Renowned artist chooses Buffalo Center for Arts & Technology to provide proceeds from exhibition

Workshop & exhibition by Felice Koenig to benefit her community

As was the case for most careers, the pandemic presented both challenges and opportunities for professional artists. Stranded from their studios and facing the cancellation or postponement of exhibitions, art fairs and lectures, many artists pivoted and decided to focus their energy on something new that fit the current times.

One of the artists who took the pandemic as a call to action was Buffalo-based artist and educator Felice Koenig, whose work is represented in the permanent collections of the Burchfield Penney Art Center and Albright Knox Art Gallery.

Koenig has embarked on a new project: The “Now” paintings.

A press release stated, “The work began as a response to the existential crisis that has been consuming communities since the COVID-19 outbreak. The series of paintings being created will reflect the current social unrest, political strife, and environmental crises. The work brings to life emotions plaguing individuals and communities: fear, anxiety, hope and resilience.”

Koenig – with the guidance of Resource: Art (R:A) – selected the Buffalo Center for Arts & Technology (BCAT) to receive proceeds from the sale of her work, which will take place at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10, through a special art lottery event open to the public.

Prior to the event, Felice will hold a workshop for BCAT students. Supported by Hyatt’s, students will be guided through creative expression and receive $100 gift cards to continue their work.

Tickets and event information are available at www.buffaloartstechcenter.org/gallery/.

Koenig is a visual artist and educator. Born in Highland Park, Illinois, she received a BFA from Southern Oregon University in 1999 and an MFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2003. Koenig moved to Buffalo in 2007. She is a faculty member at Daemen College. She works in acrylic, watercolor, graphite and ink.

Koenig has exhibited her work in Munich, Germany; Guangzhou, China; and in New York, Buffalo, Chicago, San Antonio, and Portland (Oregon), among other cities. She is represented in the permanent collection of the Albright Knox Art Gallery and the Burchfield Penney, as well as private collections in New York, Buffalo, Seattle and Chicago. Visit www.felicekoenig.com.

BCAT provides career opportunities through the arts and workforce development. Through two tuition-free initiatives – the youth arts program and the adult workforce program – hundreds of young adults are graduating from high school while adults previously living in poverty are earning family-sustainable wages.

Resource:Art is a partnership between two independent WNY gallerists: Elisabeth Samuels and Emily Tucker. Their most recent collaboration is “Raft of Sanity,” a new gallery space that opened in September 2021. Samuels and Tucker each have extensive curatorial experience and professional relationships with artists working in a wide range of media.