Past Exhibitions

Bree Gilliam, id

August 28 – September 5, 2026

Artist Reception: Saturday, September 5, 2026, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm

id is a pop-up exhibition by visual artist Bree Gilliam that explores the complex lived experiences of herself as an artist and women alike, navigating her identity as a Black woman. Through narrative-based self-portrait paintings, the exhibition challenges harmful stereotypes and societal misconceptions.

id is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Deborah Stewart, Propagation and Endurance

June 26 – August 1, 2026

Opening Reception: Friday, June 26, 2026, 5:00–8:00 pm
Part of M&T Fourth Friday

Buffalo ceramicist Deborah Stewart creates sculptural works that explore the interconnections between nature, movement, and form. Her lifelong engagement with hiking, camping, and gardening informs a deep physical and sensory relationship to the natural world, while her background as a modern dancer shapes her understanding of movement, energy, and breath. These influences converge in her ceramic practice, where she approaches clay as both a responsive partner and an expressive medium. Deborah Stewart is a sculptor primarily working in clay. Her main interests are the experience of nature and movement, and their transformation into clay forms. As a sculptor who has in the past also been a studio potter, a biologist, a modern dancer and choreographer, she interweaves sensibilities from each of these areas into her work. She has a BFA in Ceramics and an MFA in Visual Art/ Sculpture. Her work has been exhibited locally and nationally and is in public and private collections.

Rachel Shelton, Slow Looking

May 22 – August 1, 2026

Opening Reception: Friday, May 22, 2026, 5:00–8:00 pm
Part of M&T Fourth Friday

Rachel Shelton (Buffalo, NY) will exhibit Slow Looking, a new body of work that challenges the negativity so often associated with decay, uncertainty, and precarity. When things shed the weight of their past lives, there is also hope, potential, and relief. New connections and contexts, once thought impossible, become real. With installation work and a series of repeated and reiterated prints of rock forms, Shelton reminds us that it is the nature of things not only to fall apart, but to begin again.

Warren Quigley, Erratic

May 22 – August 1, 2026

Opening Reception: Friday, May 22, 2026, 5:00–8:00 pm
Part of M&T Fourth Friday

Warren Quigley (Ontario, Canada) will present Erratic, an installation of 37 carved wooden spheres in varying scales that challenge anthropocentric worldviews and reveal the paradox: the more we learn in our pursuit of control over our environment, the more we become aware of our own vulnerability. Warren Quigley has exhibited across Canada, the U.S., China, and in France, Brazil, and Japan. He has realized a number of permanent public art commissions, and his work is in private and public collections in Canada, the U.S.A., and Europe. He has taught at Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in Chongqing, China, and is a lecturer in the Department of Art at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. Quigley is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto.

Gab Hall, In Between Two Tall Mountains

April 24 – May 30, 2026

Artist Reception, Saturday, May 9th, 2026, 11:00 am—1:00 pm

Hall finds comfort in the fact that the world isn’t about us. No matter how great an impact we as people have on the planet, there will always be elements of nature, the mind, and life that we have no control over. There will always exist a reality that we hold no weight in.

In Between Two Tall Mountains is a collection inspired by nature, isolation, insignificance, and the complex network of emotions that come along with facing the unknown. These soft sculptures, weavings, and collages are an exploration of how fiber can be utilized in ways beyond two-dimensional visuals, bridging the gap between art and the space it inhabits. Each piece invites the viewer to interact with movement, sound, and shadow to observe a world that was not made for us.

Brianna Bernas, Breathing In and Out

April 24 – May 30, 2026

Artist Reception, Saturday, May 9th, 2026, 11:00 am—1:00 pm

Dealing with the mental and emotional exhaustion that comes from high anxiety, perfectionism, and living in perpetual fear due to past negative experiences has been a process of positive but also painful change over the past few years. From putting on a display of stability to breaking down the next moment, this work captures my experience of learning to live with and accept the lack of control over the body and mind when in a state of panic.

From strain to regrowth and the tiny moments of light peering through the darkness, there can be beauty found in both the good and bad in life. This series of woven and felted pieces looks to the body and nature for symbols of adaptability and strength to challenge notions of emotional resilience and what it means to be “soft” in the face of hardship.

Live on Five 2026

March 27 – April 18, 2026

Opening Event (free) | Friday, March 27, part of M&T Fourth Fridays
On View (free) | March 27–April 17
Live Bidding (bid numbers, $25) | April 16 – April 18
Live Auction & Reception | Saturday, April 18
Art Pick-Up Party & BPO at BAS (free) | Friday, April 24, part of M&T Fourth Fridays

Join us for Live on Five—the big auction of small works—made new each year by the artists who make it possible. Hundreds of 5” x 5” pieces, all starting at $25, by a diverse mix of coveted local artists will be on view and up for auction. Come see the work at the opening reception on Friday, March 27, pick your favorites, and strategize your bidding plan for the live, in-person auction on Saturday, April 18.

Stitch Buffalo, Zero Waste

February 27 – April 11, 2026

Opening Reception, Friday, February 27, 2026, 5:00—8:00 pm

Part of M&T Fourth Fridays at Tri-Main Center

Stitch Buffalo’s exhibition Zero Waste explores how discarded textiles can be transformed into vibrant works of art by combining sustainable practices—repair, reuse, recycle, or share—with artistic creativity.

Part of Unruly Spaces.

Victoria-Idongesit Udondian, Nsinam me ken di Owo

January 23 – March 14, 2026

Opening Reception: Friday, January 23, 2026, 5:00—8:00 pm

Part of M&T Fourth Fridays at Tri-Main Center

Victoria Udondian (Buffalo, NY) will present work that questions notions of cultural identity and post-colonial positions in relation to her experiences growing up in Nigeria, a country flooded with cast-offs from the West. Her artworks examine the complexities of migration and racial and cultural identity in the global context, interrogating the shifting cultural identities within a global trade system characterized by the movement of goods and people from one part of the world to the other. 

Victoria Udondian is an artist and professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo whose practice is rooted in her interest in textiles and the ways clothing shapes identity through the histories embedded in everyday materials. Originating from Nigeria, where cast-offs from the West saturate local markets, Udondian uses the second-hand clothing industry as a lens to examine how discarded garments and foreign-made goods complicate cultural identity. By tracing the global circulation of these garments and their layered personal and social histories, Udondian creates hybrid costumes that merge Nigerian and Western myths and narratives. These works function as sculptural forms and are further animated through photography and performance. 

Part of Unruly Spaces.

Millie Chen, Turbulence

January 23 – March 14, 2026

Opening Reception: Friday, January 23, 2026, 5:00—8:00 pm

Part of M&T Fourth Fridays at Tri-Main Center

Millie Chen (Buffalo, NY/Ontario, Canada) will present a new series of drawings rooted in her years of walking along both banks of the Onguiaahra (Haudenosaunee) or Niagara River. These drawings focus on river sites that have historic and symbolic significance that go unmarked, such as the Underground Railroad ferry crossing landing and archaeological sites where Genesee, Meadowood, Lamoka, Iroquoian, and Nanticoke artifacts were unearthed. Chen uses the turbulence created by disturbances under the water surface to explore the potency of the invisible and the erased.

Millie Chen’s installations, videos, and interventions are intended as sensorial experiences that prod the perceptual and ideological assumptions of the audience. Her artwork has been shown across the U.S., Canada, China, Mexico, Brazil, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, and Japan. Her work is in several public collections, and she has produced a number of major permanent public art commissions. Chen is a Professor in the Department of Art and Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, University at Buffalo, SUNY.

Part of Unruly Spaces.

Jozef Bajus, Everything Stays

September 26 – November 7, 2025

Opening Reception: Friday, September 26, 2025, 5:00—8:00 pm

Part of M&T Fourth Fridays at Tri-Main Center

Buffalo Arts Studio was pleased to present Everything Stays, a solo exhibition by Buffalo-based artist Jozef Bajus. Originally conceived as a reimagining of studio materials collected over the past twenty years, the direction of Everything Stays shifted dramatically following a personal loss. While preparing for the exhibition, Bajus’s father, a highly skilled and respected tailor in Slovakia, passed away. His father’s craftsmanship had profoundly influenced Bajus’s artistic journey, and after his passing, the artist spent time in his father’s workshop surrounded by unfinished garments, zippers, buttons, threads, pins, needles, and fabric scraps—materials waiting for transformation. Unable to leave them behind in Slovakia, he brought many of these items back to his studio, incorporating them into new works that honor his father’s artistry and legacy.

Part of Unruly Spaces.

Davana Robedee, Biformity

August 22 – November 7, 2025

Opening Reception: Friday, August 22, 2025, 5:00—8:00 pm

Part of M&T Fourth Fridays at Tri-Main Center

Davana Robedee (Syracuse, NY) presented her solo exhibition, Biformity. Biformity explored the layered relationship between body and spirit, a recurring theme in Robedee’s work. Through large-scale textile pieces created using stitch-resist shibori techniques and indigo dye, Robedee delved into the dualities that shape human existence. The title of the exhibition refers to “double form,” a concept that permeates the show through works addressing physical limitation and spiritual expansiveness. For the artist, these tensions arise from her lived experience with chronic illness and neurological phenomena, including visual aura, lucid dreams, and hallucinations.

Part of Unruly Spaces.

Sam Modder, Of All the Worlds We Could’ve Dreamed

August 22 – November 7, 2025

Opening Reception: Friday, August 22, 2025, 5:00—8:00 pm

Part of M&T Fourth Fridays at Tri-Main Center

Samantha Modder’s work centers the Black imaginary as a creative and liberating force. Drawing from personal experience and diasporic memory, Of All the Worlds We Could Have Dreamed featured a powerful series of portraits that resist erasure and reclaim identity through speculative storytelling. These bold, figurative works challenge dominant narratives and open space for imagined futures, emotional complexity, and cultural visibility.

Modder presented a subjective Black woman’s fairytale to process interlocking structures of oppression. Like a storybook turned mural, the installations were digitally manipulated ballpoint pen drawings that follow a Black woman in her nightdress and striped socks in a world made up of only her and her duplicates. The work is an allegory for our contemporary condition, confronting questions of power, exploitation, and resistance.

Part of Unruly Spaces.

Frani Evedon, Into Madness

July 25 – September 5, 2025

Opening Reception: Friday, July 25, 2025, 5:00—8:00 pm

Part of M&T Fourth Fridays at Tri-Main Center

Into Madness is a series of thirteen photographic works that examine the emotional and physical toll of addiction, illness, and medical intervention. Drawing on her personal experience with heroin addiction, Hepatitis C, and the “cure” that nearly killed her, Evedon’s images reflect both the seduction of escape and the harsh realities that follow. Though her addiction lasted only a few years, its consequences have endured for four decades. Through her art, Evedon translates this journey into visual metaphors that confront trauma, survival, and the fragile hope of healing.

David Buck, Recollect

June 27 – August 8, 2025

Opening Reception: Friday, June 27, 2025, 5:00—8:00 pm

Part of M&T Fourth Fridays at Tri-Main Center

David Buck: Recollect was the first-ever retrospective exhibition of Western New York-based painter David Buck. Recollect brought together more than 60 oil paintings created over the past two decades, offering an intimate view into Buck’s lifelong exploration of memory, identity, and family history. The exhibition included works from private collections—many of which have never before been exhibited—along with two new large-scale paintings created specifically for this show.

Buffalo Public School Art Educator Exhibition, el·e·men·tal

May 23 – June 14, 2025

Opening Reception: Friday, May 23, 2025, 5:00—8:00 pm

Part of M&T Fourth Fridays at Tri-Main Center

Buffalo Arts Studio is also hosting the Buffalo Public Schools Arts Teachers’ Exhibition, el·e·men·tal, curated by Dr. Michele Agosto, Ed. D, Director of Arts, Buffalo Public Schools. el·e·men·tal will feature over 20 original works in a variety of media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, fiber, and digital design. The community is invited to see the talented individuals shaping our future artists.

Jump Start Biennial Student Exhibition, Envision

May 23 – June 14, 2025

Opening Reception: Friday, May 23, 2025, 5:00—8:00 pm

Part of M&T Fourth Fridays at Tri-Main Center

Every two years, the Buffalo Arts Studio community comes together to celebrate the amazing students in our Jump Start program. Envision included nearly 200 artworks by current Jump Start students as well as college students and graduates who participate in our Jump Start Extension program. Students chose the title in reference to their personal and professional journeys as artists and individuals. 

Jump Start works with middle and high school students who show a strong ability and deep interest in the visual arts, and guides them along their college and career path. Jump Start is an essential part of Buffalo Arts Studio’s larger mission of cultural access, providing high-quality art instruction, professional development, portfolio preparation, exhibiting experience, and individual mentorship to students across Western New York, regardless of their ability to pay.

Curated by Julia Bottoms, On the Rise II; Emerging Artists of Color

February 28 – March 5, 2025

Opening Reception: Friday, February 28, 2025, 5:00—8:00 pm

Part of M&T Fourth Fridays at Tri-Main Center

Buffalo Arts Studio is thrilled to present a new group exhibition, curated by Julia Bottoms, On the Rise II; Emerging Artists of Color, which runs from February 28 to April 5, 2025. On the Rise II features new work by artists Emma Brittain, Joel Mulindwa, Bianca L. McGraw, Faith Quinn, Emeka Wajed, and XIII. The exhibition includes two and three-dimensional works in a variety of media.

“On The Rise was born out of a desire to spotlight emerging Black artists here in Buffalo. The arts community is rich with talent and artists who have honed their craft for years. I look around me and see so many who are ready to take the next step and just need a chance to get in front of an audience. The most beautiful problem of “too many amazing artists” is something I’ve faced both with On The Rise I and now with On The Rise II. So I hope to make this showcase an ongoing opportunity,” said Curator, Julia Bottoms.

Jay Carrier, Niagara, it’s Great to be Here

January 24 – March 8, 2025

Opening Reception: Friday, January 24, 2025, 5:00—8:00 pm

Part of M&T Fourth Fridays at Tri-Main Center

Jay Carrier is a visual artist born on Six Nations to Onondaga and Tuscarora parents, who currently lives and works in Niagara Falls, NY and holds a B.F.A. from the University of Illinois-Champlain. Carrier studied painting at The College of Santa Fe, New Mexico and in the MFA program from the University of Illinois. Carrier has participated in solo and group exhibitions throughout the US and Canada, including Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY, the Castellani Art Museum, Niagara Falls, NY, Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Fenimore House Museum, Cooperstown, New York, Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, New York, Woodland Cultural Center Museum, Brantford, Ontario, Canada, Chautauqua Center for Visual Arts Gallery, Chautauqua, New York and the Everson Museum in Syracuse, New York.

Part of Waterfront View Series, which is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Bartow + Metzgar + Werberig, Terrakwa: an investigation of the Erie Canal

January 24 – March 8, 2025

Opening Reception: Friday, January 24, 2025, 5:00—8:00 pm

Part of M&T Fourth Fridays at Tri-Main Center

Buffalo Arts Studio presents Terrakwa: an investigation of the Erie Canal. This multimedia installation will offer a nonhuman perspective of the Erie Canal through a collaboration with trees, geography, and time. B+M+W artists will also conduct workshops with Jump Start students exploring ways of making marks using various drawing machines. B+M+W is a collaborative that includes Paul Bartow, Richard Metzgar, and David Werberig. Paul Bartow holds an MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology and is a practicing artist and fabricator based in Watkins Glen, NY. Richard Metzgar holds an MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology and is a practicing artist and professor in the Department of Art and Design at SUNY Oswego. David Werberig holds an MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology and is the creator of Digital Fold-Ups, and their Director of Marketing and Sales. Werberig is based in Victor, NY.

Part of Waterfront View Series, which is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.