224 Lexington Avenue Buffalo, NY 14222 |
Over the holidays we will be highlighting a number of members of Buffalo Society of Artists (BSA), so that you might support them by purchasing original works of art. Thanks to Paul Rybarczyk at BSA for helping me put these together. Visit the BSA website to learn more about the institution – one of the oldest continually operating arts organizations in the country. Next up on our list is artist Eileen Graetz:
I was born in Buffalo and have lived here all my life. I’ve wanted to be an artist for as long as I can remember. In 1973, I received a BFA in painting from UB and immediately went to work at the Chevy Plant on Delevan Avenue. While working, I took classes from Walter Prochownik at night and painted in acrylics and oils.
In the early 90’s, I went to New Mexico and visited the home of my favorite painter, Georgia O’Keefe. I began working with photography because arthritis made it difficult for me to paint. Growing up in a middle class family with both parents, and then myself, working in factories, it seemed logical that I would be drawn to photographing old buildings. Georgia O’Keefe turned massive boulders and areas of the desert into simple colors and shapes and I focused on the abandoned ghosts of Buffalo’s past, the grain elevators.
Shape, color, texture, reduction. Anything has the potential for beauty. It just takes the right eye to find it and I believe that is where my painting helped me in selecting my subjects. I often see the end result when I look through the lens, but many times I alter my photos on the computer. I pull the tiniest detail from an image and turn it into a focal point. I alter colors to brighten up an aging grain elevator or get as close to a flower as I possibly can.
I am a member of Western New York Artists Group, Buffalo Society of Artists and the Carnegie Art Center. My prints and note cards can be seen at Wild Things and ZGM Fine Art Gallery. I also have artwork and note cards in the Artful Gifts at Art Dialogue Gallery. During the Holiday Open Studios on Nov. 30th and Dec. 1st and 2nd, I will be exhibiting at ZGM Gallery.
ZGM Gallery
1045 Elmwood Ave
Buffalo, NY 14222
716-228 -1855
Wild Things
Deborah Stewart, Pat Pendleton, Kristin Damstetter, Alana Adetola Fajemisin, Sarah and John Cozzemera, Rob Hopkins, Jennifer Seth-Cimini, Elisabeth Strong, Michael Mulley, Patricia Schwimmer, Mikel Doktor, Jerome Greenberg, Elizabeth Leader, Jacqueline Welch, Doreen DeBoth, Joe Cascio, Candace Masters, Iris Kirkwood, Lukia Costello, Michael Morgulis, Julie Leatherbarrow, Chris Liberti, Michael Mararian, Daniel Rodgers, Bruce Adams, Ken Payne, Christina Cooke, Elise Anne Brooks, Frank Cravotta, Jackie Albarella, Gary Melius, Melissa Campbell, Jeff Quigley, Nancy Moran, Vincent Alejandro, Patti Harris