Painting for Preservation

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

CNU and Engine House #7 re-cap

Please join Painting for Preservation on June 7th from 5-8 pm for a rare evening on-site art-making session at Larkin Square. This event is held in conjunction with CNU 22 (Congress on New Urbanism). Lots of folks will travel here and learn about "initiatives that transform our communities." P4P is a good grassroots example of every little bit counts :-)

"The annual Congress for the New Urbanism is the leading venue for new urbanist networking, collaboration, and education. CNU members come from far and wide to discuss development practices and public policies, learn from recent innovative work, and advance new initiatives to transform our communities. Join us in Buffalo, New York - the city Frederick Law Olmsted deemed "the best planned city in the United States, if not the world" - and be a part of CNU 22." See more about CNU 22 at http://www.cnu.org/cnu22.

Engine House 24, Hook and Ladder #7

image source from Vintage Buffalo NY via Mark Paradowski

On May 17th, P4P went to Hook and Ladder #7 for a classic P4P art-in. This fire house, designed by E.B. Green, was build in 1893-94. Nancy Siegel did a bit of research and found the following...

"In the Fire Memoriam /city data site I found these memorials:

Jan. 12, 1894-Engine 24-driver Michael O'Brien

Apr. 25, 1894-Ladder 7-Firefighter Joseph Rittling

Dec. 23, 1896-Engine 24-Capt. Edward Duggan

Aug. 7, 1923-Engine 24-Firefighter Harrington Brand

Feb. 2, 1988-Engine 24-Lt. Michael Gerrie

The station closed in 2006 after being used as a "storage facility Technical rescue wood products and the spare Rescue rig" It was "heavily vandalized" at that time."

I don't have a lot of the artwork from artists yet, but here are the action images from the day. I brought my Jump Start students from Buffalo Arts Studio down to participate in the art-in and practice their 2 point perspective! Thank you to Steve Siegel for these images. Look for more as artists complete their work!

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Hook and Ladder House #7 Art-In and Recap of Larkin Power House

Save the Date! Come make art with Painting for Preservation at 110 Leroy Avenue (a block from the Trimain building) on Saturday May 17th, 10pm - 12pm! This E.B. Green designed fire house was built in 1894. It is an off the radar building that could be something very cool -- a classic P4P site. Artists of all media are welcome!

Larkin Power House Recap

We had a wonderful turn out for the Larkin Power House Art-In and some necessary news coverage. The owners of this building have now declared their desire to demolish and replace with a parking lot. Many of the artworks created at the event can be seen at Larkin Square in a pop-up gallery. The food trucks are there every Tuesday, grab some food and take a look at the art and the building.

News Story: http://www.wgrz.com/story/local/2014/01/01/8341661/?storyid=8341661

Art-Making ( photos by Steve Siegel)

Artworks:

Carol Siracuse

Dana Saylor http://www.oldtimeroots.com/

Evan Hawkins http://www.evan-hawkins.com/

George Gilham http://gilhamgeorge.wix.com/artwork

Steve Siegel

Leslie Zemsky

Mickey Harmon http://www.mickeyharmon.com/

Bernice Smith

Sara M. Zak http://www.saramzak.com

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Larkin Power House Art-In

Photo by David Torke (http://fixbuffalo.blogspot.com/2014/04/larkin-power-house-demolition-or.html)

Event: Larkin Power House Art-In

When: Sunday, April 27th, 1-4pm

Where: 645 Seneca Street, Buffalo, NY

Make Art with Painting for Preservation! This Sunday, April 27th from 1-4pm, the public is invited to join Painting for Preservation in a celebration of the historic Larkin Power House, at Seneca and Hamburg Streets in the revitalized "Larkinville" district. We don’t paint the building; we make take-away art about... the building. Poets, musicians, photographers, and general history appreciators are all welcome! This industrial gem was built in 1902 and boast a beautiful 275ft smokestack. Most importantly it appears to be in imminent danger of disappearing!!

See lots of Painting for Preservation (P4P) photos at our fb page:

https://www.facebook.com/paintingforpreservation

About the Larkin Power House Possible Demolition

http://fixbuffalo.blogspot.com/2014/04/larkin-power-house-demolition-or.html

http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/buffalo/preservation-board-trying-to-stop-more-demolition-to-larkinville-20140423

http://buffalorising.com/2014/04/wrecking-buffalo-larkin-powerhouse-under-threat/

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

The Art of Place in South Dakota

I recently received an e-mail from Liz Almlie, an historic preservation specialist with South Dakota State Historical Society. She and her organization were inspired by Painting for Preservation and their local plein air painters to host The Art of Place. The event was structured with a workshop day to kickoff the event in May 2013 and then, a month later, an exhibit booth at their local “Oahe Days” summer festival (Oahe is the name of the Missouri River dam close by).

The workshops included a photo walk in our historic downtown, a cemetery tour, a field sketching session, and a presentation on the Historic Preservation Commission’s new QR code project.

The Art of Place was a partnership between the South Dakota State Historic Preservation Office and the statewide non-profit, Preserve South Dakota. Local groups including the Pierre/Fort Pierre Historic Preservation Commission, the Canvasbacks Art Club, the Central SD Photography Club, and the Short Grass Arts Council participated with programs, volunteers, artists, and materials. It was a pilot project, and they did not have any major advocacy needs locally, so they let artists choose any local historic place and any media that we could accommodate. Paintings, drawings, photographs, and even a ceramic piece depicted historic houses, commercial buildings, churches, bridges, memorials, a walk-up ice cream place, and the SD State Capitol.

Here is the link to their call for participation (already complete): http://preservesd.org/?p=597

Photo tour (image by Kate Nelson)

Booth with the artwork of historic places (photos by Liz Almlie)

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Delaware Court Building Art-In

Please join us Saturday, September, 14th 9:30am - 1pm for on-site art-making at the corner of Delaware and Chippewa. Artists of all media welcome. The location offers multiple views of great street scenes. The proposed Uniland development of the Delaware Court building will alter the streetscape greatly. There is a parking garage, driveway, and loading dock on Chippewa in the proposal (along with the many stories upward). Here is an article from Buffalo Rising about the development.

http://buffalorising.com/2013/08/uniland-team-shares-250-delaware-plans-with-neighbors/

The Delaware Court Building meets several of the criteria for listing as a City of Buffalo Landmark,
as enumerated in the Buffalo Code:
• It is on a conspicuous site and sensitive site, has character, interest, and value as part of the development
and heritage of Delaware Avenue and Buffalo. (Criterium 1)
• It is architecturally and historically significant as an example of the early 20th century Neo- Classical
retail and office building; probably the best and largest of its kind in the city. (3)
• It embodies in its encyclopedic use of terra cotta Classical ornamentation the distinguishing characteristics
of an architectural style which makes it valuable for the study of commercial architecture
of the Edwardian era. (5)
• It is designed by an architectural firm whose members influenced the development of the city for
80 years and whose work encompassed over 100 buildings. (6)
• Its unique location and form make it a familiar visual feature within the city. (9)

photo from http://www.buffaloah.com/a/del/232/

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Images from the Silo City/BALLE conference Art-In

The art-in at Silo City during the BALLE conference welcomed many artists new to the P4P experience and brought exposure to the concept to many people from outside the area. My camera died relatively early on, but here are the images I was able to capture!

George Gilham "Silo City." This piece create at the art-in won the people's choice award at the Buffalo Society of Artists sponsored exhibit, City of Night Silos!