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Main and Evan St./Garrison Rd.

  • Artist: Courtney Haeick
    • Biography:
      Courtney Haeick is from Buffalo, New York and is an artist and educator. She is a multidisciplinary artist that creates paintings, sculptures, jewelry, graphic designs, and murals. Courtney has received her BFA in Art Education from Buffalo State College and graduated with her MFA in Sculpture from SUNY New Paltz.

      Throughout the year she works as a teaching artist for Young Audiences of Western New York, teaching kids how to create chalk art and murals. Courtney has worked as an art educator for Charter School of Applied Technology, and will now be an art teacher at Nease High School in Florida.

      Courtney was an intern for an international performance art non-profit organization called Grace Exhibition Space. She has exhibited her work at the Burchfield Penney Museum of Art, Unison Art Center, Idea Garden in Kingston, Project 308 Art Gallery, Conception Arts in Chicago, Czurles-Nelson Gallery, Bacon Student Art Gallery at Buffalo State, Kenan Center, and Albright Knox Student Art Gallery. Courtney has also created logo designs for Boston Hills Brewery and Grace Space.

      She has also been interviewed by Spectrum and Buffalo News for her chalk mural art. Courtney has been featured in publications such as WGRZ, Lockport Union-Sun and Journal, and Buffalo Art Wall.

    • Inspiration:
      My inspiration for this street box came from pollinators such as butterflies and bumble bees and the beauty around them. I wanted the box to stand out with vivid colors and attract the eye of the public passing by. I chose the colors of the background to be a cloud-like blue blending into a yellow ombre to resemble sunshine. The flowers look as if they are sprouting from the bottom of the box adding some natural beauty to the design. Along with butterflies being pollinators, they are also recognized as a symbol of hope and remembrance of a loved one. The portrait of the womans face is included into the artwork to reflect the butterflies meaning and to show the beauty of women and nature combined.

Main St and Harlem Rd

  • Artist: Abigail Penfold
    • Biography:
      Abigail has had an interest in art since she was a small child and has continued to follow her passion. She received her B.F.A. from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh in 2011, focusing on drawing and painting. After undergraduate school she maintained a relationship with art; teaching art to children at a local school, painting classes to adults and participating in other art events. She also found a painting assistantship with a world renown Trompe L'oeil artist where she learned to paint and install large scale realistic murals. Currently Abigail resides in Buffalo, NY and spends her time focusing on her own murals, oil paintings and pyrography works. Her most recent murals can be found in Niagara Falls, NY near the Amtrak station and in Lima, NY or on her website www.abigailpenfold.com.

    • Inspiration:
      Abigail's design highlights the birds that are native to the western New York area. She has painted an Eastern Bluebird, an American Goldfinches and a Cardinal. The background; a sunset, clouds and a blue wavering line, abstractly resemble the river and sky of Amherst.

Main St and Kensington Ave

  • Artist: Krystina Kagan

Main St and Los Robles

  • Artist: Jennifer Smyczynski
    • Biography:
      Jennifer Smyczynski is an artist and art educator from Getzville, New York. Throughout the past few years, she has taught art in various settings in the Buffalo area and has experience teaching students from grades Prek-12. Art has always been an important part of her life and she enjoys sharing her artwork with others. For her undergraduate degree, she went to Daemen College where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Art Education (K-12) and a Minor in Painting. She later moved to New York City and attended school for her Master of Arts in Art Education at New York University School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. A few years ago, she moved back to the Buffalo area and lives with her family and dog.

      Her design for the traffic signal cabinet is based on her abstract style of watercolor painting but adapted for this project. She typically paints using watercolor and a small brush to make fine detailed illustrations, however, for this concept, her plan was to paint the abstract lines, shapes, and swirls that she is used to making but on a larger scale. The larger scale and bold colors make the design more visible from the street and sidewalk. Her work is meant to be playful and whimsical, and the hope would be that this design sparks joy in those who view it.

      She is extremely happy that her design was chosen for the traffic signal box project. This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase her artwork in the local area and she is looking forward to having her artwork displayed publicly on Main Street in Williamsville.

    • Inspiration:
      When I first saw the call for artists, I knew that I wanted to submit a design incorporating the style of art I’ve been making for the past five years or so. I create illustrations using small swirls, lines, and abstract shapes with watercolor but knew that I would have to adapt my art style to make a design that would work on a traffic signal box. My first couple of sketches, I played around with how much bigger my lines and shapes would have to be. I also wanted the curved lines and shapes to look like they wrapped around the traffic box, so I drew the 3D shape of the box as part of the design to show this concept.

      From there, I started thinking more about colors and what I wanted my influences to be for the final design. I used paint markers for my initial artwork because I wanted to use bold and opaque colors. It was important to me that the design would stand out enough on the street but still be pleasing to the eye. My design has a white background and includes red, blue, yellow, green, pink, and black as the color palette. Retro aesthetics have always inspired me, and this can be seen in all my artwork but especially in the traffic signal design. Disco, 1960s modern art, and 1970s graphic design styles come to mind and the result is contemporary but still groovy!

Main St and N. Union Rd

  • Artist: Kimberly Gryckiewicz
    • Biography:
      Kimberly earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Daemen College in 2015 after creating an award winning senior show. She continues to be active in her local art community by participating in festivals, shows, and events that promote Art appreciation. Kim and her husband Tim, have a small business called Tim and Kim Originals where they produce affordable fine art and photography.

    • Inspiration:
      I try to find beauty in the hidden places and the commonplace alike. Sometimes it's a small waterfall tucked away from the main attraction. Other times it's a family of ducks sitting by the water. These are things we may see from time to time, but don't really look at and appreciate during our busy work weeks. We have a habit of passing by the little things. I like to give viewers an opportunity to rest and reflect on what we have.

Main St and Youngs Rd

  • Artist: Jessica Tomaino
    • Biography:
      Jessica Tomaino is the founder, visionary, President, and head instructor of WAHI Studio INC. This art education 501(c)3 nonprofit opened in August of 2020. Her education is a Bachelor’s Degree in Hospitality Tourism & Recreation Event Management from Niagara University and an Associate’s Degree in Fine Art from Niagara County Community College. She has been a freelance artist specializing in pet portraits since 2012, chalk artist since 2013, and independent art instructor since 2017, and muralist since 2018. Her favorite mediums are oil pastel, chalk pastels on pavement, and acrylic paint. You can find her encouraging young artists and spreading creative joy all through Western New York.

    • Inspiration:
      Amherst is an environmentally rich region for birds and wildlife. The John James Audubon Parkway having the moniker for the famous watercolorist that studied birds and illustrated them. I would paint a Red-winged blackbird on the traffic box with changing light. You see them flying from the ditches and into the tree lines along the roads everywhere. They are also a symbol of prosperity and protection. These birds are fearless and will fight back against predators. I love to overlay patterns like paisleys on nature scenes and will incorporate them. The spirit of this bird and Audubon’s impact on Amherst is something special to illustrate and would look lovely.

Daemen College

  • Artists: Allison Mora & Julie
    • Biography:
      Allison Mora is an art teacher at Williamsville North High School and has been teaching since 1995. She graduated from UB with a BFA in Illustration, and received a Master’s degree in Art Education Buffalo State College. Allison has illustrated children's books, local advertisements, and private commissions since 1992, including The Pop Up Piano project, which was a fundraising effort to raise money for the arts in Seminole County Florida. The motif of the piano was orange crates and their relationship to the history of Central Florida. The piano was auctioned for $5000.
      Julie Walter is a fun-loving art teacher, artist, and life enthusiast. She has been an art teacher for 8 years and currently teaches in the Williamsville Central School District. Her passion for creativity and collaboration has influenced her participation in many public art projects.
      As an artist, Julie explores her intuitions through many processes and techniques, and has recently taken interest in acrylic texture mediums. In her spare time, you can catch Julie exploring the food culture of Buffalo or teaching private & public paint classes. If you are interested in learning more, you can contact her on Instagram: @BuffaloPaints.

    • Inspiration:
      The design of the electric box was inspired by the work of two famous Buffalo artists: Frank Lloyd Wright and Charles Burchfield. The image is an abstraction of a maple tree, the most common species of tree in Amherst. The design is reminiscent of Wright's Art Glass windows and the color palette was based on Burchfield's painting, "Four Seasons". Each face of the traffic box will show a maple tree reflecting the seasons in Amherst. The side of the box facing the street is Winter. We chose Winter as the prominent side because the color scheme aligned with the colors of Daemen college, and winter feels like the most prominent season in Buffalo. The vision for the final artwork is multicolored, reflective, and metallic to catch the light as the cars go by.

About Amherst

The Town of Amherst was established in 1818 and celebrated its 200th Anniversary in 2018. The town has a geographical area of 53.6 square miles and a population of greater than 122,000.

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  • 5583 Main Street
  • Williamsville, NY 14221