ART + PRESERVATION Call for Work

Painting for Preservation is hosting our first exhibition in October 2011.  In a nutshell, we will accept 1 -3 two-dimensional entries (depending on size) relating to the themes of historic preservation, architecture, and/or community in Western New York; all styles welcome. Submission is by e-mail at P4Partist@gmail.com, and is due by September 27, 2011.  There is no fee to enter, but a 40% donation of any sales will go to help the renovation of the Statler Towers in Buffalo, NY.  The opening for the exhibit will be during reception the National Preservation Conference on October, 19th.  A public opening is still to be determined.  Exhibit will be juried by an independent juror if the submissions out size the space.

Please see the detailed Calls for Work at the right hand side of the screen for detailed information and submission guidelines.  If you don't have the ability to send a digital submission, please call me at 716-228-4853.

Art-In to Support St. Adalbert Basilica's fight to Stay Open

Painting for Preservation's last Art-In at the ruins of St. Mary’s on the Hill is an only too real example of an abandoned neighborhood landmark left to rot. Vacancy and perceived uselessness is the greatest cause of deterioration at a historic building. Maintenance is deferred, moisture infiltrates, pipes burst, and slowly the inside and the outside of the building peel apart. The forced stifling of activity at Saint Adalbert’s Basilica by the Bishop of Buffalo Most Rev. Edward U. Kmiec may eventually lead the massive church to a similar end - but not with the consent of this very active East Side parish that has remained open four years longer than expected.

Art-In at St. Adalbert Basilica
212 Stanislaus Street, 14212
Sun., September 11, 9:30am - 1pm
All artists, community and parish members welcome
RSVP on Facebook

Saint Adalbert Basilica parish was founded in 1886 as the second Polish parish in the city of Buffalo. In 1890 to1891, Huber and Company designed and built the Romanesque church standing today. At the time it was built, it was the largest church in Western New York and remains one of the largest. The Basilica features a massive main altar of Italian marble with seven independently carved statues elevating a golden crown. Of curiosity, a likeness of the Black Madonna enshrined at one of the side altars had the distinction of appearing in the 1901 Pan American Exhibition. In 1907, Pope Pius X authenticated a document spiritually marrying St. Adalbert to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, a distinction allowing the East Side Basilica to perform higher rites and host the Pope, if ever called to do so.

ca. 1910

ca. 2011

The parishioners of St. Adalbert’s and their many out-of-town supports are determined to defer the closing of the Church, again and again, since 2007 when Bishop Kmiec called for merging Saint Adalbert Basilica with Saint John Kanty, closing St. Adalbert permanently. Unlike some church closures, St. Adalbert is financially stable and has an active parish. On a Sunday in July, I stopped by and found generations of families conversing over the pews, children playing in the stained glass rainbows and church leaders of determination and innovation.

Most recently, active parishioners launched their own “What Would Jesus Do?" Campaign meant to cause reflection and hopefully, a reprieve by Bishop Kmiec. The parishioner’s passion to keep their church open was recognized by the Vatican and the church is in possession of a letter stating that that Saint Adalbert Basilica must remain open as a place of worship accessible to the faithful. A holy declaration that the Bishop is denying. 

Offering both exterior and interior access for artists, a leader of the congregation describes the trinity of art, preservation and faith as such:

“Preservation is innate to the human spirit and artistic expression gives voice to that which is precious and fills our souls. The Art-In at Saint Adalbert Basilica is a way to express in artistic form the hopes and longings of a family, a parish, a community, that forever calls Saint Adalbert Basilica home.”

Painting for Preservation will set up on Sunday, September 11, 2011 at St. Adalbert Basilica at 212 Stanislaus Street beginning at 9:30am and disbanding around 1pm. Artists, photographers, community members, East Side advocates and parishioners are welcome to participate and observe. The art work created at this Art-In will be on display at the celebration of St. Adalbert’s 125th Anniversary on Sunday, September 18, 2011 at Millennium Banquet Hall in Cheektowaga. 

* Thank you to Charlie Penasak and Lori DiNero for their writing this post and their enthusiastic participation in Painting for Preservation.

Documenting the Demolition of St. Mary's on the Hill

In the face of continued demolition, Painting for Preservation gathered at St. Mary’s on the Hill at the corner of Niagara and Vermont Streets on Saturday, August 27 to capture the last of the ruins. Abandoned in 1994 and partially demolished by way of roof removal in 2009. The Church was certified as a City of Buffalo Local Landmark under the review by the Preservation Board in 2008. Necessary maintenance nor improvements were made and the building rapidly deteriorated, as one would expect a 100 year old roofless structure in Buffalo. Last Saturday, there remained the base of the bell tower, north and west walls of the sanctuary, stained glass windows, and interior columns. The adjoining guild house was severed just days before.

Donna Hall by Steve Siegel

Stan Jennings from the Armory Tower

Members of the Niagara Gateway Columbus Park Association came by St. Mary’s to talk about its history as preservation-ready site and its steady decline to ruins. These guys were on hand when the bell was removed from the tower in 2005. The Prospect Heights and Columbus Park neighborhoods have been on high-alert of preservation issues for over ten years because of the proposed Peace Bridge plaza expansion. The Peace Bridge Authority owns several adjoining lots and historic buildings on Busti Avenue, including the vacant ca. 1863 Col. Samuel H. Wilkinson house – another City of Buffalo Local Landmark.

Artists working at St. Mary's were Kyle Butler, Liz Czapski, Donna Hall, Amanda Maciuba, Steve Seigel, Sara M. Zak. Also, Meg Baco, Kelly Jakiel, Laura Jakiel, Stan Jennings, Anne McBride, Crystal Sanchez.

Collage and Painting by Crystal Sanchez

Sketch for Print Making by Amanda Macuiba

Photo by Anne McBride

“...the windows made an impression on me today more than anything. I felt the soul of the building looking out onto the world one last time... and in some way, still graceful and grateful to those who were there to capture that essence, knowing it would soon be gone forever...”

Only a week after the Art-In, the west wall of St. Mary's which was its primary facade and the remainder of the tower were demolished. Some of the guild hall still stands.

Painting for Preservation is an inclusive and eclectic group of artists, preservationists, photographers, bloggers and community leaders that gather at historic buildings to make art with the architecture as the subject. We do not paint the actual building. Our goal is to raise awareness of the historic buildings by gathering at them, support artists working in the urban environment, and create an artistic record of our collective history. This year, we have hosted nine Art-Ins throughout Buffalo and artist's work will be on display during the National Preservation Conference in October.

Gather at St. Mary's on the Hill this Saturday Morning

The scheduled Art-In at St. Mary's on the Hill is still happening this Saturday morning (9:30am-1pm) - and now - with greater conviction of the need to keep painting and preserving.




Demolition began Monday afternoon at St. Mary's on the Hill, as of Tuesday afternoon the south wall was leveled. Although many of us called it "ruins," we knew the structure's possibilities. An apartment scheme was laid out within the past couple of years and the creative/gardening community surely would have made something happen.

Please join Painting for Preservation to create art from another vantage point - that of the lost structure, of the absence.  There is also a structure next door, the old school, that is threatened.  Come out of the desire to make art or record history;  Come out of principle, protest, celebration and illustration of what was lost today and the system of City-aided demolition-by-neglect. Artists will be on-site and all community members are welcome to gather at this lost historic place.



For more information, email Sara and Meg at P4Partist@gmail.com.


* A sincere thank you to whomever taped the This Place Matters sign to the fence.

New Painting for Preservation Logo by Michael Harmon!!!

We are thrilled that Michael Harmon offered his creative talents to create a logo for Painting for Preservation! 

Ruins at St. Mary's on the Hill (Vermont and Niagara)

Participate in art and preservation in Buffalo. Please join Painting for Preservation for their eighth Art-In of artists, preservationists and community members making art on site at historic Places. The location is, sadly, what is left of St. Mary's on the Hill Church at the corner of Niagara and Vermont Streets in the Prospect Hill Neighborhood this Saturday, August 27 at 9:30am to 12:30pm. This certified-Local Landmark is now a ruins.

Photo by Becky Harbison

St. Mary's on the Hill Church is a ruins of a ca. 1897 Lutheran Church with a remaining entrance tower and arched masonry openings of red Medina sandstone. The deteriorated state of the building will make for unique art. St. Mary's Church congregation left the building in 1994 and it served as a antiques business for some time after that. The building has an out-of-town owner and there are no plans for its preservation, although it has been suggested that it be a sculpture garden -- something P4P would support whole-heartedly!


Painting for Preservation is an inclusive and eclectic group of artists, preservationists, photographers, bloggers and community leaders that gather at historic buildings to make art with the architecture as the subject. We do not paint the actual building. There have been seven previously hosted Art-Ins and our goal is to raise awareness of the historic buildings, support artists working in the urban environment, and create an artistic record of our collective history.



A regional list and discussion of Preservation-Ready Sites can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/preservationready/. Email Sara M. Zak or Meagan Baco at P4Partist@gmail.com for more information.



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Painting for Preservation: Another Chapter for the Fairfield Library?

Artists at Fairfield Library; Photo by Stan Jennings

Gathered on the grassy corner lot of Amherst and Fairfield Streets, over 25 architects, artists, families and local residents, organized by Painting for Preservation, admired the proportion and classical detailing of the Fairfield Library through out the morning of Saturday, August 13. The ca. 1897 building was designed by William Sydney Wicks as a Unitarian Church in the Colonial Revival style. Wicks was the architectural partner of E.B. Green, who together designed 104 buildings in 36 years of partnership, as Green & Wicks.

The church building was occupied by a Lutheran congregation until it was purchased by the City in 1924 and operated as a library until 2005 when it was closed by the County. Having been vacant and neglected for nearly six-years the frame building is showing signs of increasing deterioration. The building, at a little over 6,000 square feet, represents a realistic rehabilitation project viable for the private or the public sector. The last appraisal of the property in 2007 set the price at $75,000 and though approached many time to sell, the Common Council has denied all transactions. No specific plans have been made public.

It is the goal of Painting for Preservation to bring creative attention to neglected historic places in the City of Buffalo. Both the act of gathering at the historic, and often, distressed location and in creating artwork with the building as the subject, stirs new innovative conversation about rehabilitation possibilities. Typical Art-Ins attract artists, architects/preservationists, photographs, resident and community activists; all are welcome to participate and observe. As a group, Painting for Preservation, has organized seven Art-Ins and will host a gallery show at the Statler Towers during the National Trust for Historic Preservation's National Preservation Conference in Buffalo in October.

Like many of the locations chosen by Painting for Preservation, these historic places have back stories and personal meaning to its organizers and participants. For all those involved at the Fairfield Library Art-In, the purpose was magnified by both the deterioration of the lovely historic building and the closure of the Library that was an anchor of community and culture for over 80 years.

In 1924, the former church was purchased by the City and became a branch of the Buffalo Public Library. Merging City and County resources, the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library (BECPL) system was incorporated in 1953 and from this point on-ward, the building asset of the Fairfield Library was owned by the City of Buffalo but all operations were managed by Erie County. The Fairfield Library remained a neighborhood branch with high circulation numbers until it was permanently closed in October of 2005 and since been vacant.

Not without cause, because of declining city population, the BEPCL commissioned Aaron Cohen and Associates Ltd. to complete The Library Service Strategic Plan, 1999-2003. The criteria for library-worth Cohen Study focused on size, parking and room-for-expansion, all characteristics not found in the urban, neighborhood branch libraries like North Park and Fairfield, putting them at a disadvantage to remain open. Finally, the report recommended closing both libraries and constructing a new North Buffalo Community Library. A similar tactic in other areas called for closing 20 additional branches through out the 52-library system.

Still in 2004, the American Library Association ranked the BECPL as the leader in number of library facilities per capita with one for every 18,000-or-so residents, providing nearly twice as much access than other library systems nationwide. This was reported in "A Plan for Moving On" developed by the Buffalo Niagara Partnership.

When budget cuts in 2005 made the recommendations of the Cohen Study more feasible, the Fairfield Library was permanently closed in October of that year. As previously determined in their cooperative agreement, the physical building reverts to the City of Buffalo along with charges of its maintenance.

This hand-off from County to City is part of the problem. Buffalo has little budget to maintain the many City-owned properties, much less find suitable reuse strategies for them. So Fairfield Library no matter its historical or cultural significance became one of the over 7,000 vacant properties crumbling under City-ownership. Just recently, within the past month, was the Department of Real Estate given the budget to produce and hang For Sale signs on many of its properties.

A Buffalo Rising commenter, presumably from the neighborhood, mentioned that the City fails to maintain the lawn and residents often mow the lawn. The planters on the corner lot are tall with weeds and wildflowers. On a positive note, some artists chose to highlight the greenery.

Amanda Maciuba's Sketch

The Fairfield Library has been for sale by the City of Buffalo for several years with official RFPs for purchases distributed in 2007. An employee of the City of Buffalo Department of Real Estate stated that there has been interested ever since the building when on the market. Also of note, the property is listed on the City of Buffalo website with having Deed Restrictions but after additional research the Department found no restrictions. The listing has yet to be updated.

Residents, including Jeanine Baran of the Vernon Triangle Block Club, are hopeful for new stewardship,

“As a community, we are concerned about the building, and the first thing that came to my mind was maybe this [the Art-In] will attract some positive attention and a buyer.”

The last appraisal for the building that can be documented was $75,000 several years ago. Residents of the area have been hearing that a more recent appraisal valued the building at approximately $50,000. The process to purchase public building from the City of Buffalo requires Common Council approval based on the interested party’s vision for the property and their ability to finance it. No such buyer has been found.

Depending on the scope of work of Fairfield Library restoration, the cost can be roughly estimated in comparison with a budget prepared by Watts Engineering & Architecture, P.C. for work at the North Park Library at Delaware and Hertel Avenues in 2008. The report, available at the BECPL website, gives a probable cost at $696,700.

A popular target of finger-pointing for the Fairfield Library’s abandonment is mold and asbestos. Issues of mold and asbestos are common in all buildings not just historic buildings. The new $137M Federal Court House on Niagara Square has been on hold for months due to mold. Mold can be treated and asbestos can be contained, sealed and/or removed, and is commonly done skillfully during building rehabilitations.

There is tremendous neighborhood support for renewing the building’s place in the greater North Buffalo neighborhood. The Parkside Community Association has consistently strategized for the building’s preservation and reuse but has yet to get the right mix of funding and vision. Currently, the PCA has secured funding through the State’s Main Street Program for the mixed-use and commercial buildings along Main Street between Florence Street and Leroy Street; over $402,000 has been awarded. Perhaps with the momentum of a successful grant program and the leadership of Ben Johnson as Executive Director, there is still a place for community ownership at the Fairfield Library.

Other ideas for the property have included restoration as a private residence; most obviously a community center or community library; perhaps reuse by a small congregation.

Meagan Baco's Painting

The neighborhood has a strong cultural presence most notably Wright's Darwin D. Martin House in the National Register-listed Parkside East and Parkside West Historic Districts and with local businesses like Sweet_ness7, Fairy Cakes and Wil’s BBQ taking hold of Parkside Avenue across from the Buffalo Zoo, the location of the Fairfield Library is prime.

While the For Sale sign was a harsh reminder that this piece of Buffalo architectural history, public access to enlightenment and of many North Buffalonian’s family lore was abandoned - it can also be spun as an opportunity for new stewardship. The yellowed sign taped to the closed front doors of the Fairfield Library that though written in a positive tone, is much harder to read:

"After 80 years of service Fairfield Library is permanently closed. Thank you for your patronage and letting us be part of your lives and expanding your horizons."

The following photos by Steve Siegel:

Joan Shaw, NFPAP President

The Nowicki Family - Great to have a family participate and they were the youngest P4P participants yet.

Carol Siracuse's Beautiful Watercolor

Mickey Harmon and Dana Saylor