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.



Organizing Members

Without these folks, Painting for Preservation could not keep going.  These dedicated artists and preservationists make the wheels turn!


Sara M. Zak
Sara M. Zak is an emerging Western New York artist noted mostly for her representational paintings of Buffalo’s distressed and underrepresented architecture and neighborhoods. Her work often examines social roles, stratification, and change. In relation to her architectural subject matter, Sara founded and organizes Painting for Preservation, an artists' movement designed to draw positive attention to distressed, at-risk historic buildings and their communities.   In addition to P4P and oil painting, Sara is a Buffalo Society of Artists board member, alumni of NYFA MARK, and aspiring installation artist and curator. 

Sara's work can be seen http://www.saramzak.com/sara/home.html

Mickey Harmon

Ever since I was 7 years old I could draw.
Ever since I was 12 years old I wanted to live in the Elmwood Village.
Ever since I was 23 years old I've lived in the Elmwood Village.
Ever since I was 25 years old I had a tawdry love affair with Grover Cleveland.
I have drawn buildings and weird things ever since.

Mickey is our resident graphic designer;  he created the P4P logo, brochures, and a lot of other things always on the fly for us! 

His work can be seen at http://mickeyharmon.com/

 

Amanda May Maciuba

A native of the Buffalo, NY area, Amanda Maciuba graduated from the University at Buffalo in 2009 with a degree in Visual Studies-Print Media, and a minor in Art History. Since graduation she has shown her work locally at the Carnegie Art Center, The Western NY Book Arts Collaborative, the UB Art Gallery in the Center for the Arts, and other local venues. An active participant in the Buffalo arts community, she is a founding member of Emerging Leaders in the Arts Buffalo, a local chapter of the Americans for the Arts Emerging Leaders network and part of the planning committee for Painting for Preservation, Buffalo. Amanda is currently pursuing her Masters of Fine Arts in Printmaking at the University of Iowa.
 
Amanda served as exhibition coordinator for the first year of P4P (a huge undertaking) and continues to offer support and feedback.  We are hoping to have her back in Buffalo after grad school!
 
Her work can be seen at http://www.amandamaciuba.com/

 

Dana Saylor

Dana Saylor is an artist, professional historical researcher and community activist. She has lived in Buffalo for five years, and is involved with Emerging Leaders in the Arts Buffalo, Painting for Preservation, Buffalo's Young Preservationists, and plans the annual event CITY of NIGHT at the grain elevators
 
Dana is a renaissance woman; helping with all aspects of Painting for Preservation.  She researches properties, conducts social media and community outreach, and serves on the exhibition committee.
 
Her work can be seen at http://www.oldtimeroots.com/ and http://www.everybuildinginbuffalo.com/

 

Meagan Baco

Meagan works on grassroots preservation initiatives nationwide through on-the-ground and on-line activism. She currently lives in Washington, DC. Her art work, with partner Crystal Sanchez, has been included in City of Night Buffalo.  Although not showing artwork at this exhibit, Meagan is a key member of Painting for Preservation’s organizing committee. 
 
Meg is a historic preservation specialist; her expertise and outreach helped make Painting for Preservation possible!
 
Her websites are http://histpres.com/ and  http://meaganbaco.wordpress.com/

 
Steve Siegel

As a photographer, I see my role at the Painting for Preservation “art-ins” as twofold:

1.      To provide photo-documentation of my fellow artists as they interpret the subject of the day and create their art.

2.      To make my own artistic statement, usually in one of two ways depending on the prevailing circumstances: I will try to photograph the building from a fine arts perspective attempting to portray the grandeur of what it once was, or perhaps what it could be if saved from the wrecking ball. The other perspective is to portray the finality of “acts of foolishness” on the part of misinformed and shortsighted government officials or building owners.

Steve Siegel’s award winning photographs have appeared in many local galleries as well as publications such as Western New York Heritage Magazine. Each of the last two years, his portfolio, consisting almost entirely of photographs of the Buffalo, NY area, was selected from over 800 international entries and awarded a prestigious international “Merit Award” from Black and White Magazine and featured in their annual portfolio issue which is distributed in over 40 countries. One of his photographs of the Buffalo grain silos was selected out of over 1300 entries from 20 countries in the North Valley Art League’s International Juried Photography Show and is currently installed in their gallery in Redding, California.
 
Without Steve's photography, our media outreach would be so much more limited.  His work really serves to highlight the project and allows us to share it with others
Steve's work can be seen at http://stevensiegelphotography.com/






 

 

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