Burchfield-Penney Art Center 40th anniversary

By Jennifer Tebo

The Burchfield-Penney Art Center was founded on the campus of Buffalo State College with the mission to celebrate the art and artists of Western New York, and the art and vision of Charles E. Burchfield, said Kathleen Heyworth, head of marketing and public relations for the center.

“Over the past four decades, the museum has grown to be the second-largest visual arts organizations in Western New York, and the only one with a Western New York focus,” she said.

Nancy Weekly, headof collections and the Charles Cary Rumsey curator for the center, saidBurchfield gained approval through inclusion in prestigious national exhibitions, and received many awards for his artistic achievement; this is why the art center was named in his honor.

Weekly said now through May 13, 2007, a number of masterworks by Burchfield will be on view, as well as archival materials that celebrate the 40-year history of the center.

An opening reception and anniversary celebration will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 8, to honor the Dec. 9, 1966, dedication of the center to Burchfield, Weekly said.

Dr. Paul G. Bulger, president of BSC in 1959, had to convince Burchfield to accept the honor, because Burchfield thought that such an honor shouldn’t be given to someone still alive, Weekly said.

She said Bulger worked closely with a small group of people to create the museum in Rockwell Hall, which was originally the campus library.

The six other founderswere:

  • Dr. Edna M. Lindemann, director of development and cultural affairs for BSC

  • Martha Burchfield Richter, one of the artist’s children and an artist herself

  • Gordon M. Smith, director of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery

  • Donald L. Voltz, chairman of the board of trustees for the BSC Alumni Foundation Inc.

  • Dr. D. Kenneth Winebrenner, professor of design at BSC

  • John Clancy, Burchfield’s dealer at the Frank K. M. Rehn Galleries in New York City

 

Some of Burchfield’s works that will be on exhibit are:

 

  • December Storm, 1941-60, watercolor, charcoal and white conté crayon on seamed paper, 40 ½ by 56 inches, gift of Mr. & Mrs. Peter C. Andrews, 1964/66

  • Fireflies and Lightning, 1964-65, watercolor on seamed paper mounted on board, 40by 54 inches, originally lent for the dedication by the Rehn Gallery Burchfield-Penney Art Center, purchase made possible by M&T Bank, the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation, the Vogt Family Foundation, William and Laurie Brosnahan, an anonymous foundation and an anonymous donor, 1998

  • Afternoon in the Grove, July 11, 1916, watercolor and graphite on paper, 14 by 20 inches, Burchfield-Penney Art Center Collection, gift of Tony Sisti, 1979

Weekly said the Burchfield collection has developed into the most considerable and inclusive collection of the artist’s work in the world. These works could not have been displayed without the help from the many donors who contributed artwork and funds, she said.

Some of the donors include:

  • The Buffalo Foundation

  • The Charles E. Burchfield Foundation

  • Dr. Edna M. Lindemann in grateful tribute to Charles and Bertha Burchfield and her associate center founders: Paul G. Bulger, Martha Burchfield Richter, Gordon Smith, D. Kenneth Winebrenner and Donald Voltz

  • M&T Bank

  • The Olmsted Family in memory of Harold L. Olmsted           

  • Dr. Charles Rand Penney in honor and in memory of John I. H. Baur, friend of Charles E. Burchfield and friend of Charles Rand Penney

  • Reed Forest Products, Inc. (Part of the Decorative Products Group, Wallcovering Division, Birge)

  • The Retired Alumni Association, State University of New York College at Buffalo

  • The Margaret L. Wendt Foundation

  • The Western New York Foundation

  • The Winebrenner Memorial Fund

 

Burchfield died suddenly of a heart attack just a month and a day after the museum’s dedication, Weekly said. Since then many patrons banded together to help develop the museum into a nationally recognized institution, accredited by the American Association of Museums, she said.

The center and BSC are in the process of building a new freestanding building to house the museum on the corner of Rockwell Road and Elmwood Avenue, Heyworth said.

Weekly said this is a reflection back on the beginning of the museum, and one of Burchfield’s paintings is still in a private collection, which the art center hope’s to own someday. The new art center will be twice as big and that is great, she said.

“This exhibit is meant to honor the countless people who have worked as volunteers and employees over the past 40 years to make the Burchfield-Penney Art Center a vibrant museum,” Weekly said.

Jennifer Tebo can be reached at teboj27@verizon.net

Photos courtesy of Kathleen Heyworth

For more information contact:Tel: (716) 878-6011

http://www.burchfield-penney.org/

burchfld@buffalostate.edu

General Admission to the Art Center is:

  • Free for faculty, staff and Buffalo State College students

  • $5 adults

  • $4 seniors 65+

  • $3 children over 7 and students