YOUNGSTOWN — Winners from the Pastel Society of America’s most recent exhibition are on display at the Butler Institute of American Art.

The society was founded in 1972 by Flora B. Giffuni. It is the oldest pastel society in America and is largely responsible for the current renaissance of pastels in American art.

Its annual exhibition at the National Arts Club in New York is the premier event for pastel artists worldwide. PSA encourages artistic advancement through prestigious awards, both monetary and material, distributed during the exhibition to artists showing technical acumen and creative use of pastel techniques. Members who win three cumulative awards in the annual show are named PSA master pastelists, the highest designation of pastel achievement.

In recent years, PSA members have been honored guests in exhibitions in Italy, France, Russia and China.

The winners will be on display through March 23 in the Flora B. Giffuni Gallery at the Butler, 524 Wick Ave. The gallery was established at the Youngstown museum in 2004, and it is the only museum gallery in the U.S. devoted exclusively to pastel works. The gallery is used to display the work of accomplished pastel artists, group shows from the PSA and pastel works in its permanent collection.

According to Butler executive director Louis A. Zona, “If the world of art had such designations, Flora Giffuni would be deemed the Patron Saint of Pastels. I say that, not just because she founded the Pastel Society of America and performed other good works on behalf of the medium and practitioners of the medium, but also because of her other mission, which is to give the art of pastel the kind of recognition and honor it deserves. She has been tireless in her efforts to promote and to educate, demonstrating a missionary-like zeal as she works to raise the art of the American pastel to greater levels of recognition.”