Today I took to the cobblestoned streets with eight other members of the Niagara Frontier Plein Air Painters to capture scenes of the Old Blacksmith's Shop in Buffalo's historic Cobblestone District. This district now is almost all parking lot, but there is a jewel left among the gravel and concrete -- about a block of this district remains intact from the 1830s. Buffalo was the terminus for the Erie Canal, business was booming, and the Cobblestone District (a stone's through from the water) was a busy (and rough) neighborhood. This building (with a series of additions) first started out as a state-of-the-art steam bakery. It's last use was as a Blacksmith's Shop.
We held our paint in the day before the scheduled demolition hearing (the hearing was cancelled -- now we just have to hope they don't get permission to demolish in the dead of night.)
Here's some photos of participants hard at work capturing the scene:
Here are a few articles and pictures of the building, the event, and the proposals for this location from Buffalo Rising:
http://www.buffalorising.com/2011/03/buffalos-vanishing-watercolors.html#SlideFrame_0
http://www.buffalorising.com/2011/03/tuesday-paint-out-event-to-draw-attention-to-at-risk-blacksmith-shop.html
http://www.buffalorising.com/2011/03/artists-take-to-street-today-at-blacksmith-shop.html#SlideFrame_0
http://www.buffalorising.com/2011/03/different-vision-for-blacksmith-shops-reuse.html#SlideFrame_0
A couple of my paintings of this location:
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