Marion Evelyn Faller, of Clarence, a renowned documentary photo artist and professor of photography at the University at Buffalo, died Wednesday in Hospice Buffalo, Cheektowaga, after a short illness. She was 72.
Born Marion Sudol in Passaic, N.J., she was selected as Miss Polish America in a national pageant in 1960.
She earned her bachelor’s degree at Hunter College and a master of fine arts degree from UB.
Ms. Faller taught at Hunter College, Marymount Manhattan College and Colgate University, then came in 1982 to UB, where she taught studio and history courses. She retired in 2006.
Exhibiting frequently in galleries here and across the nation, she was subject of a solo exhibit in 2006 in the Burchfield Penney Art Center, to which she donated 199 of her photographs and artworks in 2012. Her photographs also are included in many other public collections.
Drawn to everyday phenomena – she documented ethnic markets, Christmas and Halloween displays and the contents of her teenage son’s pockets – she was praised by former Buffalo News Critic Richard Huntington for her “art of artlessness.”
In a statement about her art in 2002, she wrote: “My work is about how individuals and communities visually express their values, their interests and their sense of what is important and beautiful.
“The subject matter is usually close to home – homes, yards, small businesses and community buildings such as schools or churches. ... Much of my photography addresses the various ways we celebrate holidays and respond to the changing seasons.”
The Burchfield Penney Art Center and George Eastman House in Rochester have placed memorial tributes to her and her photography on their websites and are planning future exhibits of her work.
Her husband, avant-garde filmmaker and digital art pioneer Hollis Frampton, died in 1984.
Survivors include a son, Will; a sister, Barbara Schroeder; and a granddaughter.
More at www.BuffaloNews.com.
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