DIRECTOR'S LETTER Spring  2003

Happy Springtime!

As we witness the last throes of winter and welcome a new season, the Castellani Art Museum announces our exhibitions and shows for the spring and summer of 2003.

A gigantic mural by the internationally renowned artist Sol LeWitt, leads off the spring schedule. On March 14, Niagara University students, working from a sheet of directions faxed from the artist's studio, will begin to execute a huge design for all three of the walls of our large central gallery, known as the highest space for art in the entire state outside of New York City. How appropriate for this artist, who enjoys working on such a grand scale! Come see the work in progress, starting in mid-March. The unveiling of the final design will take place during our First Friday evening of April 4th.

Remember the "Herd About Buffalo" project? The artist-decorated cows in New York City? The bulls in Chicago? This spring we have Art on Wheels! Artists from the region will be designing vehicles or outdoor sculpture reflecting wheel-like imagery that will be placed at sites throughout Erie and Niagara counties, including the piazza of the Castellani Art Museum. (See description on next page.) Originated by the Burchfield-Penney Art Center, the Materials Reuse Project, and supported by various media and corporate sponsors, including our own Niagara University, this exciting public art display will be the kick-off for this summer's "I Love New York" campaign. On view indoors will be our own parallel exhibition, "Wheel Works: A Vehicle of the Art on Wheels Project," which draws our most interesting subjects of transportation from the permanent collection.

Thanks to a generous grant from Tops Markets, the Castellani announces a regular series of solo exhibitions, starting June 14 with the work of Jonathan Rogers. Five rotating shows are planned for each year, with openings and receptions for each one. Watch our calendar for upcoming exhibits. This will connect the museum more and more with our region's rich diversity of contemporary artists as well as those working in other parts of the country.

Anticipating a new spurt of activity at the falls this summer, we are also planning another Niagara show, "NIAGARA: Artists Reflect on the Falls," this time featuring falls imagery from the CAM collection and special loans from artists. This show also features local Iroquois beadwork that recognizes Niagara Falls as a world-renowned tourist destination where Native American arts have been marketed since Victorian times.

We hope you will join us for all of the events surrounding these exhibitions as well as our regular programming, including our Saturday afternoon family Art Express, the First Fridays of April and May, and on and on. We'll try to surprise you every visit

Laurene Buckley, Ph.D.
Director