Nichols School Art Collections

Hidden in plain sight on the walls of Nichols School are five permanent art collections. In the Boocock Reading Room the work of internationally acclaimed contemporary artist Laylah Ali ‘86 shares a wall with the beloved local artist Catherine Koenig. In the Upper School faculty room the faces of the freshman class reflect in the glass frames of five works by Salvatore Dali, and in the Middle School faculty room Charles Burchfield’s work on paper, Plan for a Toy Bank, can be examined as you pour your coffee. Nichols School has made a commitment to art that extends beyond our studios and runs along our hallways, stands out in our courtyard, and transforms a foyer’s into a gallery and classroom walls into private collections. In the hallway of Mitchell Hall work by students of Introduction to Photography & Painting hangs alongside student work that has been awarded the annual Charles E. Balbach Art Prize. In the photography lab students are inspired by the sublime beauty of Niagara Falls in the photograph by local artist John Pfahl, and in the hallway startled by Biff Henrich’s photograph of a giant piranha. The collections include over 200 works by local, national and internationally acclaimed artist. The diaspora of artwork in offices, classrooms, hidden hallways, grand lecture halls and storage rooms mark the importance of art at our school. We love that it is all around us and cherish the breath and quality of the work. What are these collections and how has this work that is part of a rich and committed tradition at Nichols gone hidden to most of its students and larger community for years?

The school maintains five permanent collections. They include: The Colby Collection, The Charles E. Balbach Collection, The New York for Stolkholm Collection, The Ray Pierce Collection, and the Western New York Collection of Nichols School. In addition to these five permanent collections, the Nichols School Art Committee curates exhibitions of new artwork in the Flickinger Gallery, located in the foyer of the Flickinger Performing Arts Center. The Committee also hosts visiting artist lectures and workshops. In the past five years the selections from the Colby Collection and the New York for Stockholm Collection have been exhibited at Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center in Buffalo, New York.

Western New York Collection of Nichols School
The Western New York Collection of Nichols School was established in the early 1980’s as an initiative between the Art Department faculty, administration, alumni, parents and the Board of Trustees. Over the years the Art Committee has worked to create a collection of Western New York artwork on campus. The collection serves to enact the schools conviction that the presence of good art adds notably to a student’s educational and cultural experience.
The original Nichols School Art Committee members included: Bette Blum, Gary Stanton, Cornelia Dopkins, Johanne Miller, Pam Henrich, Grace McKendry, Karen Whistler, Peter Cobb, Austin Fox, and Martje More. The current Committee includes:
Barbara Baird, Elizabeth Gurney, Andrea Mancuso, Leslie Zemsky, Beth Munro, and Anne Bergantz.

The Colby Art Fund
Through the generosity of Mrs. Robert O. Colby, a fund was established in 1987 to support ‘the arts’ at Nichols. This fund is primarily responsible for the growth of the Collection, as committee members have used it to purchase works of art by Western New York artists. The fund also provides the resources to invite artists to the Nichols School campus to lecture about their artwork, exhibit work and provide workshops. The fund is also used to maintain the Collection.

The Charles E. Balbach Collection
In honor of Charles E. Balbach, a staunch supporter of the arts and of Nichols School, a collection of Nichols School student artwork was established. The pieces are selected and purchased annually as unique works of distinction, and they remain part of a collection that serves to enlighten and inspire future students.

New York Collection for Stockholm
Given to Nichols in the early 1980’s, this collection presents a slice of the 1960’s New York scene through prints by many of the foremost artists of the twentieth century. The portfolio was assembled in 1973 by Experiments in Art and Technology, executed at Styria Studios in NY and contains work donated by the artists. The works were originally housed in a box of Honduras Mahogany.

The Ray Pierce Collection
Ray Pierce, Class of 1964, was a noted collector of Western New York artwork. In support of the role of the arts at Nichols School, and in honor of his memory, his family donated a portion of his art collection to Nichols School. The Collection, acquired in 2002, includes 20 pieces ranging from works on paper, oil, acrylic, mixed media and gouache. Included are work by Peter Stephens, Charles Clough, Jim Bird, and many other fine artists.

The Flickinger Gallery, Nichols School (Flickinger Performing Arts Center)
The Flickinger Gallery has exhibited work by Becky Koenig and Catherine Koenig, Alphonso Volo, Barbara Baird, Andrea Mancuso, Mark Lavatelli, Balbach Student Works: Selected Works from the Charles E. Balbach Art Prize Collection. This year the Gallery has exhibited “Bugs, Boats, and Buildings” an exhibition of work by a father and a son, John Montague and Julian Montague. The Montague’s exhibition includes real and imagined architectural drawings of historically significant Buffalo buildings, harbors and boats by John Montague juxtaposed with large scale ink jet prints by Julian Montague in which densely layered outlines of bug forms float on pale blue or brown backgrounds. In February local mixed media artist Dianne Baker will exhibit her work in the gallery and visit the school to do workshops and artist talks with students.

SEEARTRUN Gallery, Nichols School (Albright Hall)
The SEEARTRUN Gallery is adjacent to the upper school visual arts classrooms in the basement of Albright Hall. The gallery is run by students and promotes student driven exhibitions throughout the school year. In a given year the SEEARTRUN gallery will see over eight exhibitions ranging from solo shows of visual art work, to performance art, music, theater, film/video installations, group shows, and workshops. The opening receptions for each exhibition take place on Tuesdays during the morning break. In the past six years the SEEARTRUN Gallery been transformed into a skate park, a living room, a movie theater, a maze, and an arcade, it has hosted exhibitions of clothing designs, drawings, paintings, photographs, films, videos, and numerous spirited musical performances.

Nichols School Art Collection database and catalogue - available on request.

Andrea Mancuso

 

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(Image - Nichols Students hiking in the Marin Headlands)

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