I am writing to you concerning the impending closing of the Collectors Gallery at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

For the last two years, my work has been included in the Area Artists Show, which provided wonderful exposure for me. As a regional artist working and living in Western New York, the Collectors Gallery offered a unique opportunity to have my work hung in one of the great art institutions in the United States, and juried by the Albright-Knox curatorial staff, for which I am grateful. The rental and purchasing opportunities allowed my work to circulate and be seen by people who would otherwise not have been exposed to my art.

With the closing of the Collectors Gallery however, local and regional artists are effectively shut out of the Albright-Knox. This bastion of culture in our midst becomes a walled fortress, with no visible connection to our area’s rich artistic community.

Certainly the Collectors Gallery, which was staffed by volunteers, cannot have that much of an effect on the Albright-Knox’s overall budget.

I know arts funding has dwindled, we are all making do with less these days, but you are closing more than a gallery, you are taking away an opportunity which can and has made a difference in many emerging artists’ careers.

We as artists, have to start somewhere. Please reconsider your decision to close the Collectors Gallery.

Patrick Willett
Buffalo

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