Buffalo musician Ben Abraham (music professor and entertainer, available for parties), knows it's great to be alive on Pearl Street.
Buffalo, arty and hip? Who knew? I'll admit I had been brainwashed by the propaganda from New York City, although from reading Elizabeth Licata's blog, Gardening While Intoxicated, and reading Buffalo Spree magazine I was clued in that there is a vibe of cool going on in Buffalo. What I wasn't prepared for was all the great architecture. Like a modern day Bruges, Buffalo is nearly frozen in time from its late 19th century
and early 20th-century heyday, which just happens to be my favorite architectural period.
Can you say "Arts and Crafts"?
A bit of Prairie Style:
This large planter in the Allentown neighborhood was filled with colorful annuals. From the tour bus (we traveled in comfort), we saw a Frank Lloyd Wright house.
Japanese Garden in Delaware Park
Hey, how'd that get in there? ("David of the Highway")
That's better. (Summer Street, Cottage District)
Lancaster Avenue
Garden of Rue Franklin, a restaurant where we had an exquisite lunch. (Don't get me started on the food.) Can you see the bird being smothered by the Brobdingnagian Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia)?
Elizabeth Licata has little rusted metal pigs in addition to her main sculpture.
Do you notice something odd in the corner of the following picture?
Yep, Elizabeth, that paragon of taste and culture, has a plastic pink flamingo in her garden.
It certainly charmed me.
handpainted rainbarrel in garden on Summer Street
This large planter in the Allentown neighborhood was filled with colorful annuals. From the tour bus (we traveled in comfort), we saw a Frank Lloyd Wright house.
How about Art Nouveau?
glass house at the botanic garden
This vintage fairy is in the garden of the 20th Century Club where we dined.
There are also plenty of examples of Queen Anne architecture.
There's even some of the classical stuff.
Buffalo Historical Society
Buffalo likes to mix it up.
stair riser, front porch Victorian, Delavan Avenue
Pearl Avenue house
with matching garden screen in wood.
Because of the cold winters, the outdoor art has to be made of durable materials.
Pearl Avenue house
with matching garden screen in wood.
Because of the cold winters, the outdoor art has to be made of durable materials.
Japanese Garden in Delaware Park
Much of the garden art is metal, which I love.
Lancaster Avenue
Hey, how'd that get in there? ("David of the Highway")
That's better. (Summer Street, Cottage District)
Lancaster Avenue
Garden of Rue Franklin, a restaurant where we had an exquisite lunch. (Don't get me started on the food.) Can you see the bird being smothered by the Brobdingnagian Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia)?
Elizabeth Licata has little rusted metal pigs in addition to her main sculpture.
Do you notice something odd in the corner of the following picture?
Yep, Elizabeth, that paragon of taste and culture, has a plastic pink flamingo in her garden.
(And I thought she couldn't get any hipper.)
She's not the only one.
See the flamingo hiding in the jungle of plants? While the gardeners of Buffalo have excellent taste,
(from the same garden on Delavan), they clearly have a sense of humor.
(from the same garden on Delavan), they clearly have a sense of humor.
Summer Street
also Summer Street
house on Bird Avenue
house on Bird Avenue
Quirky and charming are good words to describe Buffalo.
Summer Street
It certainly charmed me.
handpainted rainbarrel in garden on Summer Street
By the way, there are some nice gardens in Buffalo too.
* * *
This is just the first post about Buffalo. I chose to focus on art for it because I had the least to say about it. I want to thank Jim and Elizabeth for all their hard work. It paid off in spades, Buffa10 was simply magnificent.
To read other bloggers' takes on Buffa10, click here.
34 comments:
Great post. I love that rain barrel - it's adorable!
Great post--I LOVE all of this cool architecture, and the garden art is to die for! In the first Lancaster photo (right after "David of the Highway," lol) what are those things attached to the fence? Old window frames? And are they metal, or weathered/painted wood, or...? I don't know why, but they particularly fascinate me.
An amusing and insightful first course, MMD! Well done on all fronts. Way to get the name of the guy on Pearl Street too. The art and architecture was top drawer, Buffalo rocks! (As do you. )
Frances
I wonder where you saw that fairy reading? It's a good thing I didn't see her, or she'd be sitting with me on the plane to OKC. Just kidding. Great subject, Barb.~~Dee
Man what great gardens! And that flamingo looks vintage--I'm pink and green with envy!! (Which reminds me, I saw your photo on I believe Frances' blog in your green & pink outfit. Loved it!)
Elizabeth's garden was too full of bloggers for me to get a good view of it. But, in other gardens, we took a lot of the same pictures... all those nifty little details that imprint the gardener's personality. I really did love Buffalo and Buffa10.
(And, Dee, that fairy was sitting in Miss Elly's Cottage District garden.)
Oh I love that you captured all those great architectural details - a surprising treasure in an altogether surprising city!
Art in the garden always sets the tone. It is fun seeing the pieces you have highlighted.
Great post, Barbara! You saw things that I didn't see. I suppose that all 60+ of us had different experiences--but all great.
Loved seeing you, honey.
Robin Ripley
Neat-o stuff we saw! And you saw stuff I didn't, so thank you for sharing it with all of us.
Liza - she also painted her big wheeled recycle bin to match.
Blackswamp Girl - I thought it was metal, but now that I think on it, I suspect it's wood. The homeowner made the deck at that house, and he used black stained wood as trim on it, so it's possible he made it from leftovers.
Frances - he gave me his card. I need to mail it to Elizabeth.
Dee - you were too busy being wowed by the plants. It was in the garden with the makeover photos in the Cottage District.
Monica - you mean the photo of my butt?
Helen - we all might have taken photos of the same things, but our photos all look a little different. Just like us. It was great to meet you finally.
Cyndy - that it was. I'm so glad I got to meet you there.
Lisa - makes you want to start making something for the garden.
Robin - very true! It was great seeing you again too. Thanks for the wine. It was fab!
Carol - even seeing the same things, we each bring our own perspectives, which is so intriguing.
Love the moon with the clematis and the purple bird houses! Looking forward to the garden posts!!
What fun shots you shared! It's great to see all the photos (for those of us who couldn't go).
Blackswamp Girl -
I can answer your question about the thing on the fence on the Lancaster Ave garden (behind the bamboo) because "hey - that's my garden!" I shouldn't ruin the illusion of "art," but that really is nothing more than an old security door that I found in the trash. The lines work with the other things in the garden, so I threw it in my trunk, painted it black, and hung it on the fence. Trash repurposed as art.
PS - as a resident, it truly was great fun meeting all of the bloggers.
Hi, evguy154 - sounds like outsider art to me. You saw the beauty in trash and turned it into a fab garden feature, which makes you an artist. I wish I could have gotten a good shot of your beautiful deck. Thanks for welcoming us!
Barbara,
Love your photos, and meeting you in Buffalo. Keep that lovely sense of humor of yours simmering...VintageGardenGal
Hi MMD, And I thought you might be too busy to take photos?? I love this post and your perspective of the artistic details you noticed. Of course you like metal art! How's your welding coming along? Any new projects??
I may never get to Buffalo, so thank you for this (and your next ones) post! :-)
I know I didn't see that painted rain barrel. But I didn't go to every garden in the Cottage District that was available. Sometimes there was just too much to see. I regret we never got over to the Irving Place gardens. Too hot to detour over there, but Elizabeth told me they went all out to get ready for us.
Barbara, Now I have to go back because I missed so much! Even just now I missed the repurposed screen door art that Kim saw. (I was looking at the bamboo...) Too cool. I did notice the flamingos though. (Floyd and I are in good company.) I'm so glad to have finally met you!
A perfect post describing the art of Buffalo! And wasn't it WAY more hip than you'd ever imagined. I was thinking sort of renovated rust belt city -- boy, that was blown out of the window!
Great to have met you-I'll think of your purples (and the inspiration) when I'm wearing lavender and lime (otherwise I'm ms. natural colors).
Lisa
I am so impressed that you - and Helen - managed to keep such good records about where you were when you took photos. You sure are showing everyone that there is more than fabulous gardens in Buffalo. The architecture was a revelation. But the biggest revelation for me was feeling so simpatico with all the other bloggers. It was great to meet you!
I am so glad to be reading the recaps of the Buffalo trip on so many blogs. I have enjoyed seeing the most common areas photographed and then your individual likes about the gardens.....
evguy154, you're not ruining my illusions--that's still art! And I love the results--as well as the idea. I now have some new things to look out for when trashpicking around here. :) Thanks for explaining!
So far I've loved every one of the Buffalo posts I've seen. Buffalo always features prominently on the news for getting huge amounts of snow but I never realized what a charming and lovely place it is--or what wonderful gardens it has.
Marnie
You definitely have 'the eye' as evidenced by these great photos. It is great to see Buffa10 through the eyes of the other bloggers. Great fun MMD. Many more experiences to come.
What a great post, MMD! Thanks for sharing all these different views of your weekend experience. Oh, do I wish I could have gone! And now I promise that's the last time I'm going to say that:) I love all the art and architecture, though I wonder if "David" has caused any car wrecks:) I saw the article in the June issue of Horticulture that Elizabeth wrote so I had an idea of what you might be seeing. As you say, who knew Buffalo was such an interesting city?
I wish I could have attended. YOU captured my favorite part about gardening : ART! Gardening is totally art to me!
Thanks for sharing - I feel like I was there via your blog!
aloha,
i loved your garden tours of the buffalo area, the art is wonderful, thanks for showing this to us today, what a treat
These are so lovely, whimsical and fun...don't make me try to pick out just one favourite, because they are all very cool and intriguing. Awesome photos, Barbara. Wish I coulda been there.
Great photos! The gardens really complimented the architecture in Buffalo.
Barbara, you captured so many of the lovely and quirky things about Buffalo. That took discipline that I sadly did not have. I think I was having too much fun to focus!
I missed all the flamingos, the giraffe, and the pot with sunglasses. Hilarious! I did see the art in Elizabeth's garden on a second, less crowded visit; as I recall, those metal "pigs" were actually buffaloes, a nod to her hometown.
That first picture reminds me of you dancing everywhere.
Thanks for all the wonderful images of my home town. Don't know if anyone mentioned it, but Buffalo is second only to Chicago in the number of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings. And it has that same glorious mix of late 19th and early 20th century architecture as Chicago.
You have a fantastic eye for details! It was great to meet you!
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