BRO viewer submission by Mark Weber, www.myspace.com/markwebermusic.
This past week, I sang at Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, located at the corner of Elmwood and Lafayette, as part of the Elmwood Village Association’s holiday tree lighting ceremony. It was the first time I ever sang my very personal song, “Who Wants To Cry At Christmas,” in front of the public. There were about 80 people gathered to hear me and my piano-playing friend Johnny Juarez present our “Christmas in Spanglish” concert at that beautiful, old church in the heart of one of Buffalo’s most dynamic neighborhoods.
It had been a while since I had been to the “Elmwood Village,” as I’m as suburban as suburban could be, living on the outskirts of Buffalo in one of its more upscale (read: boring) suburbs. Johnny commented to me after the concert that it was cool to be playing a gig on Elmwood; we both felt the city vibe of the street, teeming with distinct and alluring lights, sounds, stores, buildings, and people.
On the way to Lafayette Presbyterian, we passed by the newly opened Burchfield-Penney Art Center. I was so intrigued at the thought of something essentially brand new in a city where everything is seemingly old and often worn out that I decided to come back to Elmwood a couple days later to investigate for myself this new edifice and the contents inside.
Visiting the Burchfield-Penney Art Center on a cold, rainy, and windy Sunday afternoon, I felt as if I was in New York City at the Museum of Modern Art, which I had just visited a month prior, because the art and the people looking at the art were so darn hip. “This is…Buffalo?” I thought to myself as I wandered around the white-walled corners of this giant building filled with all sorts of interesting people. For a moment I experienced what I’d call a “Barack” moment– you know how Barack Obama inspired everyday people to believe in themselves and America once again, after years of just going through the motions? To me, this brand spankin’ new, magnificent Burchfield-Penney Art Center was a “Barack” moment for me, and indeed for our much maligned city of Buffalo.
Usually, Buffalonians have griped that nothing ever gets done, and the list is endless of promised projects that never materialized. Yet here was a shining jewel that cost a boat load of money to make, and actually, physically, came to fruition in my lifetime.
Burchfield was a world-class watercolor painter who lived and worked and created art in suburban Buffalo, in a place called “Gardenville.” He passed away long ago, yet his legacy lives on through this amazing Art Center. According to words on the walls of this place, he had always hoped to have his seasonal paintings displayed in-the-round, so this new museum has its own rotunda where you can go from fall to winter to spring to summer just by standing in one spot and rotating yourself 360 degrees to see Burchfield’s watercolors representing the different seasons.
Burchfield, to me, is Buffalo’s version of Normal Rockwell. I went to rural Massachusetts to see Rockwell’s museum. Both artists had and have widespread, mainstream appeal– folksy charm that draws crowds. So with the new Burchfield-Penney Art Center, I am thinking that all sorts of art enthusiasts, from the casual retiree who dabbles in watercolors to the serious students who want to make art their livelihood, will flock to Buffalo to experience this swank, yet down-to-earth new museum.
The location of the Burchfield-Penney, with its prominent, clean-cut exterior on Elmwood Avenue, couldn’t be better. One could literally walk across the street to another of Buffalo’s most beloved and important places, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. And, if your legs are in decent condition, in less than five minutes, you could then walk to the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society Museum, which is just down the road, making what I’d call “a triangle of touristic appeal.”
I had read somewhere that this stretch of Elmwood has been referred to as Buffalo’s Museum District. These three prominent museums are a great start. But Buffalo needs to build critical mass, which means forward-thinking visionaries need to add a few more museums into the mix, along with boutique hotels, knick-knack shops, and elegant restaurants within walking distance of these established museums so tourists from New England, Ontario, Ohio, and beyond can say, “There’s so much to see and do right here that we’re staying overnight, making a weekend of it.” Can you imagine how many retired married couples could be bussed in to our fair city to look at the “things on the walls” at the Burchfield, the Albright-Knox, and the History Museum? Add in something like a bicycle museum, a car museum, a children’s museum, a manuscript museum, a kazoo factory and/or something else appealing to tourists, and you’ve got a place that brings in lots and lots of outside visitors who spend lots and lots of money.
Las Vegas thrives because it has a whole bunch of casinos clustered together. Buffalo can take a cue from that city and start to further develop Elmwood Avenue’s “Museum District,” attracting art and history buffs from near and far who say, “I can’t get this at home. This is so cool.”
I mistakenly took home one of Lafayette Presbyterian’s microphone stands, so I need to return it, and I can’t wait to go back and experience, once again, the vitality of Elmwood Avenue. I will pass the Burchfield-Penney Art Center on my route, and in the months and years to come, I am sure I will pass that place many, many times, as will many fellow Western New Yorkers. And when I do, I will always have in the back of my mind the notion of what that place represents: dreams can come true in Buffalo, and this city does have world-class, unique attractions worth boasting about.
Best of all, when people from out of town come and visit me, I can offer them a day spent wandering Buffalo’s Museum District, our one-of-a-kind triangle of touristic appeal. Hopefully, in the next could years, there will be even more museums and attractions there for me to show off to friends and family.
Photos: queenseyes
BRO Reader Submission
We love to hear what the Buffalo community has to say. We offer a space to those who feel that they want to share their stories, without committing to writing ongoing articles. Typically reader submissions are one-offs that contribute to the broader Buffalo conversation.