The new C. Stuart and Jane H. Hunt Gallery is officially open, featuring the works of six resident artists, both in-person and online. The exhibiting artists are Danielle Saeva, Kevin Burzynski, Peter Olonade, Jeannine Mullan, Elizabeth D’Amore, and Jesse Lee Steffan-Collucci (learn more).
Each of the artist has been provided with gallery space, rent free. Hunt Gallery will help to bolster the careers of the artists in ways that they might not otherwise be afforded. The gallery has teamed together with Buffalo Society of Artists (BSA) to promote, collaborate, and network.
Rachacha attended the gallery’s grand opening, which was held last evening. He shared some of his thoughts on the newest cultural addition in downtown Buffalo.
At the opening I ran into Stephen Fitzmaurice, Senior Vice President of Hunt Commercial Real Estate. Most in Buffalo know him as the former Chief Operating Officer at One HSBC Tower. The Brisbane Building is one of the properties in his portfolio. He mentioned that when Peter Hunt told him he wanted to create an art gallery in the building they had to look for a model that would work. They found it in Rochester with the RIT City Art Space in the Sibley Building downtown, like the Brisbane Building also once a major downtown clothing store.
The gallery returns a high-visibility use to the corner of the Brisbane Building facing both Lafayette Square and the Hotel Lafayette, which perhaps should be known as Lafayette Corner, formerly occupied by Visit Buffalo-Niagara, which moved there from the Market Arcade in 2014. The gallery makes great use of its bi-level space with art as the street-level drawing card and studio space just below with an open staircase joining them. Also below are the gallery office and a small kitchen and break room.
The opening was packed with well-known figures from Buffalo’s arts world and business community, and folks like me who wanted to get a look at the art and see what was new.
Photos by Rachacha