"Discarded Ancestors" Collage Series

I found photo albums thrown out to the curb in front of a demolished house. There was apparently no one left to care for all these mementos and no way of finding out who these people were. The photos were so precious that I wanted to preserve them in some form. To me, they represented all the millions of people who have passed through this city. Each picture is unique and yet so universal that it could be from anyone’s family. They look like my ancestors and perhaps like your’s too. I took some of the photos out of the albums and surrounded them with bits and pieces of abandoned Buffalo – graffiti, empty houses and decaying landscapes. It is my attempt to put the past and present together and to honor these unknown people. I hope their spirits are happy being part of this art and not just discarded as trash.

You can meet and 'adopt' these ancestors at Gallery 464 (464 Amherst Street, Buffalo NY) They are also available in Niagara Falls at the Holiday Market until Christmas. You can also see a selection in my studio at the Tri-Main Center. (Studio 509 - 2495 Main St. Buffalo - Just ring my door bell!)

'TROUBLED WATERS' in the Gallery at NCCC

"TROUBLED WATERS" OPENS AT NCCC

A NOTICE FROM ART CRITIC, COLIN DABKOWSKI, IN THE BUFFALO NEWS:
VORTEX VIEWS
There’s something both unsettling and alluring about the work of Elizabeth Leader, who combined small dolls with her own photography to create potent little tableaus now on view in the Western New York Book Arts Center, 468 Washington St., through Sept. 17. For a glimpse into another facet of Leader’s work, art fans can check out “Troubled Waters,” a series of paintings that deal with the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a sprawling mass of trash in the North Pacific Ocean. That show—which opens Thursday and runs through Oct. 15 in the Niagara County Community College Art Gallery, 3111 Saunders Settlement Road, Sanborn — is Leader’s modest attempt to bring attention to the huge ecological problem, also known as the Trash Vortex. “When I first heard of the ‘Trash Vortex’ it so disturbed me that I tried to immediately put it out of my mind. Too late,” Leader wrote in a statement. “My imagination slowly swirled and circled around itself into thoughts and dreams, gathering emotion and then congealing into images. They have come out on paper as figures— some human, some not — in postmodern seascapes, entangled in narratives with endings not yet known.” For more information on the show, call 517-1186 or visit www.elizabethleader.com.—Colin Dabkowski; Published: Sep 9, 2011 12:00 AM

SENSE OF PLACE

My reclaimed toy series of assemblages is now on view in the "Sense of Place" show at the WNY Book Arts Center.
"Sense" combines Amy Greenan's paintings of abandoned houses along with my work in an "ongoing conversation." The show runs from July 15 to Sept. 17 at 468 Washington St. in downtown Buffalo.

FREE FOURTH FRIDAYS AT THE TRI-MAIN

We artists at the Tri-Main Center are now opening our studios and inviting in the public every fourth Friday of each month. Between 5pm and 8pm we'll have special events, guest artists, demonstrations and other unique and creative happenings. The next date is July 22nd. Come visit the Tri-Main Center, 5th Floor, 2495 Main Street, Buffalo, NY and get creative.

SAVE THE DATE - TRIMANIA - MARCH 26