My major goal with LEROI: Living in Color, opening Friday November 11th at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, is the participation of students in mixed media interpretations of select pieces of my art.
As I’ve noted before, the students are from Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology (BCAT,) Buffalo Public Schools (BPS,) Just Buffalo Literary Center (JBLC,) and Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center.
In order to accomplish that goal, in January of this year Burchfield administrators began working with staff from the four student groups in choosing images of my works from my website.
Those selections were then shared with the students so that they could begin to form their interpretive ideas of my art, and create their own exhibition pieces.
At the same time, Burchfield Penney Acting Director, Scott Propeack, and Curatorial and Digital Content Associate, Tiffany Gaines, made two trips to my house to review, sort, and ultimately select a collection of 300 of my over 1500 pieces of art to be considered for the exhibition.
The process demanded attention to detail and extreme care when searching through the artwork layered throughout every room in my home. Thankfully Scott and Tiffany were masters of the task.
After many hours of viewing and a little back-and-forth over a couple of works, the three of us hammered out a short list of 70 of my paintings, spanning over four decades of my work.
Those paintings will form the core of LEROI Living in Color, in-and-around the students’ work. Selections of my drawings and sketches are still to be decided.
**************************************************************************************************************************
Last Friday Tiffany, Burchfield Preparator, Tom Holt, and Burchfield Registrar, Rosario Pitta, came to my home with that short list of 70.
Their purpose was to begin transporting specific paintings to the art center to prepare them for exhibition. Over the next couple of months, the trio will return to finish transporting the pieces still remaining.
I have no doubt that with each trip my excitement level will rise--- in anticipation of achieving my major goal of student participation in this art exhibition, as well as the display of almost a half-century of my life’s work as an artist.
LEROI: Living in Color Exhibition includes the work of students from Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology (BCAT,) Buffalo Public Schools (BPS,) Just Buffalo Literary Center (JBLC,) and Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center. The exhibition will be on view at the Burchfield Penney Art Center through March 26, 2023, presented by M&T Bank, with additional support from organizations and individuals throughout the Western New York community.