Wayne Higby to Speak at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center on September 25, 2003

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The Burchfield-Penney Art Center is pleased to announce the Eighth Biennial Sylvia L. Rosen Lecture to be held on Thursday, September 25, 2003 at 7:00 pm featuring Wayne Higby. This program is free and open to the public.

Mr. Higby is an internationally renowned ceramic artist known for his mastery of the Raku technique. He will present a slide lecture on his work and inspirations entitled Wayne Higby: Embracing Doubt. A reception will follow the lecture.

"The Burchfield-Penney Art Center is indebted to the generosity of Sylvia L. Rosen and her late husband Nathan for their establishment of the Sylvia L. Rosen Endowment for fine arts in craft media,” said Ted Pietrzak, executive director of the Burchfield-Penney Art Center. “Mrs. Rosen’s continued support of the museum makes possible biennial events celebrating fine art in the craft media through lectures, exhibitions, acquisitions and conservation for which we are grateful.”

Wayne Higby is a professor of ceramic art at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, and his work is in public collections around the world including museums in Tokyo, London, the Netherlands and China. He has received numerous awards and fellowships throughout his over 30-year career. His most recent series, Thresholds, was exhibited in the spring of 2003 in the Sylvia L. Rosen Gallery at the Burchfield-Penney.

“To me, the Raku sculptures by Wayne Higby represent the marriage of the fine arts and the clay medium,” Mrs. Rosen said when speaking of the work of Wayne Higby. “It is my personal mission to celebrate all creative works of art as fine art, regardless of the medium,” she continued.

About Sylvia L. Rosen

Sylvia L. Rosen is a respected potter and educator who taught ceramics at Buffalo State College and Amherst Senior High School. Mrs. Rosen earned her Bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University in 1941 and a Master’s degree from Buffalo State College in 1971. In 1991, Mrs. Rosen received the Distinguished Alumna Award from Buffalo State and the Buffalo State Philanthropy Award in 2001.

About the Sylvia L. Rosen Endowment

The lack of exposure and serious commitment to fine arts in craft media was recognized by Nathan and Sylvia L. Rosen, who established the Sylvia L. Rosen Endowment for Fine Arts in the Craft Media in 1987 to ensure that craft artists in Western New York had an opportunity to exhibit. The endowment has supported numerous exhibitions, lectures and purchases for the collection and has made possible juried biennial craft art exhibitions, with purchase awards, alternating with biennial craft art lectures by field specialists. These events at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center benefit Western New York and Monroe County artists who work with clay, fiber, glass, metal and wood. The first exhibition took place in 1988.

About the Burchfield-Penney Art Center

The Burchfield-Penney Art Center is a museum dedicated to the art and vision of Charles E. Burchfield and distinguished artists of Buffalo Niagara and Western New York State. Through its affiliation with Buffalo State College, the museum encourages learning and celebrates our richly creative and diverse community. For more information, call (716) 878-6011 or visit www.burchfield-penney.org.

The Burchfield-Penney Art Center is supported in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and County of Erie. Additional operating support is provided by the Elizabeth Elser Doolittle Trust, the Mary A. H. Rumsey Foundation and the Burchfield-Penney’s members.

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Media Contact:
Kathleen Heyworth, Public Relations, Burchfield-Penney Art Center | 7168784529 | heyworkm@buffalostate.edu