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.




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
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://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!
 

Mike Killelea



Rita Auerbach and Dana Saylor

Sara Zak and Kath Schifano

BALLE Conference Attendees

Bernie Smith with finished painting

Sandra Winiasz

Liz Czapski

Marissa Lehner

George Gilham

George Gilham

Paul Alico


Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Painting for Preservation Joins BALLE conference in Buffalo, NY

 
Grain Silo_5, Buffalo, NY by Steve Siegel


Painting for Preservation will be participating in the opening reception and session of the BALLE  Conference (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) by doing what we do… making on-site art at historic structures.  Come join us for a rare evening event on Wednesday, June 12th, 5:00pm – 7:30pm at Silo City.  Capture the majestic grain elevators overlooking the water at dusk.  Artists of all media and skill level are welcome.  The Facebook invite can be found at https://www.facebook.com/events/669510153074520/.

When Painting for Preservation introduced its program to hundreds of National Preservation Conference attendees in 2011, the response was overwhelming with many enthusiastically saying that they intended to share the idea with their home cities.  This uniquely Buffalo artists’ initiative showcases our grassroots spirit, our belief in Buffalo’s possibilities, and brings together two of our greatest assets – our architecture and our artists.  This is a great (and free) way to participate in the BALLE conference!

Here's a map of the location. Just down Ohio Street from Riverfest Park! http://goo.gl/maps/6pxbs Drive in, park and draw/paint/photograph, etc!

We recently held an event at Trico Plant 1.  See some of the great artwork and event photos below.  To learn more about the preservation issues surrounding this daylight factory style building, see
https://www.facebook.com/groups/203056219787921/?ref=ts&fref=ts


A very serious young artist.
 His completed work is hanging at the Jung Center with our Painting for Preservation group show


Making art on our city streets

Bernie Smith just starting out

Photograph by Steve Siegel

The beginning of George Gilham's painting -- it turned quite abstract!

Trico by Kaitlyn Gilham

Photograph by Steve Siegel (with Nancy Siegel)


Looking down Ellicott Street (or the view from Trico) by Bernice Smith
Drawing by Dana Saylor

Trico Entrance by Michael Killelea

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

36-50 E. Utica Street: A wonderful morning

The most recent art-in at 36-50 E. Utica Street exemplifies everything that P4P strives to do.  We were so fortunate that during the time we were there; the Utica Heights Block Club was also conducting a Spring Clean-Up and a community social hour.  We had the pleasure of meeting many local residents and hearing about their efforts to enhance the neighborhood.  Their vision for their community is really inspiring.  We had beautiful light, and so many artists made beautiful work -- we were taken in by the energy of the place.  We were joined by 4 young artists, always one of the things I love most about art-ins!

Here it is in pictures!  A list of the participating artists is located below.
Thanks to Steve Siegel for the photograhs!


Linda Ludwig

Jean Coffin

Carol Siracuse

Michelle Schroeder




Tim Raymond



Carol Siracuse
 

Artists included: Carol Siracuse, Dana Saylor, Michelle Schroeder, Abby Schroeder, Steve Siegel, Tim Raymond, Jennifer Fendya, Pat Pendleton, Bernice Smith, Linda Ludwig, Jean Coffin,  Mickey Harmon, Michael Mulley, Craig Gawlak, Christopher Byrd, Becky Harbison, Kathy Schifano, Sara M. Zak