Architecture and decorative patterns that fill our environments will be explored in an exhibit of collages and photographs by Robert Raczka in the Gallery at the Art and Music Library on the University of Rochester's River Campus.

Raczka's interest in the prevalence and persistence of ornament over the centuries inspired him to pair his collages from scraps of books and magazines with his color photographs. For the exhibit titled "inside/outside," Raczka wore a blindfold and pieced together images relating to architecture and interior design. The composition and beauty of each piece are largely accidental, he said. As for his photographs, he attempted to engage related ideas and appearances in a more direct way.

"My exploration of concepts and aesthetics of ornamentation is a springboard to creating works of beauty while emphasizing the artificiality and strangeness of culture," he said of his work.

During the past 20 years, Raczka has taught photography and art at the University of Texas at Arlington, California State University at Long Beach, and since 1989 at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., where he is associate professor of art and gallery director. He earned his master of fine arts degree in photography from the University of Florida at Gainesville.

His works in photography and digital photography have been exhibited in solo exhibits and group shows around the country. In addition to organizing exhibitions as gallery director at Allegheny, he has been guest curator at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, University of Akron, Erie Art Museum, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, and Artists Image Resource in Pittsburgh. Raczka also is a widely published art critic specializing in photography.

The Gallery at the Art and Music Library, located on the ground floor of Rush Rhees Library, is open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday; noon to 5 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 10 p.m. Sunday. This exhibit will run from Monday, Jan. 13, through Monday, Feb. 10.

Admission is free. For more information, contact (585) 275-9249.