The exhibit, from Jan. 25 through Feb. 23 in the Center for the Arts on the UB North Campus, features a number of oil paintings, as well as drawings that served as studies for the paintings.

It opens with a reception from 5-8 p.m. on Jan. 25 in the UB Art Department Gallery in the Center for the Arts, and continues through Feb. 23 in the gallery and in atrium of the Center for the Arts.

Gallery hours are Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Prochownik's recent works, which will be shown in the exhibit, include a series of oil paintings, pastels and drawings inspired by the artist's recent trip to the Western United States. In these, according to longtime UB colleague, Professor Sheldon Berlyn, "he expresses his ongoing interest in forms in nature and in environmental issues."

Berlyn noted that Prochownik's non-literal invented forms and surfaces suggest fragments of the vast geological formations that impressed him in such places as Zion National Park and Lake Powell.

"These paintings," added Berlyn, "reflect moods and atmospheres characteristic of some of the great western landscapes-visual memories that abound with rich painterly surface."

Prochownik, who has taught in UB's Millard Fillmore College program since 1963, has been a member of the UB Department of Art faculty since 1981. His work has been exhibited widely in group shows and traveling exhibitions throughout the United States and has been the subject of a dozen solo exhibitions in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Washington, D.C.

"Walter has been a great teacher and a great colleague," said Berlyn. "And, of course, he has long ably demonstrated his painting mastery, artistic maturity and enduring strength as an artist."

Former Buffalo News art critic Jean Reeves noted as early as 1972 that "(Prochownik's) patience with and encouragement of students is legendary."

"Throughout his academic career, his generosity of spirit and willingness to give freely of his time and knowledge has endeared him to his students and contributed to his success in teaching," Berlyn said. "He has earned the gratitude of his colleagues for collegiality and his enduring support of the academic excellence of the Art Department and its university mission."

Prochownik's many awards include the Owen H. Kenan Award from the 38th Annual National Exhibition of Contemporary American Paintings, several awards from the Chautauqua National Institution of American Art, the Grand Award of the National Polish Art Exhibition.

Prochownik is remembered as well for his 1974 commission for "You, the People," a 60-foot by 40-foot mural for the lobby of Erie County's Rath Building. He produced a second mural for the Blue Cross Building in 1988.

A member of the Buffalo Arts Commission since 1980, he is a former member of the Mayor's Committee on Arts and Cultural Affairs for the City of Buffalo and is a trustee of the Charles Rand Penney Foundation. In 1976, he was named a Citizen of the Year by The Buffalo News.

Prochownik's work is held in many museum, corporate and private collections, including those of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Houston Museum of Art, the Charles Rand Penney Collection, the Xerox Corp., the Chautauqua Art Association and Ball State University.