Elmwood Avenue is now adorned with silver ornaments, Christmas lights, and as of Friday, banners created by Buffalo State College’s very own Fiber Design Program in the hopes that this holiday season, residents can relive the days when our home was called the “Rainbow City”.
The banners were created by thirteen participants, the students and faculty of three schools. From Buffalo State College participants include Jozef Bajus, Associate Professor; Carol Ann Rafferty, Fiber Instructor; and BSC Design Department students Amanda Beaulieu, Jessica Bell, Mary Semrau and Jessica Smith. From the Catholic University art department in Slovakia, artists include Pavol Rusko, Associate Professor; Rastislav Biarinec, Associate Professor; and Slovak students, Stefan Gajdos and Matus Adam. And Pennsylvanian representatives of Slippery Rock University’s art department are Barbara Westman, Fiber Instructor; and SRU students Mary Kobot and Jesse Seybert. All of these artists took part in the International Workshop, “Identity of Space 2”, held this past summer at Buffalo State College.
The project began after Bajus accompanied three Buffalo State College Design students on a trip to Central Europe in Slovakia to attend a two week workshop titled “Identity of Space 1”. During this workshop, the students studied Art Island, or Slanica which including a tour by Eva Liptakova PhD., Director and Curator of Oravska Gallery of Original Artifacts, to work on site-specific projects based on research using found objects. Art Island is owned and operated as part of the Oravska Gallery.
“Identity of Space 2”, held at BSC, served as a reciprocal workshop for those students visiting from Slovakia and Slippery Rock University. This workshop focused on the history of the Pan American Exposition in the summer of 1901 when Buffalo was named “Rainbow City” by day and “City of Lights” by night. The banners are representative of what the city might have been during this celebration and the vibrancy that it took on.
Bajus said, “I have always been fascinated by the Pan American Exposition. The banners are an attempt to bring that glory of Buffalo back. Some of the designs include a Native American theme, which was inspired by an artifact that we discovered in the Historical Society’s museum, the energy of Niagara Falls, day versus night, and the red, white and blue of the American Flag. What we realized with that however, was the commonality between the U.S. and Slovakia–their flag is red, white and blue as well.”
The students will be celebrating the banner installation on Friday, November 16, from 3 – 4:30 PM at the Erie County Historical Society in Buffalo. The public is welcome.