Learning Partners

Buffalo Arts Studio partners with a wide variety of education, social, and human service organizations to engage meaningfully with individuals who may have special linguistic, physical, intellectual, and/or emotional needs. Much of this programming was made possible with the generous support of a NYSCA Regrowth and Capacity grant designed to increase arts access by restoring educational and audience development programs that reach traditionally underserved communities.

Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, Artifacts of Us

Buffalo Arts Studio’s Jump Start students and instructors worked alongside Buffalo Public School students and instructors at the “Artifacts of Us” event to create a mixed-media collage installation pulled from the photos, poems, stories, music, textiles, and other objects that were collected from the women in WNY that came to the event. These artifacts were chosen as a testament to the women that influenced and inspired them, celebrating their significance through this creative art work. The event “The Artifacts of Us” was hosted by the WNY Women Making History Committee, including sponsors Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes and Alice Jacobs in support of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum.

ARC Erie County, What is Art?

Buffalo Arts Studio and ARC Erie County partnered to present a three-session tour/workshop hybrid with ARC clients titled, What is Art? In the first session, ARC clients took a tour through the Buffalo Arts Studio galleries with Director of Visual Arts, Shirley Verrico, to discuss “what is an art gallery?” On their second visit, ARC clients visited with Studio Artists Deb Stewart, Jozef Bajus, and Maddie Bartley, as well as Aspire artist Eric Kurek to discuss “what is an artist?” On their final return to BAS, ARC clients participated in a 60 minute workshop with Maddie Bartley titled “you are the artist!”

ARC Erie County supports children and adults with disabilities and their families in order to achieve their desired quality of life by creating opportunities through comprehensive quality services.

Journey’s End, To the World: Let’s Love Each Other

It’s a simple message of love that is far from easy to achieve. “To The World: Let’s Love Each Other” came from the back of a postcard that was one of several art projects created by participants in our Refugee Asylee Mentoring Program also known as RAMP. The RAMP program pairs refugees and asylees between the ages of 18 to 24 with adult mentors who can best help them achieve their goals. They meet weekly and added an art show this year. Nana, an asylum seeker from Togo and a mentee had almost given up on art. “Now, I have an opportunity to show my art to people and having people tell you that you have so much talent makes you feel good.” The collages, paintings, prints, and ceramics displayed resulted from a series of workshops where mentors and mentees were encouraged to explore.

The art workshops at Buffalo Arts Studio and trips to the theater at Shea’s Performing Arts Center were made possible with funds from the Expanding Access to Arts Funding in WNY, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by the Cullen Foundation.

Amatryx Gaming Lab & Studio, Creativity in the Time of Covid-19

Buffalo Arts Studio and Amatryx Gaming Lab & Studio are partnering to present Creativity in the Time of Covid-19 an exhibition of pandemic artwork and creative expression. The exhibition is the outcome of a three-year project examining how people ranging from professional artists to first-time creatives used creativity during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project defined creative expression broadly, including traditional and experimental art forms as well as creative hobbies such gaming, baking, crocheting, and much more. Creativity in the Time of Covid-19 is on display August 25-September 30, 2023, with an Opening Reception on Friday, August 25, 5:00–8:00 PM. There will be a series of short talks starting at 6:00 PM in the Buffalo Arts Studio gallery space, featuring speakers Natalie Phillips (Michigan State University), Lawrence Carter-Long (DisArt), and members of the Amatryx lab. A closing reception will take place on September 22, 2023 at 3:00 PM in the Buffalo Arts Studio gallery space, and feature a talk by speaker Tina Rivers-Ryan (Buffalo AKG Art Museum). The exhibition and receptions are free and open to the public.

RAMP with Journey’s End Refugee Services

During their residency, March 13–26, 2023, Sa’dia Rehman created an assemblage on and off the walls evoking global histories of broken waterways and broken promises. Rehman also worked with Journey’s End Refugee Services Refugee and Asylee Mentoring Program (RAMP) Thursday, March 16 & 23, 2023. RAMP serves refugees, asylees, and Special Immigrant Visa holders between the ages of 18 to 24 by pairing them with adult mentors who can best help them achieve their personal, professional, and educational goals. For the workshops, Rehman projected images from their archive—family photographs from the 1960s to the present, mass media images from U.S. news outlets, and a variety of other sources. Together with RAMP mentees, participants traced the shifting images on the wall as a live drawing, exploring how these public and private records communicate, consolidate, and contest ideas about race, power, and gender.

Massachusetts Ave Park Mural in collaboration with PUSH Buffalo

During the summer of 2022, Buffalo Arts Studio and PUSH Buffalo partnered to create a Mural located at Massachusetts Ave Park on Buffalo’s West Side. Bronx artist, Taiitan, whose work combines techniques found within psychoanalytic study with manga-inspired illustration, along with Jump Start student, Lucy Dietrich, met with community members from the Massachusetts Avenue Park neighborhood to discuss what was important to highlight and include in the mural. The final design depicts a vibrant scene with kids from the neighborhood playing in the park, the word uplift floats throughout and various flags flying in the background showcase the wide variety of cultures represented in the neighborhood.

Hervé Tullet: Shape and Color with Albright Knox Public Art Initiative

During the summer of 2021, Buffalo Arts Studio’s Jump Start high school and college extension students participated in a two week polytab mural production workshop as part of the Hervé Tullet: Shape and Color exhibition at the Albright-Knox Northland site. Albright-Knox Public Art Initiative team members worked in concert with Buffalo Arts Studio staff to develop a rich curriculum that addressed not only the polytab mural process, but also stressed the importance teamwork, project management, and community engagement.

Workshop participants learned the unique benefits and challenges of working on cloth known as “polytab” and assisted in the execution of a major mural designed by Hervé Tullet, an international artist and beloved children’s book author who believes that audiences “complete” his works. Using polytab allows artists to work indoors on panels that are later installed onto building exteriors using acrylic primer. Once applied, the panels are secure and weatherproof. The students painted nearly half of the Tullet designed mural, which consists of 85 five foot by five foot panels to be installed by the Albright Knox Public Art Team at 847 Main Street.

PDF of the exhibition catalog is available for download here.

Looking and Learning with Journey’s End Refugee Services

Buffalo Arts Studio and Journey’s End Refugee Services developed “Looking and Learning”  to encourage the development of English language skills through the active experience of looking at art and art-making in public spaces. “Art” will be discussed as an object or experience made by humans in order to construct meaning or to “make special” that object or experience. This definition will allow for the consideration of art outside the Western tradition.

Buffalo Arts Studio seeks to impart the importance of art in everyday life and works to recognize the transformative power of the visual arts for all individuals. Journey’s End provides refugees with the resources and support they need to become successful, active and contributing members of the Western New York Community.

Friday Studio Visits with Buffalo Collegiate Charter School

Buffalo Arts Studio is proud to partner with Buffalo Collegiate Charter School for “Friday Studio Visits”. With students visiting our space every Friday, they receive tours of current exhibitions from our Curator, Shirley Verrico, learn about exhibitions and works on view directly from exhibiting artists, and participate in hands-on activities and demonstrations with Studio Artists like Jozef Bajus, Claudia Carballada, and Deborah Stewart.

These visits not only afford the opportunity to see and engage with art in a gallery context, but through guided educational efforts, students are able to visualize how art fits into everyday lives.

Art Outside with Salvation Army & People’s Park

Each spring and summer Buffalo Arts Studio partners with Salvation Army of Buffalo to provide an outdoor workshop series to children ages 5-10. Participants work alongside Buffalo Arts Studio staff, Studio Artists, Exhibiting Artists, and community members to explore unique, individual modes of artistic expression. Students and Artists use People’s Park in front of Tri-Main Center as both a meeting place and a source of artistic inspiration.