About The Art

The Pastel Society of America’s (PSA) Fifty-Second Annual Exhibition will showcase a remarkable selection of its worldwide membership’s most accomplished works in the pastel medium.

This exhibition, drawn from The Pastel Society of America’s annual fall exhibition, features works by some of the nation’s premier pastel painters. The Pastel Society of America is the oldest organization of its kind in the country. A primary mandate of the PSA is to provide a forum for the exhibition of works by the most accomplished pastel artists in the United States and abroad. Since 1972, the PSA Annual Exhibition: Enduring Brilliance!, held at the National Arts Club in New York City, has been the premier event for pastel artists worldwide.

The Flora B. Giffuni Gallery of American Pastels is located on the second level at the Butler Institute of American Art. The gallery was created in 2004, thanks to the generosity of Flora B. Giffuni, founder of the Pastel Society of America, and is the only museum gallery in the U.S. devoted exclusively to works in the pastel medium. She regarded its creation as a “dream come true” for her. The gallery offers exhibitions of accomplished pastel artists, group shows from the Pastel Society of America, and the display of works from Butler’s prestigious collection.

Allowing for the geographic and stylistic diversity that reflects PSA’s more than 1,400 members, PSA Master Pastelists Kristin Divers PSA-MP (PA), Cristine Kossow PSA-MP (VT) and Margaret Dyer PSA-MP (GA) curated the selection of soft pastel works from 1,500 entries received from all over the United States and 16 foreign countries.

Awards Juror Jeremiah William McCarthy is the Chief Curator of The Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

PSA President Jimmy Wright, PSA-MP, HFH, is the exhibition chair.

The year’s Hall of Fame Honoree, the highest honor the Pastel Society of America bestows upon an artist, is award-winning artist and teacher Ellen Eagle.

Nurtured over the years by dedicated PSA governors, volunteers, generous donors, and patrons, and with the support of The National Arts Club, the Annual Exhibition continues to grow and evolve as the premier showcase for the finest examples of contemporary paintings executed in soft pastels, a salutary reminder that before there even were commercial galleries professional and aspiring artists relied on exhibitor societies to reach audiences and to impress peers.

Learn more here: www.pastelsocietyofamerica.org

CATEGORIES: Exhibition

DATE: January 12, 2025 - March 9, 2025

LOCATION: Giffuni Gallery