Langley H. Kenzie

Langley Hoge Kenzie is well remembered in the Western New York art community for her hooked rugs that tell stories like narrative paintings. She dyed her own wool and designed the rugs herself, having learned techniques in classes at Chautauqua Institution. Prior to that, after moving to Buffalo in 1979, she studied design and photography at Buffalo State College. The Burchfield Penney Art Center exhibited her rendition of Noah’s ark titled Two of Every Sort in Craft Art Western New York 2004 and her work was included in BPAC’s first members’ exhibition, The Artists Among Us, in 2007. Her photographs were shown at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the Art Dialogue Gallery.

Music was Langley Kenzie’s lifelong muse. She studied at the Juilliard School of Music, where she majored in voice and minored in piano. She performed as a soloist in several choirs in New York City and sang in the renowned Robert Shaw Chorus. Her accomplishments include performing in Gilbert and Sullivan operas, being a soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah in Wiesbaden, and singing with the Chorus Pro Musica in Boston.

Many cultural institutions in Buffalo benefitted from Mrs. Kenzie’s volunteerism and financial support. Her graciousness is also well remembered through her artwork. In 2009 her family created an endowment to recognize outstanding emerging craft artists. The Langley H. Kenzie Award was created to honor Mrs. Kenzie’s dedication as an artist and to celebrate her support of others like her. It recognizes an outstanding artist from the biennial, juried exhibition, Art in Craft Media, by granting the recipient a solo exhibition in the following year. The award is supported by the Langley H. Kenzie Award Endowment, established by her daughters, Rachel King and Mary Kenzie. Recipients include Bethany Krull (2010), Karen Donnellan (2012), Jesse Walp (2014), Jozef Bajus (2016), Anne Currier (2018), and Ani Hoover (2020). The exhibition is fittingly presented in the Sylvia L. Rosen Gallery for Fine Art in Craft Media, named for the Burchfield Penney Art Center’s patron whose generous support makes possible the biennial exhibition, as well as collection development.