Transfigured Saturday...

After the regular 11am Saturday morning tour of the Artspace Backyard neighborhood a few of us gathered and ventured over to the Transfiguration Church at the corner of Sycamore and Mills, just one block east of Fillmore. See Transfiguration archive for additional details...

An art restoration specialist and fixB friend joined us for the tour. She was amazed at the level of devastation that has happened at this location during the last 14 years. She cried and wondered how people here in Buffalo would allow something that was meant to last for centuries crumble in less than 100 years.

After ringing the bells...we left the building and quickly noticed this storefront church directly across the street and in Transfiguration's shadow. MJ grabbed this panoramic shot showing this church's proximity to the gothic ruins.

photo by MJ

We gathered after the tour back at the Sonic Cafe across the street from Artspace. Over Buffalo's only brick oven pizza we discussed the shifting role religion and the built environment play on various cultural and personal levels.

Here tour group members are pouring over a book by Camilo José Vergara (1944 - ) How the Other Half Worships (2005) that I first wrote about in late October 2006 - Vergara on Church. That post and this one, too contain numerous links to various academic conferences and videos that discuss Vergara and his work. A refreshing non-dogmatic and non-academic approach that can help us understand decline in our City.

Interested in checking out the City's near East side for possible homesteading opportunities around Artspace - meet up at the Sonic Cafe Saturday's at 11am. You'll never know where we might end up...

Update...MJ's slide show!

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Artspace Archive • Annals of Neglect • BAVPA • Where is Perrysburg? • Broken Promises...
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