Buffalo, Day 2

Burchfield Penney Art Center

Looking for our next place to visit, we chose a museum (of course) and stayed twice as long as advertised.

The Burchfield Penney Art Center showcases local artist Charles E. Burchfield as well as other artists, mainly from Western New York and indigenous communities.

These plates inspired by a painting caught our eye as we enter the museum.

We enjoyed other artists like James G. Pappas who was influenced by music, primarily jazz.

 

Burchfield initially made his living designing wall paper for a company in Buffalo.

He became enraged by pollution of industry in the area and reflected his feelings in many of his art works.

 

 

 

 

The Circus Parade was one of his most famous watercolors

Blue Spool - 3 x 4 inches, life size painting really looks like a spool of thread.  The detail is amazing.

 

While viewing the art we spotted a group on the main floor.  Being curious and hoping for an art lecture, we wound up joining them but it was nothing like we expected.  Yes, a docent was explaining Spring Day in the Woods by Burchfield.  The artist spent an entire day in the woods, during a cold rain, doing a sketch after which he created this painting.  An added note to the painting was that Burchfield was known for adding more paper at the bottom of the canvas if he did not like how the bottom looked.

What we had barged in on was a group of people with Parkinson’s who are part of a grant-funded program that presents therapy sessions in the community. Along with the docent, a violinist and a physical therapist used the painting to get the participants to react to the painting both verbally and physically.

We enjoyed a tasty lunch at the museum before heading onto our next site, the Buffalo and Erie Canal Botanical Gardens.

 






We enjoyed a great dinner at Fat Bob’s Smokehouse, and had to buy some of their BBQ sauce to bring home for future use.