A MID SUMMER NIGHT'S DRAW

Come on over to HALLWALLS Contemporary Arts Center, 341 Delaware Avenue in Buffalo. This Wednesday evening, starting at 7 PM, you'll have the chance to watch 34 artists drawing live in two 45 minute sessions. The completed works will be silent-auctioned with an opening bid of $38 (in honor of Hallwalls years in operation). It's a great lineup of Buffalo artists giving their all for the cause. Just $5 to get in the door. Music and a cash bar. I've decided to keep to black, white and 50 shades of grey. Got my graphite tools all ready to go. See you there!

LUCKY 13

Opening on Friday, July 13th, is the always popular Hallwalls Members’ Exhibition. The party carries on from 7:00 - 10:00 pm and the exhibition runs until Friday, August 24th. My entry this year is a piece from my ‘Toyology’ series. It’s based on a Barbie doll I found on the Eastside and photos I took of Central Park Plaza. Barbie stands in her box with ‘Fashionista Ken’ at her side and the plaza wall and trash behind her. Graffiti seen on a nearby house is painted on an outside panel. Central Park Plaza is a 27-acre desolate eyesore close to Amherst Street. After sitting basically abandoned for years, the property was just purchased by the Strickler Development Group LLC. Louis Ciminelli plans to “environmentally remediate and secure the site” and then work with the community to come up with the best plan. The immediate neighborhood is one of the most degraded in the city. It’s great to hear any positive news coming out of this area. Maybe it just got lucky?

THE SIDEWALK WALKS

In 2010 the City of Buffalo notified us that the sidewalk in front of our rental property on Whitney Place needed to be replaced by concrete. The old sidewalk was composed of large slabs of magnificent Medina Sandstone, each one a unique shape, 3 to 6 inches thick, and uneven on the bottom. Since the house was built around 1875, the slabs must date at least that far back. The stones leaned against the house on Whitney for 2 years while we decided what to do with them. Then Hal had the brilliant idea to put them under the pergola he had built 10 years ago at our home in North Buffalo. He worked with a true artist, Scott Pedley of Restorff's Landscaping to change a mudhole into a real patio. Thank you City of Buffalo for not smashing it up the stones and letting them have a second life.