Hold the Line: Recap of Wilkeson House Art-In and Public Meeting

We made art and learned a lot at the Art-In at the Wilkeson House on Saturday, March 31, 2012. We learned how to answer these questions and comment accurately and effectively:

Sketch by Sara M. Zak

Sara Zak, Sam Stone, Amanda Maciuba, Liz Cazpski. Photo by Steve Siegel.

Person #1: Residents can't complain about the bridge traffic, pollution, demolition, because they knew they were buying a house near the Peace Bridge...

Painting for Preservation: The houses were there first, the Wilkeson House (ca. 1863) is older than the majority of the City of Buffalo! It and it's neighborhood houses predate the Peace Bridge (ca. 1929) by over 50 years. Some of the residents in the Columbus Parkway area are fifth- and sixth-generation  homeowners. At the time these homes were built, they were on Prospect Hill over looking Olmsted's Front Park to the Niagara River. Today some of them stare at the blue roof of the Duty Free shop, the only blue they'll see because of obstructions to the view of the Niagara River.

Mickey Harmon

Person #2: No one wants these buildings, tear 'em down...

Painting for Preservation: When the PBA bought the Wilkeson House it was already vacant, but that could have more to do with it's already obstructed view than anything else. Also, there are people currently living in a historic house immediately adjacent to the Wilkeson House, showing that people do and want to live in that neighborhood.

People do want to preserve the Wilkeson House and their may be a buyer out there too, but the current offer of the PBA to give the house to a willing party is nearly impossible because of the stipulations, like needing a $10k deposit and having to move the brick house before June to another piece of land.

Tim Raymond

Meagan Baco

Person #3: Preservationists are obstructing economic development, again. Buffalo needs the income from the trucks coming across the Peace Bridge...

Painting for Preservation: As the following recap will detail, there are no plans beyond demolishing the buildings put forth by the Public Bridge Authority. The public and even immediately adjacent residents do not know what the final plan that may be proposed, so NO ONE can know what the economic impact will be.

It has been researched that only 2% of trucks coming over the Peace Bridge stop in Buffalo. Over 98% continue on South for an average of 500 miles. More trucks does not mean more money for Buffalo - it may mean more tolls for the PBA, but we don't know that either because they don't have to share their finances even though their operation is partially funded by taxpayer dollars.

Lastly, there is no denying that passenger traffic over the bridge would be greatly facilitation by removing truck traffic off of the Peace Bridge to an area that can handle their size and number.

Fiddler Leslie Nickerson playing Civil War-Era Songs

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The week after the Art-In the Public Bridge Authority held a public meeting on April 4, 2012. This is a recap from Jason Wilson of Buffalo's Young Preservationists who attended;

It was less of a public meeting and more of an empty basement room with PBA officials outnumbering citizens 6-1. By scheduling the meeting over 5 hours, the PBA avoided having any large number of citizens there at one time, so you kinda got a feeling of being outnumbered. There were no speakers, only a series of tables and poster-boards lining the parameter of the room.

All of the information on display was strictly related to the demolition of the properties on Busti. No future expansion plans were on display or ever talked about. When asked, PBA officials said that future expansion plans were still in the conceptual stage.

When asked why the PBA would demolition those properties before they had a plan in place, the answer was that it was always the PBA intention to teardown the properties.

Images on display show no plans for the site, just demolition.

I then asked about the local landmark designation of the Wilkeson House and how the PBA could violate the protections provided it by the City's charter. Matt Davison, PBA Director of Communications stated that demolishing the Wilkeson does not violate preservation law because it was not landmarked at the time the time it was purchased by the PBA. Review of the City of Buffalo law that gives the Preservation Board power to landmark buildings shows that this is completely incorrect.

After that, I spoke with Kerry Traynor, an architectural historian and a UB faculty member, who is contracted to document the building, but not to the standards of the Historic American Building Survey. There is no additional information about this aspect of the PBA project.

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Stay connected:
Homes near the Peace Bridge - https://www.facebook.com/homesnearthepeacebridge?ref=ts
Move the Plaza - http://www.movetheplaza.com/currentmap.html

Art-In at Wilkeson House in Peace Bridge Demo Area On March 31st

The first Art-In of 2012 is at the Colonel Wilkeson house at 771 Busti Avenue on Saturday, March 31 from 9:30am to 1pm.

RSVP on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/257426147677667/.


Make art on-site at the locally landmarked Wilkeson House at 771 Busti Avenue in the Prospect Hill neighborhood near the Peace Bridge. Demolition of the building by the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority (PBA), in defiance of its landmark status, is imminent.... All seven homes on Busti owned by the PBA since 1995, including the 1863 Col. S. H. Wilkeson house, will be demolished for an expanded truck plaza, and adjacent 12 acre Duty Free Store.

The Columbus Park neighborhood inside of the Prospect Hill Historic District, has been fighting for 23 years to hold the line because 4,000 diesel trucks a day already pass by their homes. Environmental and health concerns impacting more than 22,000 West Side residents have been linked directly to the toxins in diesel exhaust.

The PBA doesn’t deny polluting the air but uses their bi-national status to protect themselves against most levels of government accountability. Without accountability, the PBA continues to wreck lives and neighborhoods.

The PBA is tax exempt so it internalizes all the revenue it generates. But tax-payers will fund their expanded facilities including the new Duty Free Store while Prospect Hill pays with the market value of their homes, their quality of life and their health.

More about the demolition plans: http://www.buffalorising.com/2012/03/pbas-busti-properties-move-em-or-theyll-remove-em.html. Connect with the neighborhood: https://www.facebook.com/homesnearthepeacebridge and http://www.movetheplaza.com/currentmap.html. See a great documentary here: http://vimeo.com/34624466.

By coming to this event you will join artists and preservationists to support a strong-minded community in their right to shape their own space.

Artists of all media and skill are welcome, as are onlookers and others who want to share their stories of the space. We regularly have sketchers, painters, photographers and print-makers. Please bring your own materials or just come to watch the artists and enjoy the building.

Painting for Preservation gathers at distressed and endangered historic places to bring creative attention and admiration to them. For more information, see; http://www.paintingforpreservation.org/ or contact Sara at info@paintingforpreservation.org.

Art contains within it the possibility to change perceptions. With Painting for Preservation, the art is both the collaboration and onsite presence of voices at an endangered location along with the creation of individual artworks inspired by the experience. Painting for Preservation works in collaboration with many local organizations and grassroots efforts to stop needless demolitions, demo-by-neglect, and promote preservation.

We support the Columbus Park/Prospect Hill Neighborhood and the Buffalo West Side Environmental Defense Fund, and all their activists/volunteers/supporters.

Learn more about the Peace Bridge neighborhood here from the following short documentary created with assistance from Squeaky Wheel.

Statler Exhibit Photos from Long Ago

I realize that this show is long over, but I wanted to post a few pictures.  I really appreciate all the artists that participated in this show, the donations to make it possible, the Statler, and Preservation Buffalo Niagara.  The show was quite successful with hundreds of interested conference goers appreciating both the art and the buildings depicted and then at a second large local opening hosted with Preservation Buffalo Niagara.

Bernice Smith featured in Buffalo News

Bernice Smith, a frequent Painting for Preservation artist, was recently featured in the Home and Style section of the Buffalo News. 

Bernie's paintings capture the vibrancy of the distressed places Painting for Preservation has visited.  She painted at The Old Blacksmith's Shop, Harris Hardware, and Central Terminal with us in 2011.  It's easy to see in this interview that Bernie loves color, liveliness, and activity.  It's so important to have artists like Bernie recognize and translate the beauty of neglected spaces in art.  Her depictions give us a new interpretation of beautiful places so many ignore.  To read the article about her home and personal style, click here.

Bernice Smith's Paintings from Art In at Central Terminal... (yes she really did do TWO in only 4 hours!)

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.

Reflections on the First Year of Bringing Art and Preservation Together in Buffalo

Painting for Preservation came to develop organically and collaboratively bringing two of Bufflao's greatest community assests together: art and preservation. The group started in March and through September held nine gatherings of artists and preservationists to artisitcally document and creatively discuss historic places throughout Buffalo. For artists working in the urban environment it is a place to work alongside collegues and friends; and for preservationists it is a whole new perspective and level of appreciation of historic architecture. The group is inclusive and eclectic and welcomes community participation.

The movement was founded by Sara M. Zak, fine artist regularly working with distressed and difficult environments, among them empty cornerstores, abondoned gas stations, and bird's eyes perspective of entire neighborhoods wrecked by disinterest and disinvestment. Once developed into a group and regular event, with the help of Preservation-Ready Sites and the Niagara Frontier Plein-Air Painters, the goals developed to include:

• Raise awareness of at-risk, distressed and under-utilized locations and their neighborhoods
• Create a record of historically rich locations through art
• Create a community of artists invested in the urban landscape
• Bring exposure and provide assistance to artists interested in documenting at-risk historic neighborhoods while also collaborating with members of those same neighborhoods.
• Involve communities in sharing their stories of local historic architectural and their neighborhoods.

Our message was particularly well-recieved at Lyth Cottage, as it was recently purchased as a single-family home by an enthusiastic young citizen. We are also grateful for the welcoming community of Saint Adalbert Bascilia's Parish when we joined them in their campaign against the Buffalo Diocese to keep the remarkably well-preserved and solvent parish open. It has unfortunately been closed but the photographs and artwork of that Sunday morning remains as a reminder of the building and communities aura.

The most visible and controversial P4P location was St. Mary's on the Hill, a ca. 1897 church and adjacent guild house, that was long vacant and neglected leading to its ultimate demolished during the Art-In. Many artists included the crane and backhoe in their renderings. True to its mission, many Painting for Preservation participants, particularly photographers returned over the many days of demolition to document the diminishing property. These will be a record of the unnecessary loss of this historic asset.

The original opening of ART + PRESERVATION took place during the National Preservation Conference, the annual meeting of the National Trust for Historic Preservation on Wednesday, October 18, 2011. Buffalo was collectively looking forward to this event for several years since it was announced that over 2,500 preservationists would be exploring our City. The Conference broke a 10 year attendance record and brought a renewed enthusiasm to Buffalo's restoration and rehabiltiation projects and also spurred frequent positive media attention of our historic assets. It has many times been said that Buffalo's architectural heritage is deserving of more local attention, simply because it is already known nationally, and even internationally.

It was a pleasure to share many of Buffalo's historic places as they were uniquely illustrated by Painting for Preservation artists. For preservationists, ART + PRESERVATION offered yet another perspective to the beauty of classical architecture, in all states of repair and disrepair. The public opening took place during the annual meeting of Preservation Buffalo Niagara, the regional preservation advocacy organization, on Monday, November 14, 2011, and boosted attendance of over 200.

Participating artists in ART + PRESERVATION includes: Sara M. Zak, Meagan Baco, Michael T. Harmon, Amanda Maciuba, Dana Saylor-Furman, and Steve Siegel as well as, Tim Raymond, Mark Severson, Michael Mulley, Joan Langley Shaw, Bernice Smith, Casey William Milbrand, Amanda Hippert, Anna Laurie Miller, Michelle Schroeder, Donna Hale, Kath Schiafano, Matthew Measer, Carol Siracuse, Diane Goupil, Elizabeth Leader, William Hutchinson, Suzanne Kashuba, Eillen Elibol, Sara DiNatale, John Farallo, Patrick Willett, Francisco Amaya, Mary Lou Frost, Ann Peterson, Robert Schulman, Sharon Morgante, James Marino, Charles Bartolotta, Paulette Rozwood, Eileen MaNamara, Bill Battaglia, Tara Sasiadek, Joshua Nickerson, Lee Bergwell Hanks, Joyce Hill, Mary Kutas, Linda B. Ludwing, Ruth Mohn, Linda Piper, Thom Neill, Evan Hawkins, David Wiedemer, David Manny, Kate S. Parzych and Phil Durgan.

Painting for Preservation would like to thank Mark Croce, owner of Statler Towers; the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Preservation Buffalo Niagara for their collective hosting of ART + PRESERVATION. A special thanks for contributing funds, resources and expertise goes to "See Hear Feel Touch Learn - Experience Art," Hallways Contemporary Arts Center, CEPA Gallery, and John Shotwell.

More information about the history and current condition of all of the sites visited by Painting for Preservation is available below. If you have additional questions or want to suggest locations, email Meagan at info@paintingforpreservation.org.

1. Old Blacksmith's Shop, Cobblestone District, 120 South Park Avenue - Vacant
2. Harris Hardware, East Ferry Street - In Use
3. St. Vincent's Female Orphan Asylum - Rehabilitated as the Health Science Charter School
4. Vaux Barn, Best Street at Mills Street - Privately Owned, Vacant
5. Lyth Cottage, Hamlin Park Local Historic District - Restoration in Progress
6. Buffalo Central Terminal - Rehabilitation in Progress
7. Fairfield Library, 1659 Amherst Street - Vacant, For Sale by the City of Buffalo
8. St. Mary's on the Hill, Niagara Street at Vermont Street - Demolished
9. Saint Adalbert Bascilia - Recently Closed by the Buffalo Diocese

A great discussion about revitalization strategies and collaborations takes place at Preservation-Ready Sites on Facebook, join them.

See you in March,
Painting for Preservation
info@paintingforpreservation.org

ART + PRESERVATION will be NOVEMBER 14

November 14, 2011 - 6:30 to 8:30pm
Statler City on Niagara Square
107 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY
Please use Franklin Street entrance

Come celebrate Painting for Preservation's first group exhibition with us! The exhibit is a result of Painting for Preservation's efforts during its inaugural year and an open call for work.

The show of over 100 pieces, features WNY artists working in urban spaces to document and imagine our historic places.

Our first opening was during the National Preservation Conference that was attended by a national crowd of over 2,500. We are now able and happy to invite Buffalo, artists and the public to the exhibit.

The event will be held in conjunction with Preservation Buffalo Niagara's annual membership meeting.

Your RSVP is appreciated. The Facebook event!Please e-mail info@paintingforpreservation.org for more information.

More information about PBN's annual meeting, that is also open to you:

6:30 PM Refreshments, ART + PRESERVATION, Explore the Statler

7:15-8:30 PM  

Annual Meeting  

Election of Trustees 

National Preservation Conference Retrospective
Remarks from Mark Croce, owner of Statler City