Campus Community
Posted: Thursday, October 22, 2009Czurles-Nelson Gallery Dedication October 28
The campus community is invited to a special ceremony celebrating the official dedication of the Czurles-Nelson Gallery, the main art gallery in Upton Hall, on Wednesday, October 28, at 5:00 p.m.
The gallery honors Stanley A. Czurles, the late SUNY Distinguished Service Professor of art education, who founded Buffalo State’s art education program when he began his career at the college in 1931. The program has since become one of the largest and most respected in the country; alumni teach in all 50 states and around the world. The program has also evolved into the college’s five visual arts programs: art conservation, art education, design, fine arts, and interior design.
Through a combination of current and planned gifts, Czurles’s daughter, Barbara L. Czurles Nelson, and her husband, Donald J. Nelson, have established a gift commensurate with Dr. Czurles’s legacy. Since 1980, the couple has contributed annually to the Stanley A. Czurles Award for Excellence in Art Education. Now they will award six scholarships every year: five will go to one student in each of the five visual arts programs; the sixth will go a student in the Music Department. An endowment will allow the scholarships to be given in perpetuity. An additional annual sum will support the gallery itself.
The dedication ceremony will include remarks by Interim President Dennis K. Ponton; Benjamin C. Christy, dean of the School of Arts and Humanities; Susanne P. Bair, vice president for institutional advancement and executive director of the Buffalo State College Foundation; and Barbara Czurles Nelson.
The Czurles-Nelson Gallery is currently exhibiting works by Buffalo State’s Fine Arts faculty. An opening reception will follow the dedication. The exhibition is on view through November 5.
