By Jason Meholick

Charles Burchfield, who was a famous painter from the 60s, opened the Burchfield-Penney Art Center 40 years ago on Dec. 9, 1966. In his honor the Burchfield-Penney Art Center is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a special exhibit of his work.

This exhibit will stay up until May 13, 2007. The opening is on Dec. 8 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Burchfield-Penney. Anyone can view this exhibit before the opening party. The opening is set for Dec 8 for three reasons:

• all openings are on the second Friday of the month

• all exhibits at the Burchfield-Penney are up before their opening

• December 9, is the 40th anniversary date

"The dates fell right into place to let us have our opening at the right time to celebrate our 40th anniversary of being open," said William Menshon, facilities manager.

Some of Burchfield's best will be on display in this exhibit. This includes works that were displayed at the original opening on Dec. 9. There will be proof of authenticity of each piece there, said Tim Holt, the preparator at Burchfield-Penney.

While there anyone can also view these other exhibits that will be there at the same time as the Burchfield exhibit, which will run through these dates in 2007:

• the Squeaky Wheel 20th anniversary exhibition runs until the end of this year

• the Annette Cravens modern ceramics collection runs until Feb 11

• Craft Art Western New York 2006 runs until Jan 7

• Caustic Ink the Political Cartoons of Tom Toles (Jan. 19 to March 25)

Faculty and students can view this exhibit at anytime during museum hours for free. The cost for everyone else is the regular price of $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $3 for children under 7 years old. The museum’s hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Jason Meholick can be reached at ChipMcMelo@verizon.net

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Burchfield

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

http://www.squeaky.org/about.html