YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A selection of award winners from the Pastel Society of America’s annual exhibition will go on display Sunday, Jan. 12, at The Butler Institute of American Art and run through March 9.

The works will be displayed in the Giffuni Gallery.

Participants in the pastel society’s 52nd annual exhibition, “Enduring Brilliance,” are some of the best pastel artists working in the world. 

“Sam No. 2” by Jimmy Wright will be among the works displayed at The Butler.

Founded in 1972 by Flora B. Giffuni, the Pastel Society of America is largely responsible for the current renaissance of pastels in American art. The society’s annual exhibition at The National Arts Club in New York is the premier event for pastel artists worldwide. The monthlong exhibition opened in September.

The society encourages artistic advancement through awards distributed during its annual exhibition. Members winning three cumulative awards in PSA annuals are named master pastelists, the highest designation of pastel achievement. In recent years, PSA members have been honored guests in exhibitions in Italy, France, Russia and China.

The Pastel Society of America is the oldest organization of its kind in the country. One of its primary mandates is to provide a forum for the exhibition of works by the most accomplished pastel artists in the world. 

In 2004, the Flora B. Giffuni Gallery of American Pastels was established at The Butler. It is the only museum gallery in the United States devoted exclusively to works in the pastel medium, and its creation was the culmination of a lifelong dream for Giffuni.

“Pearly Shells” by Carole Ann Elliot will be among the works displayed at The Butler.

The Giffuni Gallery offers exhibitions of accomplished pastel artists, group shows from the Pastel Society of America, as well as the display of works from The Butler’s prestigious collection.

“If the world of art had such designations, Flora Giffuni would be deemed the patron saint of pastels,” said Louis Zona, executive director of The Butler. “I say that, not just because she founded the Pastel Society of America and performed other good works on behalf of the medium and practitioners of the medium, but also because of her other mission, which is to give the art of pastel the kind of recognition and honor it deserves.”

Giffuni has been tireless in her efforts to promote and to educate, Zona said, and has demonstrated “a missionary-like zeal” to raise the profile of American pastel art.                        

Pictured at top: Marlene Wiedenbaum’s “Lenape Lane” will be displayed at The Butler as part of the pastels exhibition.