A Conversation about Art & Faith
Canisius University, Buffalo, New York
On the feast day of St. Ignatius Loyola, Canisius University in Buffalo, New York, held a special Mass in its Christ the King Chapel to dedicate two newly restored statues of Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier. During the service, it was revealed that Father Fredrick Betti, the chaplain of the university, was a skilled art restorer and that these statues were an example of his art. We met in Christ the King Chapel to talk about his work.
© December 8, 2025
Marks of Resistance: Kathe Kollwitz Prints
Erie Art Museum, Erie, Pennsylvania
The one hundred years that spanned the mid-Nineteenth to the mid-Twentieth Century is an era of radical change. It started with social revolution, saw rapid developments in science and technology, experienced a complete overhaul of the arts, and ended in two apocalyptic world wars. European artists who witnessed that era tried to express it through their art. One was German printmaker Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945). Marks of Resistance: Kathe Kollwitz Prints at the Erie Art Museum covers the middle years of her career, from the 1890s to the 1920s.
© October 18, 2025
Visions of the National Parks & Beyond
Crary Art Gallery, Warren, Pennsylvania
One Saturday in May 2025, while touring the Chautauqua Art Trail, I met landscape painter Thomas Annear. While talking, this blog came up. He invited Lord Bison and I to preview an upcoming exhibition he and a group of artists were putting together in Pennsylvania: Visions of the National Parks and Beyond. We naturally said yes.
© August 14, 2025
Passages, Portals, Possibilities
The Comma Fine Art Gallery, Orchard Park, New York
When The Comma Fine Art Gallery announces a call for work for a themed exhibition, one can expect varied and interesting submissions. The gallery holds two large, themed exhibitions a year with titles made up of three words separated by commas. This format keeps the show’s theme vague, allowing for freedom of thought and creativity by artists. Entries in any media can range from realistic to abstract, and from freeform impressions to literal representations.
© July 1, 2025
Central Library Rare Book Collection
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, BUffalo, New York
Since founding this blog, I have had the pleasure of discovering more and more about the region I call home and have written about our artistic, architectural, and literary treasures. Once again, with the help of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, I was able to discover more riches protected and cared for in the vaults of the Central Branch in downtown Buffalo, New York.
© May 23, 2025
Fine Arts League of Buffalo Annual Spring Exhibition
Meibohm Fine Arts, East Aurora, New York
Last year, I visited Meibohm Fine Arts for an exhibition of paintings by Alexis Jean Fournier, an early Twentieth Century artist associated with the Roycroft Campus, an important center of the Arts and Crafts Movement during the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries. When the Fine Arts League exhibition was advertised, I was happy for the chance to visit again.
© April 22, 2025
The Buffalo AKG Art Museum
Buffalo, New York
I have written before about how blessed Buffalo is in terms of architecture. During the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries, some of that field’s biggest names, such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan, contributed to the city’s landscape. The treasures are not limited to buildings, however. Western New York is also home to the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, and its world-class collection of Modern and Contemporary art.
© March 23, 2025
Lady Bison 