Art Students to Receive Annual Departmental Awards

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Six students in the University at Buffalo Department of Art will receive 1997-98 departmental awards for their work.

Among the awards is a new one for excellence in drawing that was established this year by Eugene Gaier, professor emeritus in the UB Graduate School of Education.

Melissa Post of Batavia, a candidate for a bachelor's degree in fine arts with a concentration in painting, has been selected by the art department to receive both the 1998 Rumsey Award and the Sally Hoskins Potenza Memorial Scholarship.

Established through the generosity of Buffalo painter Evelyn Rumsey Lord, the Rumsey Award is to be used for travel for artistic and personal enrichment or for tuition assistance for a summer studio art program outside UB. Post, who is embarking on a second career after practicing as a registered nurse, will use the $2,500 Rumsey award to attend the State University at Stony Brook's summer program in Rome, Italy.

The Potenza scholarship was established by the family of Sally Potenza, who was a promising young painter pursuing graduate studies in the UB art department at the time of her death.

Post is the daughter of Carl and Jean Kinney of Batavia.

Melissa Caryn Mintz of Oceanside, a junior in the Painting Program, has been selected to receive the Philip C. and Virginia Cuthbert Elliott Painting Scholarship for her outstanding ability and interest in the area of artistic painting. The cash award is based on the ability and overall merit of the student.

The scholarship was established with a grant from Virginia Cuthbert Elliott. She and her late husband, Philip C. Elliott, served for 30 years as artists and art educators in Western New York, including lengthy tenures at the Albright Art School and at its successor, the UB Department of Art.

From 1941-69, Philip Elliott served successively as director of the art school and the first chair of the UB art department. Virginia Elliott taught art at both institutions from 1941-61. Both were a strong force in shaping the UB art department during its formative years.

Mintz, who graduated from Oceanside High School, is the daughter of Jeffrey and Gerilyn Mintz of Oceanside.

Heather Kabza of Orchard Park, a bachelor of fine arts candidate interested in illustration, communication design and computer art, is this year's recipient of the Julius Bloom Memorial Scholarship for excellence in typographic study.

Toby Bloom Schoellkopf established the Bloom Scholarship in memory of her father, who worked for several well-known printing companies, had a lifelong interest in the typographic arts and helped organize the first international conference of typographical arts in the mid-1960s.

Kabza, a graduate of Nardin Academy, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Kabza.

Kathryn Jean Kraus of Williamsville and Christopher Breier of North Tonawanda, both bachelor of fine arts candidates in printmaking, are the recipients of the Eugene L. Gaier Printmaking Awards established last year by Gaier. UB professor emeritus of counseling and educational psychology, who has had a long time interest in the arts.

Kraus is a graduate of Williamsville East High School and the daughter of Norman and Patricia Kraus.

Breier graduated from North Tonawanda Senior High School and is the son of Roberta and David Breier.

Mark Franchino of Hicksville, a bachelor of fine arts candidate in illustration, is the first recipient of the Eugene L. Gaier Excellence in Drawing Award.

A graduate of Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville, he is the son of Karin and Joseph Franchino of Hicksville.