New Ceramics Space Named for Sylvia L. Rosen

Sylvia L. Rosen, ’71, is a longtime benefactor of the Buffalo State ceramics program. She also serves as an inspiration to its students.

Rosen’s artwork has been included in numerous exhibitions over several decades, including the Cleveland Museum of Art (1943); the Buffalo Craftsmen Exhibition (1957-1970); the Albright–Knox Members Gallery (1962); the Buffalo State 125th Anniversary Exhibition (1996); and the Contemporary New York State Crafts Exhibition (1997). She also has work within the collections of the Burchfield-Penney Art Center, the Arthur E. Baggs Museum at Ohio State University, and the Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art at Alfred University.  Rosen and her family also have a gallery of craft art within the Burchfield Penney.

After earning a master’s degree in art education at Buffalo State, Rosen taught in the college’s Design Department, along with stints at Amherst Central High School and the Creative Craft Center at the University at Buffalo.

With her late husband, Nathan, Rosen established the Sylvia L. Rosen Endowment for Fine Arts in Craft Media in 1987, which has enabled the college and the Burchfield Penney to hold biennial craft art exhibitions and frequent lectures by field specialists. Meanwhile, Buffalo State’s annual Clay Olympics has maintained a successful run for 14 years because of Rosen’s vision and endowment.

Now, Rosen is extending her philanthropic support to the ceramics program with a gift for programming and equipment as part of the Transforming Lives: A Campaign for Buffalo State fundraising initiative.

Rosen’s legacy will live on for generations to come as Buffalo State has named a new ceramics space in Upton Hall the Sylvia L. Rosen Senior Ceramics Studio and Library. It will be included in the first phase of Upton Hall renovations scheduled to begin in the summer of 2014 and to be completed in the summer of 2016.

"Through this incredibly generous donation to the ceramics program, Sylvia has again made a substantial contribution that will truly make a difference to the educational experiences and future careers of our creative and talented students,” said Robert Wood, professor and chair of design and coordinator of the ceramics program. “The naming of the studio demonstrates her continued support to advancing our common goals and dreams.”

At age 93, Rosen continues to pursue her ceramics studies at Florida Atlanta University in Boca Raton, Florida, where she lives most of the year.  

Wood recalled, “She once told me, ‘If you live long enough, you get to see and enjoy the fruits of your labors.’ She was right.”

Pictured: Robert Wood, professor and chair of design and coordinator of the ceramics program, and Sylvia L. Rosen, ’71.