Home > About BNE > Press Room > 2008 Archive > November > Buffalo Gains a Museum

Buffalo’s museum district gains another jewel soon. Nearly ready to welcome the public, the new Burchfield Penney Art Center is a welcome addition to this region’s cultural life and visitor attractions. It’s a spectacular achievement, and the opening in tough economic times of such a stellar showcase for the work of Western New York artists is a bright testament to community vitality.

The strength of this new museum is in its interior spaces, from an entrance vista with its open-air feel of sunlight beaming from skylights and multilayered ceiling heights, to a flow of intriguing galleries. Today’s Spotlight section offers a detailed look at Buffalo’s newest cultural center, which will be well worth a visit by those who know the depth of the local talent that will be displayed and conserved at this facility.

The $33 million gallery on Elmwood Avenue, adjoining Buffalo State College and the historic architectural masterpieces of the Richardson Complex, is a good complement in concept to the internationally renowned art just across the street at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, and it can bond more in programming than in its exterior design with campus and community. Galleries and studio spaces have been dedicated throughout the building to foster shared art experiences for college students, the community — from children to adults — and local artists.

Parts of the 84,000-square-foot museum, expected to be the first art museum in the state to be certified by the U. S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, still are receiving final touches, but it’s clear that the vision has been realized. The Burchfield Penney long ago outgrew its dedicated space in the college’s Rockwell Hall, but now it has room to grow not just in display galleries but in its ability to contribute to the education of students in the college’s valued visual arts and art conservation programs. It’s also a first-class recruiting tool for Buffalo State to use for those programs.

This building has been a decade in the making. Strong determination, a phenomenal effort in fundraising and the kind of simple belief in great works demonstrated by its namesake have made this art museum possible. And its namesake is rightfully honored: a gallery features the largest collection of works by acclaimed American watercolorist Charles Burchfield, his studio has been re-created and a rotunda of the type he envisioned provides space for the contemplation of subtle depictions of the seasons that were central to his art. The center also archives Burchfield’s sketches and journals.

The Burchfield Penney’s 18,000 square feet of galleries and 5,000 square feet of education and program spaces expand the cultural offerings of the museum district in a wonderfully local way. This is a project that got done, no small thing in this region. It’s part of a growing cultural tourism nexus that includes not just the clustered Albright and Richardson and Historical Society Museum and Frederick Law Olmsted’s Delaware Park but, only slightly farther afield, the Darwin Martin House and Buffalo Zoo, with much still in development. The cultural crown is not yet complete — but now a new gem in that treasure is being unveiled, and that’s reason to celebrate.

Buffalo gains a museum

Burchfield Penney Art Center opening will add a gem to city’s cultural crown