Exhibiting Member Review Panel

Frani Evedon

Although Frani Evedon earned her undergraduate degree in sculpture and metalsmithing, she
found that photography allowed her to capture a sense of synchronicity not satisfactorily
available to her three-dimensionally. The camera allows her to shift perspectives, creating
worlds that seem to exist outside of space and time, speaking to Lakota Shaman Lame Deer’s
conviction that “the physical aspect of existence is only representative of what is real.”
In her practice, Frani manipulates color and structure to produce formal compositions that
interpret Lame Deer’s belief while celebrating the beauty within them. Concurrently, however,
she uses image-making as a visual metaphor to address events and issues of the day, such as
ant-Semitism, war, violence and illness.
Recently, Frani’s artmaking has led her to explore alternative photographic techniques such as
gum bichromate, cyanotype and gumoil. Her participation in a three-person exhibition entitled
Resolutions garnered critical acclaim and her works have been included in variety of national
exhibitions featuring these 19 th century techniques.
Her award-winning work has been shown locally, nationally, and internationally and has been
included in academic publications.
She has been an exhibiting member of the Buffalo Society of Artists (BSA) since the mid-1990s.
Elected to the BSA Board of Directors in 2016, she served first as Communications Chair then as
President, her term ending in 2022.
Frani taught at Orchard Park High School for 27 years, and was department chair for 19 years,
continuing to create and exhibit throughout her teaching career.

Gerald Mead

Dr. Gerald Mead is an independent curator, art collector and arts writer who recently retired from teaching in the Art & Design Department at SUNY Buffalo State College. He is a leading authority on WNY art and received his MFA in Visual Studies from the University at Buffalo. A former longtime curator at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, Mead is an appointed member of the Buffalo Arts Commission, serves on several art committees and boards in the region and frequently juries local and national art exhibitions.

His own artwork is in the collections of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, George Eastman Museum, Castellani Art Museum, Oregon State University, Sprint Foundation, and the International Museum of Collage, Assemblage and Construction in Santa Fe, NM among others. Mead’s works have been in museum and gallery exhibitions throughout the US and in Australia, Canada, China, England, Poland, and Russia and are published in six collegiate textbooks. He has also lectured on his work at Cambridge University, Chautauqua Institution and several SUNY Colleges and Universities and received grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Christina Buscarino

Christina is a Photographer who received her BS in Marketing and Advertising Communications, and Art History minor from the Fashion Institute of Technology.
She spent time in New York City working in Digital Marketing, and Photography with commercial brands and performing artists and has recently returned to Buffalo. Christina is Gallerist of the C. Stuart and Jane H. Hunt Art Gallery and Director of Hunt Residencies artist in residence program. Christina aims to grow representation of local artists within and out of Buffalo, NY.

Ellen Owens

Ellen Owens is the Director of the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University. Owens was formerly Director of Learning Programs at the University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology where she sat on the Executive Team and led three major departments. She also served as Director of Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens, a vibrant museum and art gallery. Owens currently teaches Museum Studies at Niagara University; she was a professor in the University of the Arts Museum Studies graduate program for ten years. She sits on the Executive Committee for The Print Center.

Owens graduated with honors from Penn State University, earning a BA in Art Education and a BFA in Painting and Drawing. She received her MA in Museum Education from the University of the Arts; Executive Leadership certificates from the Getty Leadership Institute, University of Pennsylvania, and Bryn Mawr College.

Steve Siegel

photo by David Moog

Steve Siegel is a photographer and a member of the Buffalo Society of Artists where he served on the Board of Directors as a member on the Executive Committee in the capacity of treasurer. He was also a former member of the Board of Directors of the CEPA Gallery.

He is a two-time award winner in Black and White Magazine’s International Portfolio competition, being only one of only eight recipients worldwide to have their work appear in the magazine in successive years (2012-13).

He has also exhibited and won awards at both international online competitions and international photography shows. Locally, his work has appeared at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, Castellani Art Museum and the Kenan Center with solo shows at the Carnegie Art Center, Queen City Gallery, Pausa Art House, TGW@497 and Betty’s.

Gary Wolfe

photo by Jeffery Barnes

Gary earned undergraduate degrees in Christian Ministries from Houghton College and in
Psychology from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Early in his thirty year career
working for local government in planning, development and administration of health and human
services to persons in need, Gary began producing and publicly showing his artwork with
encouraging success. This ultimately led to a return to school and the completion of a Master’s
Degree in Painting and Art History from the University of Buffalo.
Gary’s varied life experiences and career have influenced his art. The elderly, children with
disabilities, the disenfranchised and the poor, and more abstractly, the problem of pain,
suffering, vulnerability and alienation have consistently informed his work.
Gary has served as President of the Buffalo Society of Artists, has been an adjunct art instructor
at Daemen College and has served as a board member and consultant to local arts organizations.
Gary’s work has been shown in throughout the United States as well as in Canada. He continues
to live and work in Western New York.

William Vogel

William Vogel is the Art Coordinator at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, where he oversees the artist residency and exhibitions programs. Vogel was formerly the Executive Director of El Museo Francisco Oller y Diego Rivera, a nonprofit art space in Buffalo’s Allentown neighborhood, from 2017-2021. In addition, he has worked as an independent curator and consultant for artists and arts organizations, and has lectured on arts and health programs since 2020.

Originally from Long Island, Vogel has called Buffalo home for over 15 years. He has a B.A. in American Studies from the University at Buffalo.