Company Profile
Burchfield Penney Art Center
Company Overview
The Burchfield Penney Art Center (Burchfield Penney) is a museum dedicated to the art and vision of Charles E. Burchfield and the art and artists of Buffalo and our region. Through our affiliation with SUNY Buffalo State University, we encourage learning and celebrate our richly creative, diverse community. We commit to inspiring, investing in, and celebrating artists' historical and contemporary accomplishments. We will energize the WNY community and SUNY Buffalo State University through meaningful experiences and sustain and enhance our culture and environment through our decisions and actions.
We recognize that every visitor, artist, volunteer, and staff member has unique lived experiences. We commit to celebrating and reflecting our community's diversity through the arts. Together, we are empowered to think, learn, and grow.
We are dedicated to building a diverse staff that reflects our mission and community.
Our collection is home to more than 12,000 works of art by more than 680 artists spanning the late 19th century through the present. It includes the world's most extensive collection of artworks and ephemera by acclaimed watercolorist Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967).
Founded in 1966, Burchfield Penney has a remarkable history and is a crucial member of the Buffalo cultural community.
Company History
Dedicated to regional art since 1966. Consistent with its mission as both a single-artist and regional art center, the Burchfield Penney has throughout its history broadened its range of commitments and activities, while intensifying the museum's focus on the work of renowned painter Charles E. Burchfield.
Burchfield, the first artist ever given a solo show at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), inspired the creation of the museum at (then-named) State University College at Buffalo in 1966. Originally called the Charles Burchfield Center, the institution was formally created through the Buffalo State College Foundation Inc. Its first director was Edna M. Lindemann, Ed.D.
In 1984 the institution was renamed the Burchfield Art Center to support its multi-arts focus. Committing to a full range of visual expression, including craft art, architecture, and design the Burchfield Council formally accepted an expanded mission in 1988.
Led by its second director, Anthony Bannon, Ph.D., who served from 1985-96, the Burchfield Penney began a decade of significant growth. Expansions of exhibition space, archives and collection storage, and administrative offices were accompanied by increased fiscal and community support.
Between 1991 and 1994, the Burchfield Art Center received a series of gifts from Charles Rand Penney, including the largest private collection of works by Charles E. Burchfield; publications and hand-crafted domestic objects from the Roycroft community; and historic and contemporary works of craft and fine art.
These collections, which have been used in numerous exhibitions, educational programs, and publications, provided the Burchfield Penney with invaluable national exposure. In 1994, the institution was renamed the Burchfield Penney Art Center to honor the significance of these gifts and their contribution to the museum’s mission.
Community collaborations, including those that led to the development of the Elmwood Museum District and the Olmsted Crescent, the public art projects Herd About Buffalo and Art On Wheels and a dynamic exhibition schedule, illustrate the center’s growth. The Burchfield Penney began a new phase of service to a national and international audience with its third director, Ted Pietrzak, who served from 1998-2010. During his term, the museum incorporated with its own 501(c)(3) and a governing Board of Trustees was formed. The Council continued service as a volunteer advisory group.
The most recent chapter of the center’s history began in 1998 when William J. Magavern II proposed a new museum building for the Burchfield Penney with a significant lead gift. After a decade of planning, fundraising, and construction, the new Burchfield Penney Art Center, designed by Gwathemy Siegel & Associates, Architects, opened in November 2008. The New York Times included Buffalo, NY and the Burchfield Penney Art Center as one of the “Top 44 Places in the World to Visit” the following year.
In 2012 it was announced that Anthony Bannon would return to the center as director after 16 years as director of the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, NY.
The center celebrated its 50 year anniversary in 2016. The year was highlighted by groundbreaking exhibitions, dynamic programming, aggressive collecting and celebration of the cultural legacy of the region.
Executive director Tony Bannon retired from the Center on July 1, 2017, at the conclusion of the 50th anniversary celebrations. On April 4, 2019, the Burchfield Penney announced the appointment of Dennis Kois as its executive director. He helped to keep the museum at the forefront of cultural engagement during the beginning of the pandemic when institutions were temporarily closed to the public. Kois resigned in March 2021. Deputy director Scott Propeack was named interim director and in January 2023 was appointed executive director. He holds overall responsibility for the Burchfield Penney's achievement of its mission in service to the public, determining the arts and cultural vision, and providing oversight of all Burchfield Penney administrative, curatorial, programmatic, and educational initiatives.
In addition to its visual arts offerings, the Burchfield Penney currently presents a robust slate of concerts, literary readings, lectures, symposia, workshops, and special events. This diverse programming provides artists, students, scholars, collectors, and the general public with opportunities to learn and exchange ideas about how regional art reflects American aesthetics and culture.