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Architecture centerpiece of Cravens World

Visitors to Cravens World have been impressed by both the Cravens collection and the architecture of the installation. Photo: DOUGLAS LEVERE

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By CHARLOTTE HSU
Published: June 24, 2010

Masks, jars, bowls, figurines, pendants, daggers and other artifacts spanning several millennia are on display in UB’s Anderson Gallery as part of “Cravens World,” a permanent installation showcasing objects from across the globe that Buffalo philanthropist and world traveler Annette Cravens donated to the university.

Members of the UB community and public can view the exhibit, which opened in March, for free. Visitors have been awed by both the multimillion-dollar, 1,100-piece Cravens Collection and the architecture of the installation.

A newly renovated open storage study room features a “globe” comprising dozens of transparent, acrylic boxes displaying such items as a thousand-year-old bronze death mask from China and 20th century Cameroonian fertility dolls adorned with strands of beads. This centerpiece—designed by Mehrdad Hadighi, professor and chair of the UB Department of Architecture and founder of the Studio for Architecture firm, and Christopher Romano and Jose Chang, both adjunct instructors in the architecture department—represents local creativity and collaboration at its best. The fabricator was Buffalo’s own Hadley Exhibits.

Steps away from the globe, 27 shelves lining two walls hold more artifacts—wood, leather, cowry shells, metal, clay and ivory that humans shaped into tools, vessels, jewelry, carvings and coins over many centuries.

While “Cravens World” in the open storage study room is a permanent installation in the gallery, the extended exhibition about Annette Cravens and the selection of modern works from her collection that can be viewed in the niche and hallway gallery, respectively, will be on display through the end of the upcoming fall semester.

The UB Anderson Gallery is located at 1 Martha Jackson Place, off Englewood Avenue near Kenmore Avenue in Buffalo, near the UB South Campus. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and from 1-5 p.m. on Sunday.

Reader Comments

Susan Udin says:

These are beautiful objects, but it is a pity to see them displayed with no information about the people who made them or the contexts in which they were used. There is some minimal information in the accompanying books, but these objects cry out for more. I hope that UB students will be given the opportunity to create exhibits with these materials that will present them in ways that honor the societies from which they came and the artists who made them.

Posted by Susan Udin, Professor of Physiology and Biophysics, 06/24/10