research library houses thousands of volumes on different art mediums and a collection of more than 60,000 hand-colored glass lantern slides organized by geographic location and subject. “Anyone can make an appointment to come in and look at books or lantern slides or just get a tour.”
While taking a tour, you might meet an artist in residence like Preston Gannaway, a Pulitzer Prize–winning documentary photographer and one of twelve artists who will come to VSW this year. “It’s a great space,” says Gannaway. She will live and work here for four weeks, inviting the public in to see her art in progress at the end of her visit.
“One of the benefits of the residency is that we have this incredible visual media collection,” says Johnston. “Even if the artists aren’t using archival material in their work, they still often find visual references that are important to their artwork in some way.”
The facility provides archival storage for VSW’s media collections and art library as well as a dedicated media transfer lab where trained staff preserve and digitize video and audio materials, ensuring the long-term care and accessibility of important artworks and historical records. “We love film and video and keeping the old playback systems running,” says Johnston. The transfer lab can digitize more than eighteen formats of video and film—a service offered to the public.
The archives also include an impressive 16mm film collection related to the region from the Rundel Memorial Library that Johnston’s team loves to share with the community. “We do a program called Community Curator, where we bring in community leaders to work with a curator and choose a program,” she says. “We pay them a stipend, and they bring their community here to watch it.”
Currently on display until June 6 is Peer Bode: Signal into Memory, which includes projections and installations of recently digitized videotapes from Bode’s archive, as well as prints that reflect his work. Bode has created an extensive body of work that investigates electronic media events, active perception systems, and the cultural impact of media tools and technologies.
VSW offers a handmade film workshop as well as a series of three Saturday Game Jams, an inclusive way for local storytellers, hobbyists, and artists of all ages to come together with only basic computer skills to make a video game from scratch in one sitting. A pop-up arcade will showcase the games for the public to play along with projections of the 16mm films and 35mm slides made by students in the Handmade Film Workshop.
The Visual Studies Workshop team is excited to honor educator and artist Dawoud Bey at its second annual fundraising gala on October 3. While in residence, Bey made portraits of people he met while exploring Rochester, including a beautiful portrait of a couple at a bus stop on Main Street.
Along with bookkeeping and grant writing, Johnston wants to make sure that VSW is maximizing its impact on the Rochester community, fulfilling its mission. “I believe in VSW’s vision for a society that values the human need to create and share ideas,” she says. “And I feel good going to work at a place that has those values.”
The VSW gallery is open to the public during scheduled events and regular gallery hours. The collections and library are available by appointment. All events are free, though donations are welcome, and workshops typically carry a small fee. Visit vsw.org to learn more or sign up for the newsletter.
This article originally appeared in the May/June 2026 issue of (585).
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