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.




Friday, February 10, 2012

Bernice Smith featured in Buffalo News

Bernice Smith, a frequent Painting for Preservation artist, was recently featured in the Home and Style section of the Buffalo News. 

Bernie's paintings capture the vibrancy of the distressed places Painting for Preservation has visited.  She painted at The Old Blacksmith's Shop, Harris Hardware, and Central Terminal with us in 2011.  It's easy to see in this interview that Bernie loves color, liveliness, and activity.  It's so important to have artists like Bernie recognize and translate the beauty of neglected spaces in art.  Her depictions give us a new interpretation of beautiful places so many ignore.  To read the article about her home and personal style, click here.

Bernice Smith's Paintings from Art In at Central Terminal... (yes she really did do TWO in only 4 hours!)