The Art of Girl Scouting

The Burchfield Penney Art Center has proudly partnered with the Girl Scouts of Western New York for many tours and art workshops over the past year. Nearly 150 girls have earned artist legacy badges at the museum, including those for drawing, comics, painting and photography.

The photographic series on view in the Community Gallery were created during fall 2012 and winter 2013. Girl Scouts, from Brownies to Cadettes, went on tours of the retrospective exhibition McCallum Tarry: Intersections and learned about the formal principles and elements of photography with museum staff. Then they were given free time to explore with their own cameras. The range of subject matter and approach to the series was remarkable. Some girls focused on a theme like nature, music and reading. Others were interested in a certain method of taking a photo. Still others sought out images to represent more abstract ideas, such as the afterlife and “the rebel.” Afterwards, the girls wrote artist statements and shared them with the entire group, which are presented with their photographs. The museum will continue to create bonds with museum guests of all ages and the future artists of Western New York.

March 12, 2012 marked the 100 year anniversary of Girl Scouts. Councils across the United States celebrated this milestone anniversary. Juliette "Daisy" Gordon Low assembled 18 girls from Savannah, Georgia, on March 12, 1912, for a local Girl Scout meeting. She believed that all girls should be given the opportunity to develop physically, mentally and spiritually. With the goal of bringing girls out of isolated home environments and into community service and the open air, Girl Scouts hiked, played basketball, went on camping trips, learned how to tell time by the stars and studied first aid.

Today Girl Scouts continues to build girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place. Through the Girl Scout Leadership Experience Program, girls discover themselves and the world around them, connect with others in an increasingly diverse world and take action to solve problems and improve their communities.

Girl Scouts of Western New York (GSWNY) serves over 20,000 girls and 9,000 adult volunteers across the GSWNY jurisdiction, including Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming counties. The council’s administrative headquarters is located in Buffalo, New York, and service centers are located in Buffalo, Batavia, Jamestown, Lockport and Rochester. GSWNY participated in a nationwide community project called Girl Scouts Forever Green. The “take action” project put Girl Scouts at the forefront of environmental sustainability, leading schools and communities in conserving energy and protecting natural resources. In addition, Girl Scouts from around the state and Girl Guides from Canada joined together for a Rock the Falls sing-a-long celebration at Niagara Falls.

A premier voice for girls and a leading expert on their growth and development, Girl Scouts is a highly regarded, contemporary organization. It offers girls ages 5-17 remarkable opportunities to develop values and contribute to society as leaders, thinkers and responsible citizens.