Free Day at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center

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The Burchfield-Penney Art Center at Buffalo State College is offering the second of two free days this fall on Sunday, November 23, 2003. The public is welcome to enjoy a range of exhibitions which are on view as well as a poetry reading by Toronto-based poet Priscila Uppal at 2:00 p.m. There is no museum admission fee on this day.

Poetry Reading: Priscila Uppal

Sunday, November 23, 2003 at 2:00 p.m.

Priscila Uppal is a 28 year-old poet and fiction writer born in Ottawa and currently living in Toronto. She has published three collections of poetry: How to Draw Blood From a Stone (1998), Confessions of a Fertility Expert 1999), and Pretending to Die (2001). She has also published fiction and/or poetry in national and international magazines. Her first novel, The Divine Economy of Salvation, was published to critical acclaim by Doubleday Canada in February 2002 and by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill in the US in October 2002. She is a Professor of Humanities and Coordinator of the Creative Writing Program at York University. Her new poetry collection Live Coverage will be released in the fall of 2003, and she is at work on a new novel, a collection of short stories and a non-fiction project. This program is free and open to the public.

Exhibitions on View:

Impressions of Niagara: Selections from the Charles Rand Penney Collection

October 11, 2003-January 4, 2004

The Charles Rand Penney Collection of Niagara Falls Prints, dating from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century, is the most extensive in the world. From this collection, Christopher W. Lane, guest curator for the exhibition, selected 99 pieces for exhibition in the cities of Lille, France and Mouscron, Belgium in the fall of 2002. Support for this exhibition was provided by Harter, Secrest & Emery, First Niagara Bank, Maid of the Mist, Buffalo State College, the Buffalo-Lille Association and MTL-ACTS.

John Pfahl: Arcadia Revisited

October 11, 2003-January 4, 2004

In the mid-1980s, the internationally renowned photographer John Pfahl re-explored Niagara Falls and a thirty-six mile stretch of the Niagara River for a project commissioned by the Amos W. Sangster Niagara River Centennial Committee to celebrate Sangster’s landmark folios of 153 etchings, published 1886-88. Pfahl’s exquisite photographs evoke surprising emotions, proving that he, of all artists, was able to transcend the clich? of Niagara Falls to produce work that is truly moving. The Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University generously lent works from their collection for this exhibition.

Remembering Robert Blair

October 25, 2003-January 18, 2004

Selections from the collection will pay homage to Robert N. Blair (1912-2003), who was recognized as one of Western New York’s most accomplished watercolor painters. Many people consider his most important series to be his first-hand observations in Europe during World War II. Selections from the generous gift made by the artist in 1985 will be featured with later works, including his landscapes of Western New York.

Images of War

October 25, 2003-January 18, 2004

In addition to the Robert N. Blair collection of World War II watercolors, the Burchfield-Penney Art Center’s collection contains other works that examine the effects of war, with images of its participants and its victims. This exhibition will include Tanya Ganson’s works on the Russian Revolution, Patty Wallace’s diptych referencing the Vietnam War, Stephen Saracino's image of war in the Middle East, and Endi Poskovic’s images relating to the Bosnian war, as well as works by Harvey Breverman, Westley Olmsted, Joseph Orrfeo, Esther Hoyt Sawyer and Robert Senkpiel.

In Context: Art and Text

October 25, 2003-Fem the collection will be a resource for an Arts-In-Education collaborative project with Kenmore West High School. The theme of the exhibition is the relationship between visual art and written language. Selected paintings, drawings, photographs, prints and sculpture will explore the ways that artists use text in their art, incorporating passages of text, words or single letters as a meaningful part of the composition. The artists represented include Charles Agel, Nancy Dwyer, Marion Faller, Bonnie Gordon, Richard Kegler, Robert Lax, Joseph Piccillo, Russell Ram, Robert D. Schroeck and Andrew Topolski.

American Land, American Life

November 15, 2003-February 8, 2004

Few artists or writers have been able to show so distinctively the amazing characteristics of the natural world as Burchfield. He drew inspiration from authors such as Henry David Thoreau and John Burroughs, and poets Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Cullen Bryant and John Greenleaf Whittier. At the age of twenty, already immersed in the idea of recording his intense impressions, he decided to become an artist instead of a naturalist. This exhibition demonstrates Burchfield’s ethos through paintings, drawings, prints and wallpapers from the Burchfield-Penney Art Center’s collection, the largest, most comprehensive Burchfield Collection in the world.

Recent Acquisitions of Craft Art from the Collection

July 26, 2003 – April 18, 2004

On view are Nancy Valle’s terra cotta sculpture, Taeyoul Ryu’s rocking chair made of bent plywood with ash veneer, Carol Townsend’s stoneware vessel, all acquired with funds from the Collectors’ Club as well as Wayne Higby's Avatar Beach, from his tile sculpture series, Thresholds, purchased with funds from Sylvia L. Rosen and Jeremy Hatch's Ceramech Model #4, the purchase prize winner from Craft Art Western New York 2002.

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