The Kenan House Gallery features local and regional fine art exhibits with a strong focus on Western New York artists, located in the Kenan House, 433 Locust Street, Lockport. An active exhibition space since 1966 when it featured the works of Charles Burchfield, the Kenan Center House Gallery averages eight exhibits annually of local and regional artists. Committed to fostering artistic expression in young people, the gallery also includes a high school photo exhibit on its calendar each year.
2023 at the Kenan House Gallery
Buffalo Niagara Arts Association
On view: October 15 – November 12
Upcoming Frank C. Penfold Exhibit
The Kenan Center will present “Frank C. Penfold: An American Impressionist & His Circle,” an exhibition chronicling and contextualizing the work of Lockport native Frank Penfold (1849-1921), a painter who received accolades both here and abroad during his lifetime but has been largely forgotten today. With 30 works spanning more than 40 years, this will be the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of Penfold paintings in over 100 years. The exhibition will open with a free public reception Sunday, January 7 from 2 – 4 p.m. and run through February 18 in the Kenan House Gallery.Born into a family of artists, Penfold began his training as a painter just after the American Civil War. Initially studying academic art and portraiture under his father, Penfold later traveled to France to expand on his education by working in the artists’ colony in Pont Aven, Brittany, and studying at the Académie Julian in Paris. Like many artists of the period, Penfold sought the rustic and untouched landscapes of the French countryside to capture the essence of a moment in an age where industrialization was rapidly beginning to take hold. The primitive landscapes of Pont Aven also provided inspiration to other artists including Paul Gauguin, Émile Bernard, Childe Hassam, and Arthur Wesley Dow.Throughout his career as an artist, Penfold kept residences in Buffalo and Pont Aven. Between 1882 and 1891, he was accepted on numerous occasions into the highly prestigious exhibition known as the Paris Salon. In America, Penfold served as president of the Buffalo Society of Artists in 1896 and exhibited at the World’s Columbian Exposition (1893), the Pan-American Exposition (1901), the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (1901) and the St. Louis World’s Fair (1904), in addition to having two solo exhibitions at the Albright Art Gallery in Buffalo (1907 and 1915). Regarded as one of Buffalo’s most famous artists of the early 1900s, the Albright honored him with a memorial exhibition of his watercolors in 1922. Penfold’s paintings are in the permanent collections of the Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Colby College Museum of Art, Joslyn Art Museum, Musée de Pont-Aven, and numerous private collections around the world.To provide a context for Penfold’s work, the exhibition will include paintings from public and private collections in the region by his contemporaries Rose Clark, Alexis Fournier, Hamilton Hamilton, Claire Shuttleworth, and fellow Lockport artists Raphael Beck and Burr Nicholls. Collectively, they will showcase the wealth of artistic talent burgeoning in Western New York at the height of America’s Gilded Age.
Kenan House Gallery Hours
Monday-Friday, 12-5 pm & Sunday, 2-4pm.If traveling, call (716) 433-2617, Monday-Friday before 5 pm, to confirm that the Gallery is open the day you wish to visit. Follow the Kenan Center on Facebook or Instagram for closing announcements. No admission; $5 donation is greatly appreciated. Support for the Kenan House Gallery Exhibitions is provided by, the Kenan Arts Council, Grigg Lewis Foundation, Kenan Quilters’ Guild, Mr. & Mrs. Samuel F. Ward, William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, and M&T Bank. Click here to support the Kenan House Gallery through a donation or sponsorship.
Visit our Vimeo page for a collection of videos including highlights of past gallery exhibitions.
COVID Guidelines
While wearing a mask is not currently required, the Kenan Center reserves the right to modify its mask wearing requirements as conditions warrant, or as may be dictated by New York State and the Niagara County Department of Health.
If traveling, call (716) 433-2617, Monday-Friday before 5 pm, to confirm that the Gallery is open the day you wish to visit. Follow the Kenan Center on Facebook or Instagram for closing announcements. Masks are strongly suggested in the gallery. No admission; $5 donation is greatly appreciated.
Support for the Kenan House Gallery Exhibitions is provided by, the Kenan Arts Council, Grigg Lewis Foundation, Kenan Quilters’ Guild, Mr. & Mrs. Samuel F. Ward, William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, and M&T Bank.