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Photo: w_lemay, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Designed by the internationally-famous father-and-son team of Eliel and Eero Saarinen, Kleinhans Music Hall is among the most architecturally distinguished buildings in Buffalo (it has served as a model for Festival Hall in London, among other venues), and boasts world-renowned acoustics. Aside from the several-times-weekly performances of the Buffalo Philharmonic itself, Kleinhans also features performances by other orchestras, small theatrical shows, and popular music acts — which have included Natalie Merchant, Johnny Mathis, and the Indigo Girls — performing either on their own or backed by the Philharmonic as part of the BPO Rocks! concert series.
Kleinhans Music Hall is a concert hall located on Symphony Circle in Buffalo, New York, United States. Designed by Eliel Saarinen and his son Eero Saarinen, Kleinhans opened on October 19, 1940, and serves as home to the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, a regular venue for the Buffalo Chamber Music Society. The Saarinens were assisted by local architects F. J. and W. A. Kidd, Stanley McCandless as lighting consultant, and Charles C. Potwin as acoustical adviser. Kleinhans has two performance spaces, as well as additional rooms for rehearsals or events, and is regularly rented out to local groups and private events. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989 for its architecture, 49 years after its completion.
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The Benjaman Gallery has been operated since 1970 by Barry Johnson, a local artist, art expert, and a former instructor and advisor at Buffalo State College and the University at Buffalo. What began as part of the thesis Johnson completed to obtain his MFA from Buffalo State has grown into a family-owned and operated institution in Buffalo's booming arts community, situated in a gorgeous Victorian mansion on Elmwood Avenue whose exquisite architecture and decor make it a work of art in itself. The Benjaman Gallery's collection includes the works of Buffalo and Western New York artists such as Hal English, Milton Rogovin, Martha Visser't Hooft, and Barry Johnson himself, as well as nationally and internationally famous names such as Salvador Dalí, Peter Max, and Charles Burchfield, the renowned watercolorist who was a resident of the nearby suburb of Gardenville at the height of his career. The Benjaman Gallery also offers custom framing, restoration, appraisal, research, and design consultation services, and buys and sells antiques.
Described in the UB Spectrum as an "unpretentious diamond in the rough", the American Repertory Theatre expanded in 2018 to its current location, the former TheaterLoft on Elmwood Avenue. The production schedule of this grassroots-based community theatre alliance regularly includes not only a mix of classic and contemporary theatrical works, but also live music, film screenings, poetry readings, and a variety of community events.
Describing itself as a "fusion of aesthetic elements in an inviting and contemporary atmosphere", Fuse Salon & Gallery is quite an unusual concept: this full-service upscale hair and beauty salon does double duty as an art gallery that displays a rotating selection of works by local artists, all for sale at fair prices, as well as occasional temporary exhibitions. Guests can admire some of the best work of Buffalo's talented creative community while at the same time getting a manicure or having their hair styled and colored! As befits a full-service salon, locally produced soaps, lotions, massage oils, and sugar scrubs are for sale alongside the artwork. A truly one-of-a-kind experience.
A former fashion designer, artist Judith Shea has made a name for herself sculpting images of empty articles of clothing that hang as if suspended in air, and so it is with this 1987 work of hers that was donated to Buffalo by AT&T after spending nearly thirty years as part of their corporate art collection. One of three identical sculptures cast from the same mold (you'll find the others at the John Hancock Tower in Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego), Eden is a two-piece work depicting a man's cloak side by side with a long sleeveless ladies' dress, signifying what the artist describes as an "encounter of opposites".
The folks at Seven Seas Tattoo are not just artists of the body variety (though if you're looking to get inked up on your trip to Buffalo, you could hardly pick a better place): their Elmwood Avenue shop also doubles as the home of this similarly-named gallery, where the walls are adorned with drawings, paintings, and other original works by store staff.
Cast in 1981, this was the second commission of public sculpture in Buffalo for locally renowned artist Larry Griffis (his first, Spirit of Womanhood, is described below). Unlike the subsequent works listed here, it stands not in Delaware Park itself, but a short distance away. 20 feet (6 m) in height, Birds Excited Into Flight is sculpted in cold-rolled steel on a concrete pedestal and depicts seven human figures standing in a circle with upstretched arms, their hands metamorphosing into a pyramid of birds.