UB Anderson Gallery to Present "Walter Prochownik: In Retrospect, 1965-1995" from July 23 through Sept. 5

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- "Walter Prochownik: In Retrospect, 1965-1995," on exhibit from July 23 through Sept. 5 in the UB Anderson Gallery, is the first comprehensive survey of paintings and works on paper to highlight the long and productive career of Walter Prochownik (1923-2000), one of Western New York's most beloved artists.

The exhibition includes 93 paintings and works on paper, which will be viewed collectively for the first time.

It will open with a reception from 6-8:30 p.m. July 23 and remain on view in the first and second floor galleries through Sept. 5. The exhibition will be free and open to the public from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 1-5 p.m. on Sunday. UB Anderson Gallery, Center for Museum Studies, is located on Martha Jackson Place off of Englewood and Kenmore avenues.

Two silk painting workshops to be held in conjunction with the exhibition -- from 6--9:30 p.m. on Aug. 17 and 31 -- will allow participants to create original Prochownik-inspired silk scarves. A fee of $25 per session will include workshop materials. Space at the workshops is limited; call Ginny Lohr at 716-829-3754 to register.

An artist of international acclaim, Prochownik chose to live and work in Buffalo. While he did not necessarily approve of the term "local artist" because of its limiting connotations, this exhibition demonstrates the visual, social and intellectual impact he had on the Western New York community.

A dedicated faculty member of the Department of Art and Art History at the University at Buffalo for 32 years, Prochownik was appointed professor emeritus in 1995 and reluctantly retired at age 71. Among his students who took leadership roles in the Buffalo art community were Alan Van Every, a founder of Big Orbit Gallery, and Catherine Howe and Olenka Bodnarsky Gunn, former curators at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center.

In addition to his large and diverse body of work, Prochownik's legacy includes three large mural commissions in the Buffalo area. He is best known for "You the People," an expansive and expressive mural created for the people of Erie County at the request of former County Executive Ned Regan in 1974 for the lobby of the Edward A. Rath County Building.

His other two murals are "Summertime," 1988, on view in UB's Charles B. Sears Law Library, and "I Know Where I Have Been, but I Know Not Where I am Going," 1990, commissioned for the law offices of Magavern, Magavern & Grimm, L.L.P. in the Rand building.

The exhibition is accompanied by a 19-page catalog with 22 full-color reproductions and essays by exhibition curator Kristin E. M. Riemer and assistant curator Marie-Francoise Hutchison.

The exhibition is sponsored in part by Susan L. Martin and Bunge. The catalog received generous support from David K. Anderson.

UB Anderson Gallery is supported with funds from UB's Office of the Provost, the UB College of Arts and Sciences, the Anderson Gallery Program Fund and the UB Collection Care and Management Endowment Fund.

Call 716-829-3754 for more information.