Albert Paley has been active as an artist for over 30 years in Rochester. He is the first metal sculptor to receive the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Institute of Architects, the AIA’s highest award to a non-architect. 

Commissioned by both public institutions and private corporations, Paley has completed more than 70 site-specific works. Some notable examples include the “Portal Gates” for the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, “Synergy”, a ceremonial archway in Philadelphia, and the “Portal Gates” for the New York State Senate Chambers in Albany. In Rochester, Paley created “Sentinel”, a monumental plaza sculpture for Rochester Institute of Technology, “Threshold” for the corporate headquarters of Klein Steel, as well as a 65-foot sculpture for the entry court of Bausch and Lomb’s headquarters. One of his most ambitious accomplishments to date is the installation of 13 monumental sculptures, “Paley on Park Ave.” in New York City. To further demonstrate the culmination of his talents as a multi-media sculptor, the Tacoma Museum of Glass invited Paley to produce the first comprehensive exhibition to reflect his glass and steel sculpture. This exhibit, titled Complementary Contrasts: The Glass and Steel Sculptures of Albert Paley was on display from September 2017-September 2018 and included sculptures initiated during his residencies at Museum of Glass in collaboration with Martin Blank.   

In September 2017 Paley will participate in an exhibit at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington. Complementary Contrasts: The Glass and Steel Sculptures of Albert Paley, will include approximately forty new sculptures created over the course of three Visiting Artist residencies at Museum of Glass in collaboration with Seattle based glass sculptor Martin Blank. These works will serve as the foundation of the exhibition, but will be supported by earlier works from Paley’s personal collection. Thirty works on paper illuminate Paley’s process of incorporating glass in his sculpture. Collectively, the objects in this exhibition will demonstrate a culmination of Paley’s talents as a sculptor. 

Pieces by Albert Paley can be found in the permanent collections of many major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Broadly published and an international lecturer, Paley received both his BFA and MFA from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. He received honorary doctorates from the University of Rochester in 1989, the State University of New York at Brockport in 1996, and St. Lawrence University, in Canton, New York in 1997. He also holds an endowed chair at the Rochester Institute of Technology.