In 2025, Corning, NY was named one of the “Best Small-Town Culture Scenes in America” (USA Today’s 10Best). While the town has long had a reputation among art aficionados, in large part due to its two world-class museums—The Corning Museum of Glass and The Rockwell Museum—the creative “culture” extends beyond traditional galleries and exhibits and into the community itself, especially through a series of murals known as the Alley Art Project. 

Making Connections Through Art!

Public art offers a direct and intimate connection between the artist and the community. And, in the case of The Rockwell’s Alley Art Project, public art is also a unique chance for local students to engage with their community, with other artists, and with themselves in ways they would never otherwise know. 

The only Smithsonian Affiliate Museum in upstate New York, and one of only six in the entire state, The Rockwell has collaborated for years with the High School Learning Center of the Corning-Painted Post Area School District on the Alley Arts Project which allows students to engage with art, interpret it, react to it, and create their own response. 

Each year, a specific piece of art from the museum’s collection is used as a “catalyst for creative writing and art making.” Students explore the museum, engage with the particular piece, interpret it and respond to it by creating their own art. These individual pieces are later brought together and recreated in a mural the students paint in one of the alleyways in downtown Corning. 

In addition to the artistic merits of this projects, students also learn how to work together, design work, research, while also contributing to the community. These students often exist to some degree on the periphery of that community, so giving them an opportunity to add to that community can be quite profound — “cultivating a sense of pride” in themselves and in their community.

To date, there have been 16 murals commissioned for the Alley Art Project and are found throughout Corning (the 2024 mural is located at Corning Community College).

Stroll downtown and discover an array of murals, sculptures and other forms of public art.

One of the other reasons Corning is known for its art and culture is because of the wonderful opportunities to flex your own creative muscles by blowing glass in a workshop, taking a class in stained-glass or flame working, and other fun hands-on workshops (like needleworking and even creating your own terrarium).

Corning’s Gaffer District which has about 100 boutiques, antique shops, studios, galleries and restaurants is also home to some of the most diverse architecture for a town its size, including a number of historic buildings which can be explored on a self-guided historic walking tour. You’ll encounter many of the murals and other public art pieces on your sojourn. 

Learn more about the Alley Art Project here - https://exploresteuben.com/stories/painting-the-city/.