Walter Prochownik (1923 - 2000) 

Walter A. Prochownik (American, 1923-2000) artist and teacher primarily known for his optical-abstract "Series" of works that spanned from the mid 1960's to the mid 1990's. 

Prochownik completed three large commissioned murals in Buffalo, NY, as well as portraits, landscapes, seascapes, figurative and other abstract works. He worked in many different mediums, each with equal ease, including; pastel, mixed media, oil, acrylic, charcoal and graphite.  He was born in Buffalo in 1923 but within his first year, his family returned to the Bielsko (now Bielsko-Biala) area of Silesia in the south of Poland.  At the age of seventeen, Prochownik took advantage of his American citizenship and returned to Western New York in 1940, leaving his family behind in hopes of avoiding the conflict that followed in Poland after the Nazi occupation began in 1939. His parents managed to get him out on the last boat. 

In 1943, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Infantry Division and served as a machine gunner fighting in five major WWII campaigns throughout Europe and Africa. He became a prisoner of war in 1945, and spent the last four months of the war in a German prison camp. His creativity and strong work ethic kept him alive by making boots for the Germans which allowed him to barter for bread, protecting him and his friends from harm until their liberation at the end of WWII. 

"Stories of this time in Prochownik's life abound, each one a testament to his character and talent. Always preferring to make the most of an unpleasant situation, he volunteered to cut the hair of his fellow soldiers. For fun, he created patterns on the tops of their heads where the designs would be hidden underneath their helmets. When the commanding officer caught wind of this, he called the soldiers out to stand at attention and commanded, "Helmets off!" That was the end of Prochownik's career as a military barber. Another telling story suggests his artistic tendencies were encouraged by an Army doctor who kept him in the infirmary for a small hand injury so that he could finish filling the bare walls with paintings of pin-up girls. This act saved his life as his unit was wiped out in combat while he painted."[1]

After he returned home from the war he enrolled in the Art Institute of Buffalo which was supported by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) at the time. Within eighteen months, he had his first solo exhibition at the Institute which was comprised of representational landscapes of Poland, along with places and events he had witnessed during WWII, scenes like the burning of Warsaw, the Anzio beachhead, and the drying of fish nets by the Baltic Sea. He also studied at the Art Students League of New York under Edwin Dickinson (American, 1891-1978), and was a close friend of the acclaimed Buffalo artist Charles E. Burchfield (American, 1893-1967) who also influenced his work. 

He later returned to Buffalo and worked at Bell Aerospace Corporation (now Bell Helicopter Textron, a Division of Textron, Hurst, TX) to support himself, his wife (from his first marriage) and their family. When Bell Aerospace downsized, Prochownik began painting commissioned portraits to supplement his income and also opened his own framing business in his studio at 545 Elwood Avenue where he framed pieces for the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo. After his first marriage ended, he remarried fellow artist Sarah (née Everett) Prochownik (American, 20th Century-) who had been a student in one of his classes in the late 1970's at Buffalo State University. Their extended family included daughters; Deborah Prochownik-Mielcarek, Joanne Prochownik Everard, Louisa Levine, Diane Prochownik and Grace Jerauld. 

As a teacher whose career spanned over thirty-two years, Prochownik was a dedicated and well respected instructor who encouraged, supported and inspired his students. He taught at Millard Fillmore College Evening Division from 1963-1981 and at SUNY Empire State College from 1975-1995. Prochownik later taught in the Department of Art & Art History as well as the Faculty of Arts and Letters from 1981-1995 at the State University at Buffalo (UB), NY, and was appointed Professor Emeritus in 1995. Upon his retirement from SUNY Buffalo, the faculty & students of the Art Department honored Prochownik with a solo exhibition entitled "New Works: By Walter Prochownik", which was presented in the Art Department Gallery & Atrium, Center for the Arts. Some of his students actively took a role in the Buffalo art scene, like; Alan Van Every, co-founder and former co-director of the Big Orbit Gallery, as well as Catherine Howe and Olenka Bodnarsky Gunn who were former curators at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center. Prochownik also taught night classes in oil and watercolor circa the early-mid 1960's for the Niagara Falls Studio Group at their Art Center located at 1517 Main Street in Niagara Falls, NY, and at the Jewish Center in Buffalo, NY.

Always an outspoken advocate on the arts, Prochownik was named "Citizen of the Year" in 1976 by the Buffalo Evening News, and was appointed in 1978 to the Mayor's Committee on the Arts and Cultural Affairs. In 1980, he was appointed to the Buffalo Arts Commission where he served until his resignation in 1997. He had numerous successful solo and group exhibitions, and won many awards and accolades during his career, but never wanted a retrospective of his work while he was alive, and always insisted on showing his newest work. His artwork can be found in many museums, galleries and numerous public, corporate and private collections worldwide. 

Prochownik primarily worked in series which spanned from the mid 1960's to the mid 1990's. Some of his most important series include; "The Portrait Series" (1966-1975), "The Homeless Series" (1968) which "portray nameless figures with faces and expressions that the artist found interesting and full of character"[2], "The Space Series" (1968-1975) where "…his attempts to depict light in landscapes and in abstract paintings came to fruition"[3], "The Cloud Series" (1971-1973) which "captures the sky with his mastery in manipulating pastel and charcoal"[4], "Summer Series" (1976), "Horizon Series" (1982)"Environment & Technology Series" (1984) in which "Prochownik began to comment on the interference caused by the presence of technology in the natural landscape"[5], "Apocolyptic Landscape Series" (1988) where "Prochownik was ever more concerned with environmental decay."[6], "Pollution Series" (1993) which "…used unrealistic colors and forms to convey polluted views."[7], and his "Mt. Zion/Western Series" (1995-) which had "…no familiar shapes or compositional devices. What we see is simply a depiction of rock that consumes the canvas."[8], and was his last series before he became too ill to paint. Walter Prochownik died Monday, August 14, 2000 at the age of 76 after a long illness, Sisters Hospital, Buffalo, NY, and was survived by his wife Sarah Prochownik. A private service celebrating his life was held that following Thursday. 

"Prochownik's sensitive works developed in series through a career that spanned more than half a century. The artist never wanted a retrospective exhibit in his lifetime, always showing his new series of paintings and drawings. As we look at the impressive body of his work, these series stand strong while subtley overlapping as in the moods explored and evoked in his imagery."[9]

Prochownik once stated in an interview from the late 1960's that, "There are just so many ways to create depth on a two-dimensional surface. It is a great challenge to do something different."[10]

"Even more than his technical excellence, however, we discover in his pastels and other works on paper a fertile and poetic mind that surprises and delights us from one series to the next."[11]

"Walter could put you at ease with yourself and get you to open up and explore your inner self. He taught us to free our spirits."[12] -Art Rago, former student

"…a painter always in tight command. His abstractions sometimes display a rationality so clear and apparent that they can seem like gigantic, crisply constructed intellectual exercises that also happen to be beautiful."[13]

One of Prochownik's colleagues at SUNY and close friend fellow artist Harvey Breverman (American, 1934-) once stated, "[Prochownik] was a man without pretense, a vigorous, tough man full of artistic and personal integrity. He exemplified for so many of us—students, colleagues, friends, others in the profession—what being an artist is all about."[14]

Murals: During the course of his art career, Prochownik was commissioned to do three large murals for public spaces throughout Buffalo. Probably his most well known and important mural was "You the People" (1974), created for the people of Erie County at the request of former County Executive Edward VanBuren "Ned" Regan (American, 1930-) for the lobby of the Edward A. Rath County Building, 95 Franklin St. in Buffalo, NY. Regan recommended Prochownik for the assignment and suggested that Prochownik paint, "an artistic statement which can be easily understood by the average citizen"[15]. Prochownik's proposed idea was unanimously accepted by the committee with Prochownik stating that the mural dealt with "the human element that creates a unified community, with man as a builder."[16] The mural depicted the people of Erie County, past, present and future, and was dedicated in December 1974. Another important mural was "Summertime" (1988), which was done in oil on nine panels, commissioned by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York and was painted in the basement of the Anderson Gallery, Buffalo, NY. It was subsequently donated to the University at Buffalo and installed in the Charles B. Sears Law Library, O'Brian Hall, North Campus, Buffalo, NY. The third mural commissioned was "I Know Where I Have Been, but I Know Not Where I am Going" (1990), acrylic, and was commissioned by William J. Magavern II for his Peter Castle-designed law offices of Magavern, Magavern & Grimm, L.L.P. in the Rand Building, Buffalo, NY. 

Public Works: In addition to his murals, Prochownik has works in various public spaces in and around Buffalo such as; "I Came Like the Water and Like the Wind I Go" (1964), oil on canvas, Nichols School, 1250 Amherst Street, Buffalo, NY; "Horizon Series" (1982), mixed media, collection of Sarah E. Prochownik, Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, Central Library, 1 Lafayette Square, Buffalo, NY; "Temperate Zones" (1989), acrylic on wood, Episcopal Church Home and Affiliates, Inc., 850 Columbus Parkway, Buffalo, NY; "Portrait of Dr. Oscar A. Silverman", (unknown date), oil on canvas, Oscar A. Silverman Undergraduate Library, mezzanine between lobby and basement, University at Buffalo, Capen Hall, North Campus, Buffalo, NY; and an untitled piece from the "Space Series", (unknown date), oil on canvas, Herb Siegel Foundation, c/o Siegel, Kelleher & Kahn, 426 Franklin Street, Buffalo, NY.