Galleries and Museums
Buffalo has a vibrant arts scene. There are lots of galleries and museums to explore and engage with, both on the UB campus and within the city. Galleries provide professional training for graduate and undergraduate students through internships and curatorial opportunities.
The UB Art Gallery
UB is privileged to have two art galleries dedicated to the university’s mission for academic excellence and service to the community. Each gallery presents a year-round series of exhibitions, providing students, faculty and the broader community easy access to visiting artists, thought-provoking art exhibitions, and educational programs. In addition, UB Art Galleries provide professional training for graduate and undergraduate students through internships and curatorial opportunities. They also support faculty and student research.
The UB Art Gallery in the Center for the Arts has a pedagogical mission to present and interpret temporary exhibitions that examine cultural and socio-political topics informing current art practices. The Gallery also initiates programs and conferences that bring together scholars from various disciplines to discuss issues that affect cultural and social policy. The UB Art Gallery supports the creation and presentation of artworks by emerging and established artists, emphasizing interpretation of this work through scholarly publications.
The mission of the UB Anderson Gallery is education, research, and maintenance of the University’s permanent collection. Through its accessibility, the Anderson Gallery offers a rich cultural resource to scholars, regional arts communities, and the general public. The museum fulfills its educational mission by presenting exhibitions and programs in support of the curriculum, and by providing study and research opportunities. The Gallery is dedicated to collaboration between the university, cultural institutions, and the community in order to enrich our educational programs.
In 2000, collector and gallery owner David K. Anderson, son of legendary New York gallerist Martha Jackson, donated the Anderson Gallery building to UB, along with over 1,200 works of art. Home to UB’s permanent art collection, the UB Anderson Gallery is a museum that manages and exhibits the school’s visual resources and serves as a venue for scholarly exhibitions. The UB Anderson Gallery provides students with hands-on experiences in museum studies, arts administration, and anthropology, while offering faculty and graduate students curatorial opportunities.
Albright-Knox Art
One of the oldest art institutions in the country, the Albright is renowned as the home of one of the most significant collections of modern and contemporary art in North America. Their collection is extensive and includes names like Picasso, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Matisse, Gauguin, O'Keeffe, Pollock, Holzer, Warhol and Sherman.
Burchfield Penney Art
The Burchfield is dedicated to collecting and exhibiting the work of artists from throughout Western New York, with a special emphasis on the work of famed watercolorist Charles E. Burchfield, who lived in nearby Gardenville for for many years. The exhibits and programming at the Burchfield are rich and varied, offering a visitor a consistently compelling visual arts experience.
Griffis Sculpture Park
Created by artist Larry W. Griffis Jr. in 1966, Griffis Sculpture Park was the first sculpture park in the United States. It features more than 250 works of art created by over 100 artists, and also serves as a nature preserve, with 10 miles of trails.
Hallwalls Arts Center
Hallwalls was established by Charles Clough, Robert Longo, Diane Bertolo, Nancy Dwyer, Larry Lundy, Cindy Sherman and Michael Zwack in 1974 at the Essex Art Center, an ice packing warehouse that had been converted into studios for artists.
Since its inception, the focus of Hallwalls has been to produce a space that will accommodate artists from diverse backgrounds. Works from varying mediums, which include film, video, performance art, music, painting, photography, and sculpture, have come together to confront the prevailing social issues in contemporary culture.
CEPA Gallery
An internationally recognized arts center with eight galleries, an open access darkroom and state-of-the-art computer imaging facilities, CEPA curates exhibitions of contemporary photo-related art. CEPA also commissions artists to produce new work, offers youth and adult workshops in photography and digital imaging, and hosts changing exhibitions and multi-media public art installations.
Big Orbit
Big Orbit Gallery is an artist-run, not-for-profit cultural center dedicated to multidisciplinary explorations of contemporary art issues, with a focus on Western New York art. With exhibitions ranging from painting to architectural installations to live sound sculpture, Big Orbit Gallery extends Buffalo’s legacy of cultural innovation.