Sequel

Sequel is an exhibition about sustainability developed by SUNY Buffalo State graduate students in museum studies. Conceptually, Sequel relates to the exhibition, Blistering Vision, that will explore environmental issues as represented in art that depicts sublime landscapes as well as dystopian views, the aftermath of human destruction and pollution.

Blistering Vision focuses on the art of Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967). His symbolic, realist, romantic, and transcendental landscapes dating from the early to mid-20th century reveal his appreciation for the natural world and his abhorrence of industrial pollution’s destructiveness. He loved all aspects of nature, from its smallest wildflowers to grand, awe-inspiring panoramas expanding into the cosmos. Burchfield’s paintings also present evidence of the coal industry’s sulfur-filled streams in Ohio and Buffalo’s polluted ground and skies caused by the steel industry, among other sources.

In a parallel survey, Sequel presents art made by Western New York artists in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, echoing Burchfield’s visionary and realistic views. Sequel was curated by graduate students in the museum studies course, “Researching and Presenting Museum Collections,” working with Nancy Weekly, Instructor of Museum Studies at SUNY Buffalo State, who is also Head of Collections and Curator at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. Together they selected artworks that illustrate the duality of the world we live in: nature’s vibrancy and tenacity, as well as the collateral damage of industrialization. Then they researched the artists and related themes, and wrote label texts for both adults and children. Their labels will accompany the artworks they selected, and will be added to the museum’s document files for future reference.

Exhibition overview from museum website