When it comes to “buying local”, purchasing artwork is about as “local” as it gets. Not only is the art actually made right here in Buffalo, the artists creating the works live in our neighborhoods. While supporting the individual artist is great, a new gallery amplifies the art scene by incorporating countless numbers of artists into the creative fold.
Nancy Clarke Mariani (chair of the Lancaster High School Art department) and George Grace (playwright/poet/visual artist) are in the process of opening a new gallery at 1209 Hertel Avenue. The gallery will be celebrating its Preview Opening Wednesday November 28, 2012 from 6-9pm, and its Grand Opening/Open House on December 1, 2012 from 1-9pm.
The gallery will open with a bang*. Artists featured from the start include Arthur Barnes, Gary Wolfe, Priscilla Bowen, Norine Spurling, Ann Gunderman, John O’Reilly, Beth Pedersen, Rita Argen Auerbach, Joe Delmonte, and gallery partners Nancy Mariani and George Grace; with sculptures by Patrick Delmonte, Rose Popper, David Vitrano, Marissa Lehner, and Ann Gunderman.
I was first made aware of this new gallery by Buffalo Society of Artists, one of the oldest continually operating arts organizations in the country. After stopping into the gallery, I was introduced to Nancy Clarke Mariani who told me that it was her hope that over the holiday season that people would come in and purchase one of a kind works of art. “There’s nothing wrong with having a couple of framed posters in your house,” she told me. “But after you get a poster framed, and the money you put into it… you could have invested in an original work of art. The only posters that I ever purchased were famous works of art that I could never have afforded to buy. Collecting art is an investment, and Buffalo is filled with so many talented artists… it’s incredible how fortunate we are to live here amongst them. Normally a gallery is located in a community – here at Meridian we have a community in a gallery.”
In keeping with our motto, Community in a Gallery, this multi-use space will also host the Bad Pudding Writers Group, now in its fifth year, on alternate Tuesdays, and will conduct poetry, short fiction, play-readings; art and writing classes and workshops; and arts symposia throughout the year. On alternate Wednesdays, the Gallery will feature many of Buffalo’s premiere songwriters in a coffeehouse setting. – Buffalo Society of Artists (Facebook)
Meridian West Gallery is opening in the former Chateau Buffalo location. Chateau Buffalo has reopened in the Niagara Frontier Food Terminal (Facebook) – Clinton and Bailey.
Meridian West Gallery
“Community in a Gallery”
1209 Hertel Avenue, Buffalo, New York
(716) 768-3805
e-mail – mwg1209@roadrunner.com
*Also gift items by Michael Morgulis, Beth Delmonte and poetry books by Lynn Ciesielski, George Grace, Sara Ries, and other local writers. Music at the opening will be provided by blues-jazz keyboardist Ann Philipone, singer-songwriter Michael Sheffield, and the Lancaster High School Music Ensemble. The general public is cordially invited to attend.