Gary Bukovnik Exhibit “The Rebirth Of Flora” At The Slovenian Museum And Archives

6407 St. Clair Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44103-1633

216-361-5600

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland native, San Francisco based watercolorist, GARY BUKOVNIK, will exhibit his work at The Slovenian Museum and Archives, 6407 St. Clair Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44103-1633.  Coming to Cleveland from the Slovenian Embassy in Washington, D.C., this stunning exhibition entitled The Rebirth of Flora will be on view from March 17, 2010 until April 17, 2010.  An opening reception with Mr. Bukovnik will be held Friday, March 26 from 5:00 until 8:00 pm.  A watercolor demonstration by the artist will be presented on Saturday March 27 at 1:00 PM.

Slovenian-American artist, Gary Bukovnik was born in Cleveland, Ohio and has lived in San Francisco for over 25 years. Bukovnik’s art conveys a monumental quality.  Primarily using the mediums of watercolor, monotype and lithograph, Bukovnik fuses sensual vitality with fluid, yet powerful colorations; creating compositions of great depth and intensity. Using floral images suspended in time and space, Gary Bukovnik presents arrangements we would not have the opportunity to appreciate with our naked eye alone. 

To produce his graphic works, Bukovnik collaborates with Trillium Press, whose owner and master printer, David Salgado, studied at the Tamarind Workshop, formerly in Los Angeles.  Among the other artists who have printed with Trillium are Joseph Raffael, Mark Adams, Beth Van Hoesen, Nathan Oliveira, and Paul Wanner.

This Bukovnik exhibit was on view at the Slovenian Embassy in Washington D.C. in February 2010.  It will continue on to Slovenia where it will be exhibited in Idrija and Zagorje thru the summer months of 2010. 

In April of 2009 he participated in a watercolor exhibition at the Kunstzaal van Heijningen Gallery in The Hague, Netherlands.  Recently, Bukovnik was involved in the Bouquet to Arts Exhibition in collaboration with DeYoung Museum Auxiliary Members at the Caldwell Snyder Gallery in San Francisco.  In 2003, Bukovnik was invited for six weeks to the American Academy in Rome as a Visiting Artist.  He was invited for a second session in 2005.  In 2001, Bukovnik was selected to create a poster for the prestigious List Collection, which creates posters to commemorate programs at The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York.  Past selectees include such prominent artists as Roy Lichenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Motherwell, Helen Frankenthaler, Alex Katz, Elizabeth Murray and Donald Sultan.

Gary Bukovnik has had numerous solo and group shows in galleries across the United States as well as exhibitions in China and Japan.  His work can be found in such prestigious museums as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, and the Brooklyn Museum, New York; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; The Chicago Museum of Art; and Fine Arts Museums, San Francisco.

This exhibit is sponsored by the Slovenian Museum and Archives with the generous support of Mr. John Dejak and The Slovenian American Heritage Foundation in memory of Ann M. Opeka.

The Slovenian Museum and Archives (SMA) is Cleveland’s newest cultural gem.  Open in 2009, its goal is to be the premier cultural and genealogy center for the Slovenian American community.  SMA is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization whose mission is to preserve and share Slovenian ethnic identity and its various migration experiences in a sophisticated, multi-functional and interactive dwelling. SMA provides an educational, cultural and literary resource for families and includes a library, museum and plans for a cinematheque.

 In conjunction with the newly opened Slovenian Studies Center based at Cleveland State University, SMA will render invaluable services to historians, researchers, students and genealogists. Slovenian Cleveland, the largest community of Slovenians outside of Slovenia, is now building a home in which Slovenians’ rich and diversified legacy can be preserved and shared with the greater community in the City of Cleveland.

Museum hours are:

Wednesday and Friday: 10:00 AM- 2:00 PM
Thursday: 4:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Saturday: 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM

SMA is also open by appointment.

Group tours are available.

The admission is free to the public.