Painting for Preservation: January 2012

Welcome to Painting for Preservation!

Welcome to Painting for Preservation! This initiative, founded by artist Sara M. Zak, is aimed at drawing attention to distressed, at-risk, and under-utilized historic locations through on site art making.

Mission: To bring together artists of all media in support of historic distressed properties and communities. To create artwork on-site related to the location as a means of raising positive awareness of the space.

My hope is that we can continue this effort in Buffalo and expand the concept to other architecturally rich cities. Please e-mail Sara M. Zak if you are interested in starting a Painting for Preservation initiative in your city at info@paintingforpreservation.org

Our goals:
1. Raise awareness of at-risk, distressed and under-utilized locations and their neighborhoods

2. Create a record of historically rich locations through art

3. Create a community of artists invested in the urban landscape

4. Bring exposure and provide assistance to artists interested in documenting at-risk historic neighborhoods while also collaborating with members of those same neighborhoods.

5. Involve communities in sharing their stories of local historic architectural and their neighborhoods.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

WNY Heritage highlights P4P in Endnotes of Heritage Magazine

Painting for Preservation recently occupied the back page of WNY Heritage Magazine, our region's distinguished history and preservation periodical. Sara Zak and Meagan Baco were interviewed by new Junior Editor, Matthew Biddle, for their newly created "Endnotes" section, most definitely saving the best for last.

Personally, I enjoy the quips and infographics that typically show up on the back pages of magazines, and I really enjoyed, "Creating a Legacy with Painting for Preservation." Some of the story is reproduced below, but we encourage you to purchase the Winter 2012 volume of WNY Heritage and/or subscribe for the whole year!

"With artists, you have an untapped group of people who really are preservationists...they want to see their communities thrive and they're invested in the arts." - Sara M. Zak

"Even as a preservationist, I'm on the clock...I don't often go, sit and look at a building for five hours. It's a whole different level of understanding." - Meagan Baco

Thank you to Matthew Biddle for the thoughtful interviews and great resulting story, and thanks Steve Siegel for donating a photograph for publication. One of Sara's paintings of Saint Adalbert Basilica and it's neighborhood was published, too.