Berrisford Boothe – Principal Curator (2012–Present)
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Berrisford Boothe is a multiple-media visual artist who has been a well-established professional in the Eastern U.S. art scene for over 30 years. He has carefully crafted his career primarily as a painter, but has produced work and exhibited as a digital artist, photographer, and printmaker. He was a printmaking Artist-in-Residence at The Fabric Workshop and Museum, The Brandywine Workshop and Archives, The Experimental Print Institute, Pondside Press, and in the U.K. at St. Barnabas Press and The Print Studio, and with The London Print Studio. A passion for education keeps him tethered to the arts community as a lecturer, an essayist and, since 2012, as the Principal Curator/Collector of African American art for the Petrucci Family Foundation.
Currently a full Professor but inactive member of the Department of Art, Architecture, and Design at Lehigh University, Boothe’s primary focus is now art collecting and exhibiting. Before taking leave in 2017, Boothe dedicated 27 years to teaching beginning and advanced studio practice in drawing, painting and design. During his tenure, he was also an influential force in the development of Lehigh’s Africana Program/Major, and the creation and implementation of Lehigh’s Curriculum award-winning Integrated Product Development Program (IPD) that combined undergraduates from Design, Business and Engineering for actual product development. Professor Boothe initiated and taught courses on African-American art and aesthetics from pre-colonial Africa to Contemporary America as part of Lehigh’s Africana Studies program.
Boothe’s efforts have garnered him notable national and international acclaim. He was a selected artist in Halima Taha’s seminal survey book, Collecting African American Art: Works on Paper and Canvas. He was also heavily featured within a field of 100 artists included in Robert Wuthnow’s book Creative Spirituality: The Way of the Artist. His has had representation at the June Kelly, NYC, and the Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, PA. He has exhibited works at the Allentown Art Museum, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, The African American Museum, Philadelphia, PA, the Albright Knox Art Gallery, and the William Benton Museum of Art. He was also selected for the major exhibition: In Search of the Missing Masters: The Lewis Tanner Moore Collection of African American Art at the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia, PA. His works are included in private and public collections nationwide, in the U.K. and in South America.
Boothe is a former member of the Banana Factory Artists’ Collective. He has served on the ArtsQuest Committee, and for three years, was an artist member of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Boothe also frequently serves as a Juror/Curator for exhibitions of emerging and established artists outside of PFF.
Claudia Volpe – Collection Manager (Winter 2019–Present)
Claudia Volpe joined the PFF Collection team in November of 2019. As Collection Manager, her primary duties are to oversee the Collection’s administrative needs and operations. Claudia works closely with Curator, Berrisford Boothe, to handle all tasks common to a Collection of this status. She brings with her a passion and advanced working knowledge for systems, an enthusiasm for marketing, and an eagerness to create and maintain relationships with PFF artists and arts organizations.
Born and raised in Chicago, with a family that emigrated from Russia, Volpe’s multi-cultural upbringing situates her interests. Her background has positioned her for particular perspectives that are important to the varied and rich intersectionalities ingrained in African American art. Volpe is an experimental filmmaker/photographer with her B.A. in Film Studies from Mount Holyoke College. She comes prepared intellectually and emotionally to enhance the Petrucci Family Foundation mission.
Consultants
Lewis Tanner Moore
Curlee Raven Holton
Leslie King-Hammond