Free Days at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center
The Burchfield-Penney Art Center at Buffalo State College is offering two free days this fall, Sunday, October 19 and Sunday, November 23, 2003. The general public is welcome to enjoy a range of exhibitions which are on view. In addition, two special programs will be offered: family workshops and poetry readings.
Family Workshops:
Sunday, October 19 and Sunday, November 23, 2003 from 1 3 p.m.
In conjunction with the exhibition, Impressions of Niagara: Selections from the Charles Rand Penney Collection, the Burchfield-Penney Art Center is offering two family workshops. Children six years of age and older are welcome with an accompanying adult. These programs are free and open to the public. Please call (716) 878-6020 to register.
Sunday, October 19, 2003 from 1 - 3 p.m.
Cut, Roll and Print!
Following a visit to the exhibition, art teacher Carleen Dixon will guide participants in the creation of relief prints inspired by images of Niagara Falls.
Sunday, November 23, 2003 from 1 3 p.m.
In Living Color
In this workshop, art teacher Carleen Dixon will focus on using watercolor to hand color prints imitating techniques that were used in the early nineteenth century.
Poetry Readings:
Susan Howe
Sunday, October 19 at 2:00 p.m.
Susan Howe is a State of New York Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where she teaches in the English Department. Her books of poetry include Singularities (1990), The Europe of Trusts: Selected Poems (1990), Frame Structures: Early Poems 1974-1979 (1996), Pierce-Arrow (1999) and most recently The Midnight(ND Spring 2003). She is also the author of two books of literary criticism, My Emily Dickinson (1985) and Birth-mark: unsettling the wilderness in American literary history. This program is free and is open to the public.
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), all with Exile Editions. 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 N. 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, Esther Hoyt Sawyer and Robert Senkpiel. The 2003 acquisition of Joseph Orrfeo’s World Trade Center I(2001) represents the current war on terrorism.
In Context: Art and Text
October 25, 2003-February 8, 2004
Exhibited works from the collection will be a resource for an Arts-In-Education collaborative project with Kenmore West High School funded by the New York State Council on the Arts. 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 February 15, 2004
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, are featured in this exhibition of acquisitions made during the past two years.
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 Btive 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.
Family Workshops:
Sunday, October 19 and Sunday, November 23, 2003 from 1 3 p.m.
In conjunction with the exhibition, Impressions of Niagara: Selections from the Charles Rand Penney Collection, the Burchfield-Penney Art Center is offering two family workshops. Children six years of age and older are welcome with an accompanying adult. These programs are free and open to the public. Please call (716) 878-6020 to register.
Sunday, October 19, 2003 from 1 - 3 p.m.
Cut, Roll and Print!
Following a visit to the exhibition, art teacher Carleen Dixon will guide participants in the creation of relief prints inspired by images of Niagara Falls.
Sunday, November 23, 2003 from 1 3 p.m.
In Living Color
In this workshop, art teacher Carleen Dixon will focus on using watercolor to hand color prints imitating techniques that were used in the early nineteenth century.
Poetry Readings:
Susan Howe
Sunday, October 19 at 2:00 p.m.
Susan Howe is a State of New York Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where she teaches in the English Department. Her books of poetry include Singularities (1990), The Europe of Trusts: Selected Poems (1990), Frame Structures: Early Poems 1974-1979 (1996), Pierce-Arrow (1999) and most recently The Midnight(ND Spring 2003). She is also the author of two books of literary criticism, My Emily Dickinson (1985) and Birth-mark: unsettling the wilderness in American literary history. This program is free and is open to the public.
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), all with Exile Editions. 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 N. 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, Esther Hoyt Sawyer and Robert Senkpiel. The 2003 acquisition of Joseph Orrfeo’s World Trade Center I(2001) represents the current war on terrorism.
In Context: Art and Text
October 25, 2003-February 8, 2004
Exhibited works from the collection will be a resource for an Arts-In-Education collaborative project with Kenmore West High School funded by the New York State Council on the Arts. 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 February 15, 2004
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, are featured in this exhibition of acquisitions made during the past two years.
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 Btive 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