While reading some of the comments from the previous ‘Island’ post, I was struck by a couple of comments. I agree with kahawa and Denizen that it would be best to see the island expanded, and maybe someday it will be. In the meantime I still think a ‘non-dreck’ work of art would be cool. Of course that work of art, if ever built, would be mounted with a temporary ‘unboltable’ mechanism that would allow the piece to be moved in the future. I’m sure that with all of the PROGRESS in that district, eventually a light will shine on that intersection, and then the urban island can serve its more deserved function.
I also noticed a comment by The_other_mike that read:
“Bring back the ‘progress’ statue that used to sit in front of the Central Terminal. I am sure that someone could recreate it.”
I was not familiar with the statue the he was referring to so I headed over to the Buffalo Central Terminal website to see what ‘Progress’ looked like. The accounts related to the work of art states that the piece was put there after The Terminal was closed. During a cleanup at the site, workers attempted to transport the sculpture to Griffis Sculpture Park, but it was in such poor condition that it crumbled. Now I’m not sure if the Central Terminal Restoration Committee would want ‘Progress’ recreated anywhere but on terminal grounds, but it is a rather interesting work of art that would most likely not be referred to as ‘dreck’ by passers-by. Also, even though no one knows too much about its history, there are probably a lot of people that would recognize it from visiting The Terminal. Regardless whether a project of this sort actually happens or not, it was neat to see this work of art that I was not aware of. Anyone have any more info on ‘Progress’?
Photos:
© Colleen O’Connell 1996 (bottom right)
© Jerry Erion 1999 (left)
© Jerry Erion 1999 (top right)
Bill Zimmermann
Bill runs Seven Seas Sailing school, and is a staunch waterfront activist. He is also heavily involved with preserving, maintaining, and promoting the South Buffalo Lighthouse. When Bill first started writing for Buffalo Rising, he wrote an article a day for 365 days - each article coincided with a significant historic event that happened in Buffalo on that same day.