Nancy Belfer

A retired professor from the Design Department at SUNY Buffalo State, Nancy Belfer received her Master of Fine Arts in textiles from the School for American Craftsman at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She taught at Buffalo State for 36 years, initially in art education, then later, with the newly established Design Department, where she developed and coordinated the program in fiber design.
While the important focus of Nancy Belfer’s career has been her teaching, her personal creative work has been included in numerous national and regional exhibitions over the years, both juried and invitational. She had a solo exhibition at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center in 2001 and in May 2009

a solo exhibition, CONTINUUM, was held at the Indigo Art Gallery in Buffalo. Her works have been included in several ART in CRAFT MEDIA exhibitions at the Burchfield Penney Art Center.

An exhibition entitled NANCY BELFER – A Circle of Influence, at the Indigo Art Gallery in March 2011 featured her recent mixed-media work, along with the work of a selection of invited artists who studied with her over the years in classes Buffalo State.

Her works are included in several public and private collections, including the Burchfield Penney Art Center, the Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, the Roberson Center of Art and Science in Binghamton, NY, and the University of Nebraska, Lincoln NE. She has written three published books on various aspects of fiber art, as well as numerous articles.

Honors include a Crafts Fellowship Award from the National Endowment of the Arts, a SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, and participation in the US State Department Arts in Embassies Program, in which her work was displayed for three years at the American Institute in Taiwan. As part of a group of participants in this program she was invited to the White House in 2004 by Mrs. Laura Bush.

The origins of the Nancy Belfer Fiber Design Endowed Scholarship are unique. It was the idea of three former students who invited other alumni from the fibers program to join them in establishing this scholarship as a way of showing their appreciation for the quality of the education they received in the program. The response of these alumni, as well as from colleagues and friends, was an honor and inspiration to Professor Belfer. She cannot think of a better way to say “thank you” than to continue to support and extend this wonderful scholarship, which helps talented students achieve success in work they love.