DISCARDED ANCESTORS

Amazing treasure can be found in Buffalo’s lost neighborhoods. Old photos, old wood, reusable glass, a riot of intense textures that can be repurposed. This small house at 29 Sanford Street must have been charming in its heyday. I can imagine these girls playing on the back step in that gentler time. But now, birds fly in and out of broken windows. Huge holes in the roof allow in the rain and snow, letting the house rot in plain sight. Far too decayed to be restored, it sits waiting for a match or a bulldozer. 

The frame for this collage came from Buffalo ReUse. I sand the wood to reveal all the layers of paint and time.  To see more of the ‘Discarded Ancestors’ series, and other work, come visit my studio at the TriMain Center. (My contact info is on my website, elizabethleader.com). I am either in the studio or out exploring the rustbelt.

24 HOURS OF BLACK SMOKE & FIRE

Early on the morning of July 13, 2011, a four-alarm fire broke out at Niagara Lubricants in Buffalo's Black Rock neighborhood. Propane tanks exploded in huge fireballs and the skies filled with thick black smoke. As over 100 firefighters fought the blaze, the fire chief said, “water doesn’t put it out, it just spreads it around.” The U.S. Air Force brought in foam from Niagara Falls and other trucks brought foam from the airport. One-by-one, the roofs and floors caved in. Smoke could be seen from over 50 miles away while black oil began running down the storm drains. When it was finally over, Niagara Lubricants vowed to rebuild. The company has been in business for 88 years and employs 35 people.

This is the photograph I shot of the factory the year before it burnt down. I had cut it up into a collage with a discarded ancestor photograph. To me, the four men looked like they might have worked at Niagara Lubricants years ago. They were dressed up and enjoying “Their Day Off”.

STALLED PROJECTS

Still standing on Chicago Street in Buffalo NY, is the E. & B. Holmes Machinery Company Building. This historic factory, known as The Cooperage, revolutionized the barrel making industry with designs and machinery for mass producing barrels. The company operated from 1840 until 2002.

The second image is the collage I made from a discarded ancestor photo plus photos taken on Chicago Street. I combined the photo of the soldiers with the factory because they looked like they might have worked there when they returned from the war. The finished collage is framed with recycled flooring. 

There is actually a plan to restore the building into ‘River Lofts Buffalo’ as shown in this architectural rendering.  Apparently the American Institute of Architects has a Stalled Projects Database where architects, developers, and project owners can connect with investors and re-start projects that make sense but are stalled due to lack of financing.  Perhaps, with all the new development close by, the Cooperage will come to life again.  Are you the person who can get this project unstalled?  Contact http://www.clintonbrowncompany.com

IT'S MAY DAY, INTERNATIONAL WORKERS DAY

This is the day to think about the long bloody struggle that American workers have gone through to gain some measure of rights. All the way back to 1884 when the Federation of Organized Trades & Labor Unions in Chicago fought for an eight-hour work day. Leaders faced arrest and several were put to death.  Of course conflicts still exist today as workers face trans-national corporations and the competition of a globalized work force.

I’ve been painting a series of portraits I call ‘Rust-Belt Workers’. Here is ‘TLG’ framed in recycled wood flooring from Buffalo ReUse.

 If any one has a family member or friend with a great face – the hard-won face of a worker, please let me know. I am looking for more people to photograph and then paint for this series.