Remembering Albert "Al" Gury

Please join us at PAFA as we gather to celebrate Al Gury's life, work, and legacy.  There will be a public memorial service followed by an exhibition reception for Al Gury: Painting and Purpose. Advance RSVP for the memorial service is encouraged to help us plan for attendance. Seating for the service is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.  If you are unable to join in person, the memorial service will be livestreamed on PAFA’s YouTube channel at 5:00 PM on October 23. No RSVP is necessary to join us virtually.  Guests joining in person are welcome to view the exhibition of Al's work in the School of Fine Arts Gallery prior to the service. 

For more than 38 years, Al shaped the life of PAFA with extraordinary dedication, generosity, and care. A PAFA alumnus and Cresson Traveling Scholarship recipient, he returned to the Academy as a teacher and became one of its most enduring voices in painting, drawing, figure drawing, anatomy, art history, and art education.

As Chair of Painting from 2000 to 2022, Al helped guide generations of artists through the discipline, rigor, and poetry of the studio. He believed deeply in the power of art education, not only as technical training, but as a way of helping students discover who they were becoming. His influence extended far beyond the classroom through PAFA’s free After-School Studio Arts Program for Philadelphia-area high school students, which he founded and directed, opening the doors of art-making to young people across the city. PAFA’s own 2024 reflection on the program described Al as a Philadelphia-based artist, educator, and writer whose work explored harmony, color, composition, and “visual poetry.”

Al’s legacy also lives through his paintings, his three books on painting and drawing, his teaching at institutions across Philadelphia and beyond, and his lifelong commitment to community, advocacy, and care. He gave quietly and generously, encouraging students who needed support, helping those struggling to afford supplies, and believing in artists before they fully believed in themselves.

We remember Al not only for what he taught, but for how he taught: with patience, conviction, humor, discipline, and an open heart. His life’s work remains woven into PAFA’s studios, its students, its faculty, and the many communities made better by his presence.