My studio is a 900 sq. ft space on the fifth floor of Buffalo’s TriMain Center. Built in 1917 as a Ford Model-T factory, the TriMain, like the city itself, has gone through economic upheavals. Now considered a ‘mixed-use business center,’ this huge hulk of a building rises at 2495 Main Street and dominates the landscape around it. Main Street has historically been the dividing line between the decaying Eastside and the redeveloped Westside neighborhoods of Buffalo. The TriMain attracts a diverse population from both sides of the city and gives me the opportunity to meet and work with them. At the same time, I can close my doors and retreat into my own quiet, creative space.

The surrounding neighborhoods are an extension of my studio. As I walk out of the building, I find treasure close by.  Abandoned toys, old photographs, hunks of rusty metal thrown out to the curb, pieces of wood encrusted with layer upon layer of paint – a riot of intense textures. It’s startling and intriguing to see what others have left behind. The leftovers from this post-industrial city have become my raw material. Exploring and photographing abandoned houses and factories, collecting and combining pieces into assemblage have become steps in my process. Sanding surfaces lets me reveal layers of time. Painting portraits and framing them with old wood is another part of my method. I don’t think I would have found such meaning and direction for my work if not for my TriMain studio.

- From the new book  “Creative Spaces, The Western New York Artist Studio Project”
by Richard W. Christian and Steve H. Siegel