A rare picture of Bill’s front side (had to sneak up on him and capture him near a mirror).

Bill made this table, suitable for a bedroom or a large front hall, from Buffalo ReUsed Materials. He and Tracy brought it over to the ReSource the other day, where it’s on sale (all proceeds benefit our community programs) for $200.

Come on by and check it out!

If you’d like to help with the exhibiton, please email volunteer {at} buffaloreuse(.)org

ReTHREAD
Thursday, October 21st
7–10pm
ArtSpace
1219 Main Street in Midtown Buffalo

“Social Dress Buffalo – The Past Reflecting the Future”

This will be a great opportunity for everyone to meet and learn more about the artist’s process.  We hope you can make it!  PLEASE NOTE:  Those with latex allergies are welcome to attend but are advised not to participate in the casting process, as pure liquid latex will be used.

Please see the following videos which explain Takashi’s project in Buffalo:
Takashi video Part 1 | Takashi video Part 2 | Takashi video Part 3

A major component of Takashi’s work is conversations with local activist groups such as Buffalo ReUse and PUSH Buffalo – organizations that have expressed interest in the project – that address the ideas behind the construction of this small-scale monument. Inspired by the simple solutions such as urban gardens and community-building activities, this project is intended to inspire a sense of togetherness and similarity of purpose within the community so as to foster empowerment among local citizens that may inspire creativity in local responses to this ongoing crisis.

During the early twentieth century, architects posited shapes such as the dome or sphere as the future of architecture. Possessing unique iconic forms and the virtue of increased structural strength at a low material cost, these architectural shapes became closely tied to utopian counter-culture movements (Burning Man) and futuristic model communities (Drop City or the Libre Community in Colorado). Geodesic domes and Dymaxion homes like prefab and modular housing methods that were developing in parallel, accomplished their goals by drawing on concepts implicit within modernist design such as mass production, simplification, dismissal of ornamentation and focus on functionality. While I do not suggest that these are the forms future Buffalo area housing should take, the dome is a symbol of the impulse to decrease construction costs, maximize use of space and materials, and conserve energy costs necessary to create a better housing infrastructure and a sustainable future, and as such forms one of the bases of this project. However, recognizing the flaw inherent in these easily replicable but ultimately impersonal structures that makes them undesirable to large swaths of the population, I also draw upon “primitive” designs that are more individual but still efficient in design and cost, such as the yurt and the wigwam, in designing the colorful patchwork of the skin of this structure. While not proposing that we should revert back to a time pre-industrialization, I think a reconsideration of the psychological effects and practical considerations (mobility, ease of construction, strength, accessibility of low-cost materials) that are implicit to these designs is a key to finding novel, sustainable solutions to housing problems.

The dome Takashi proposes is to be constructed as a monument to the past that also serves as inspiration for the future. Constructed to the dimensions of an average adult using a metal conduit understructure, it will be covered with latex skins of various shapes and colors cast from existing vacant housing in abandoned neighborhoods around Buffalo. Showing the individual hands of those whom I work with through their chose of color and skin-shape, and incorporating – through the casting process – the distinctive details that make these abandoned houses desirable but unaffordable, this hybrid futuristic-primitive structure will be constructed as a meeting place for conversation and consideration. While the exterior will simply look attractive by virtue of its colorful collage-like appearance, the interior will reveal the history of Buffalo’s neighborhoods through the replicated surfaces of her homes.

Takashi’s website and e-mail:
www.takashihorisaki.com
takasher {at} gmail(.)com

Buffalo Arts Studio website:
www.buffaloartsstudio.org

High produces videos and installations posing queer and feminist questions into areas of medicine/bio-science, science fiction, and animal/interspecies collaborations. Her art works have been screened in galleries and museums nationally and internationally, and she has received awards for her media works from the Rockefeller Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, among others.

In the last ten years she has become interested in working with living systems, animals and biology and art.  See Video Data Bank for information on video work by K.High

Call for artists

The art show is designed to show by picture and word, how to be aware of, how to identify and how to protect your children from dangers and toxins in the environment. 

The show will highlight the conditions of and remedies necessary to take an unsafe, unhealthy home and make it a safe and healthy environment for all members of the family, especially children.  Artwork in all medium and written word which embodies the aforementioned themes presented will be graciously accepted for exhibit.

We anticipate works showing the positive themes (good nutrition, safe homes, and active kids) as well as negative themes (deteriorated housing, urban blight, and under-utilized parks).  We invite works that highlight urban problems, and offer solutions for green and healthy homes, in Buffalo and beyond.

Show:  April 16^th-22^nd at 464 Gallery, 464 Amherst Street Buffalo, NY 14207

Hours:
Friday, 4/16/10: 12-6pm
Saturday, 4/17/10: 11-6pm
Monday, 4/19/10: TBD
Tuesday, 4/20/10: Reception time TBD
Wednesday, 4/21/10: 12-6pm
Thursday, 4/22/10: 12-6pm

For more about 464 Gallery:  http://www.mindweb.us/Welcome.html

To offer a piece for the show email to Marcus Weiss at: mindweb.us {at} mac(.)com

The calendars are $20.00. There will be a limited supply so we are accepting pre-orders. You can pay online at this page. A big THANKS to Brittany Webster, a design student at Daemen, for donating her time and talents to make this calendar a reality.  We know you will be proud to hang this up at your home or office!

Come see what they came up with … and be seen. All are welcome!!
Encourage these young designers as they move forward, and support them in their journey of discovering how their skills and interests can help the community!

Their opening reception will be December 3rd, from 6-9 pm at the Grant Street Gallery. Refreshments provided by Tim Herzog of Flying Bison and whatever the students can dice and nuke in their dorms.

From the starting point of investigating the spatial, material and structural qualities of different types of wastelands in Buffalo, we aim to expand our understanding of those places and, consequently, to see the different possibilities for re-interpretation and re-inhabitation that the sites provide.

Our investigations take form as a number of short stories told through different medias, such as photo, map, collage, and video.

Opening reception: Grant Street Gallery on Tuesday November 3rd, 6.30 — 9.00 pm.

On view: Wednesday November 4th, 9 am – 9 pm.

Quad Space is an insertion of an architectural academic exercise as a full-scale constructed exploration to spatially and structurally manipulate and define the division of four spaces within a 400 sqf house. This collaborative thesis project is strengthened and necessitated by the nature, scale and logistics of a full scale architectural construction exercise involving coordination, compromises and negotiations by four individuals, while also being challenged and contorted by the conventions of the academia and its definition of a thesis work as a purely individual exercise.

This thesis acknowledges and provokes the typical American view of domesticity by challenging the perception of conventionally extensive spatial needs within the ideal American home and domestic landscape, by redefining and reinterpreting conventional building codes requirements for minimal living.

Project: Quad Space
Authors: Michael-John Bailie, Paul Dudkowski, Ernest Ng H.H., Dan Stripp
Thesis Committee: Professor Mehrdad Hadighi (Committee chair), Dr Jean La Marche, Professor Annette LeCuyer, Jose Chang
Institution: University at Buffalo, Department of Architecture
Contributors: Blackrock Neigborhood Housing Works, Alp Steel Corp., J.W. Danforth, CIR Electrical Construction Corp, Wendel Duchscherer Architects