BUILT 2020 Featured Artist Interview - Michele LaMont

Artist Statement 
”I  have always felt a connection between the performing arts and visual arts.There exists a form  to melodies as well as color. I try to create free flowing and imaginative works that draw the viewer in again and again. My smaller works invite close up inspection as they are intricate and abstract. I want each observer to see what  is meaningful to them.  I continue to experiment with papers, mediums and processes in my current work, always seeking to create curious and delicate pieces that draw the viewer closer for a more intimate experience.  All works are unique and hand printed on various papers.  Works are produced using a variety of  techniques  such as;  Intaglio, chine colle, etching, solar plates,  linoleum cuts, gold and copper leaf” - Michele LaMont 

Hi Michele! Thank you for agreeing to an interview. First can you tell us about your piece 'Got Heat' for BUILT 2019 which won the Jurors Award?

The 2019 "Juror's Award" piece, "Got Heat," was originally a Photo I took at the HAF Warehouse. I made a Solar plate etching of the black & white print. I then inked the plate and ran it through the Press onto a cellulose sheet. The several layers of process gives it a unique appearance.

What made you want to submit to BUILT for the first time?

Michele’s winning piece from 2019 - Got Heat?

l  I have always admired the architecture  of the Capitol region having grown up in Troy. After 45 years "Downstate" I purchased a Historic landmarked home in Malta, NY. Original date was 1790, and in 1810 & 1830 additions were added. I went to the HAF Warehouse in search of  replacement hardware and became a member. 

Do you often find architecture an inspiring topic for your work?

I particularly enjoy the architecture of doors & windows and see them as the "eyes" of the building. I frequently have them as the center of my prints.

 What would you say to someone considering submitting to BUILT for the first time in 2020?

I think it would be a great experience for an artist to accept the challenge of creating a work inspired by their Historic surroundings. It forces one to look at and appreciate what is right in front of them. The reception & auction were awesome experiences.  

Are you submitting a piece for 2020 and can you tell us anything about it?

I have been keeping my eyes open for inspiration to create a piece of art for BUILT 2020. I am tweaking a few ideas and hope to settle on the one that speaks to me most. 

Finally, how have you been entertaining yourself during the lockdown?

Some of michele’s current work

I have continued to teach Piano to my students via Zoom. I have also been doing minor projects to restore our home and working at my Printing Press when I can.  Inspiration is hard to come by during  this Quarantine lockdown. My husband and I have been personally touched by the Covid-19 situation. We have lost several friends and one family member to this horrific virus. Many friends have been hospitalized, one very close friend for 5 weeks. It is a sneaky & scary disease and we must keep our distance until a vaccine has been created.  Having said that, I hope some normalcy will be here before the end of the year 2020. 

Visit the BUILT homepage for more information about submission and the event here >>

Entry fee deadline is Sept 18th

BUILT 2020 Featured Artist Interview - Patrick Naughter

Patrick Naughter is a photographer and filmmaker. Born and raised in Albany, New York, he graduated from Emerson College in 2017 with a BFA in Visual and Media Arts / Cinematography.

Patrick’s winning piece from 2019

Patrick was one of 9 Young Artists to submit to BUILT in 2019 and was the first recipient of the Young Artist Award.

 Hi Patrick! Thank you for agreeing to an interview. First, can you tell us about your 2019 piece, Attic Light, which won the Young Artist award?

My piece for BUILT 2019 was captured during a time where I had come back home to Albany in between moving from Boston, MA to Los Angeles, CA. I spent much of that time clearing the cluttered attic of my childhood home, and the process provided me with a new perspective on the house I'd grown to love so much as a kid. Built in the 1870's, in the Victorian style, I'd always admired it's foundation of stone, decorative trim, and steeply pitched roofs. The attic, however, was always a source of fear for me as a child, with it's dark corners and creaking floorboards. Although my mother has been in the house for 30 years, the attic had long housed leftover belongings of previous tenants, including some truly antique-looking medical equipment, and, as if they had planted it with the sole intention of frightening children, a clown doll.

 The process of clearing the attic of all this clutter, clown doll included, slowly brightened those dark corners. I began to notice how beautifully the sunlight shot into the space through the attic's porthole windows at around noon everyday. On one of these days, after moving a particularly dusty piece of carpet, that light took the shape of a beam, and I grabbed my camera (appropriately it was mother's 35mm camera from college here in Albany), and captured the photo. I went on to continue with my work in the attic and at the end of the process, I found that the space was no longer one that inspired fear. Without the dust, cobwebs, and debris, my attention was now drawn to something I hadn't been able to appreciate before, the structure of the house itself. I was struck by how solid everything felt, the thick timber beams that framed the roof, the chimney that shot through the floor and rose to the ceiling and disappeared into the sky outside. I discovered the latched windows that, when opened, welcomed in the first breeze the attic had felt in years. Above all else, standing in the attic and looking at the skeleton of the house provided me with the acute awareness that the house I had known for so many years as this ever-present place in which to live, had once been built, with wood and stone and glass, by the hands of many people. It made me feel lucky to be a part of this place's long history, and gave me a new respect for it's many imperfections, as I could now more easily see them as parts of its history.

 When I had the photo developed weeks later, those feelings remained and the image now serves as a wonderful reminder of that discovery.

Do you find architecture an inspiring topic for your work?

I love the way architecture reflects the broader environment in which a structure lives, even if that environment can't be seen in the image. The mind is quick to create the context for itself. Additionally, as someone who also enjoys portraiture, I find structures are at times the perfect subject, always maintaining their pose, letting me wait for the right moment.

What made you want to submit to BUILT? 

My mother informed me of the foundation and event, and it felt like a great opportunity to share my work among a community of people who might be interested. 

 What would you say to someone considering submitting to BUILT for the first time in 2020 - especially if they are a young artist?

If you are thinking of submitting a piece to BUILT 2020, I would strongly encourage you to do so. Above all else, seeing all the other amazing work from local artists was incredibly inspiring. I was exposed to beautiful new perspectives of our city and made more aware of the vibrant artistic community we have.

 Are you submitting a piece for 2020 and can you tell us anything about it?

Unfortunately, due to the fact that I moved to California this past year, I don't have much material to offer for this year's contest. That being said, I hope to come home well stocked with film on my future trips back east in the hopes of finding new inspiration.

 Finally, how have you been entertaining yourself during the lockdown?

In lockdown I've found pleasure in long runs, lots of reading, and taking socially distance photographs around my neighborhood!

Interested in submitting to BUILT 2020? Find out more here >>
See more of Patrick’s work here >>

BUILT 2020 Featured Artist Interview - Scott Foster

Scott Nelson Foster is an artist and educator living in Albany, New York. He serves as the chair of the Creative Arts Department at Siena College where he holds the rank of associate professor of studio art. His watercolor and oils have been featured in galleries throughout the United States. In most of his paintings, Mr. Foster utilizes a variety of media—both traditional and modern—to create an image with many layers and levels of detail. His paintings evoke impressions of the nostalgia and memory tied to particular locations and objects 

Scott’s winning piece from 2019 - fourth street V

Thank for joining us Scott! First can you tell us about your piece for BUILT 2019 which won Best in Show?

That was a small watercolor I made of a house on 4th Street in Troy. Once summer I walked up the street taking photographs of houses that stood out to me. Ed Rucha had done this piece in 1966 called "Every Building on the Sunset Strip." It's one long continuous string of photographs that present each structure as a facade. I didn't have any intention of doing anything quite so ambitious, but I like the idea of expressing a location by depicting the buildings in a deadpan sort of way, and in limiting oneself by focusing on a defined geographic area. I've painted about a half dozen of the buildings along 4th Street at this point, and will probably paint more over the years to come. 

Do you find architecture an inspiring topic for your work?

I do. I have been painting buildings since 2005 when I was bored with the still life I had been painting, and walked across the street to sketch in a trailer park. Variety within unity is what keeps me painting. Every building is essentially the same, but every architect, home-owner, proprietor, etc. brings something unique that is reflected in the structure. That's not to say that those idiosyncrasies are the subject of my work (in fact it is the unity that is the more overt focus of my paintings), but those details are what makes me keen to start a new painting. 

 What would you say to someone considering submitting to BUILT for the first time in 2020?

You have very little to lose. You're able to attend a terrific party; the sale of your work will support the preservation of a city we love; and you'll get to meet and chat with a great community of artists, professionals, and creative minds.

Are you submitting a piece for 2020 and can you tell us anything about it?

I am planning to submit a painting. I have a small painting of a house from the area around New Scotland Ave. that I could submit, but I'd like to make something new. I've been painting motels and drive-thrus from Idaho (my home state) recently. I'd like to find something similar out here. I have some photographs of the Snowman in Troy that I'd like to do something with. Or perhaps the Historic Albany Community might have some suggestions?

Do you have a favorite building in Albany that you would love to base a piece on?

It would be hard to nail something down. I'm always finding new material. I take photographs wherever I go. Sometimes it's years later that I find something I like in a photograph. I still have 35mm slides and 4x6 prints I may work from someday. Anyway, when I first visited the area on an interview there was a house on Englewood off Washington Park that was for sale. I had dreams about moving to town and living there. It was way out of my family's price range. I did do a painting of it in 2011 or 2012 that I donated to the BUILT show. 

What do you think makes Albany's architecture unique?

scott’s current work in progress - lamplighter motel

I like the diversity of architecture. There's the mid century pop-culture stuff that I'm presently in love with, as well as the Victorian browns stones, cape-cods, and federal buildings. The dutch influence is something I like seeing. I hadn't seen any of that before coming here.

 Finally, how have you been entertaining yourself during the lockdown?

Entertainment is something I've been missing. Between childcare, teaching classes, keeping department business moving forward, and making time to paint, it's been a real juggling act. I've been taking a lot of walks, especially in the Rural Cemetery. If your readers haven't had a chance to really poke around in there, I would highly recommend it. The lockdown has definitely forced me to be more creative. Access to art supplies is something I no longer take for granted. I had to put together a quick tutorial on making pens and ink for my students. It's linked here on my website

Interested in submitting to BUILT 2020? Find out more here >>

The Steamer No. 10 Firehouse by Akum Norder

Undated postcard image of Steamer No. 10 firehouse, postmarked 1912.

The Steamer No. 10 firehouse is an anchor of the Pine Hills and a landmark of my kids' childhoods. A little rough around the edges, sure, but quirky and creative, good-hearted, and its roots run deep – on every count, the old place is just like the city it stands in.

A 1954 photo from the firehouse’s “Engine 10” days. From The History of the Paid Albany Fire Department: A Story of Fires and Firemen From 1867-1967. Warren Abriel, editor, and Joseph Winchell, photographer. Albany: Argus Greenwood, 1967

In 1892, when the fire station opened, residential development was booming up here in what they used to call Albany's West End, as the city's expanding trolley network gave people new options on where they could live and still commute downtown. A bit of history, just because it's so cool: The Steamer 10 crew fought blazes with the help of a steam-powered pumping engine pulled by horses. The firefighters took pride in being quick to the call: They'd get out a stopwatch and demonstrate for visitors how the firemen could slide down the pole, drop the harness on the horses and climb into their places on the engine and hose cart in — get this — seven seconds. In 1897, during a citywide firehouse inspection, they hitched up in 5.25 seconds — the fastest time of any fire crew in the city. The steam engine had to be ready, too, and the building had several boilers in the basement to keep the pump primed at all times.

Albany switched to motorized trucks in the late teens, and Steamer 10 became Engine 10 – less poetic, maybe, but more practical. For most of the twentieth century, firefighters answered the call from their Pine Hills station house. But the West End of Albany kept on moving west, and in 1988 the Engine 10 company moved that way, too, out to Brevator Street.

“The reuse of old buildings marries a city's past to its future. Notable buildings ground us – they remind us we are here, in this place, not in some generic Anywhere USA”

And then came the question that comes, in time, to all oversized, outdated buildings: What do we do with the firehouse now? City officials toyed with converting it into a neighborhood library, but engineers determined the structure couldn't handle the weight of the books. Next the city offered it to The College of Saint Rose for use as an arts center, but they didn't bite.

Enter Ric Chesser.

Laughs at curtain call, Steamer 10 Theatre, 2017

Chesser was executive director of Washington Park Theatre Inc., a drama group that had played in spaces around Albany since the mid-1970s. He had seen first-hand what a great tool live performances could be for reaching young audiences, and he persuaded the city to lease the firehouse for use as a children's theatre. In 1991, the building took back its old name, the one carved above the double doors, becoming Steamer 10 Theatre.

“We liked that it was collaborative, not competitive. It gave kids responsibility, but also room to be silly”

It was the mid-aughts when my husband and I started taking our kids there, first as audience members and then as participants in their theatre camps and youth productions. To start, it was as much about convenience as anything else – why drive the kids all over creation for after-school activities when this place is two blocks from our house? But what we discovered is that a theatre is a pretty darn good place to raise your kids. Ours is not a very sportsy family, so theatre is where our children learned teamwork and the ability to think on their feet. We liked that it was collaborative, not competitive. It gave kids responsibility, but also room to be silly. It was a place where kids like ours – with big emotions and heads full of stories – could find each other, and thrive.

Steamer 10 has the feel of a place run by a man who's doing more than anyone should do on his own: never quite tidy, always some half-finished repair that was supposed to be done the year before, or the year before that. A big project to build a lobby was snarled by, among other things, the discovery of multiple underground fuel tanks – remember all those boilers? – and dealing with those blew a hole in the budget.

In one sense, how the place looks isn't the important part – it's what goes on inside, etc., etc. But in another sense, a building like the Steamer 10 firehouse matters very much – both for the people who use it and those who just pass by. The reuse of old buildings marries a city's past to its future. Notable buildings ground us – they remind us we are here, in this place, not in some generic Anywhere USA. Schools, seats of government, and churches are built with a sense of grandeur, or used to be, not only to inspire or awe us but also to remind us there's something larger than ourselves. They're a tug on our community conscience.

For a city like Albany and a neighborhood like Pine Hills, the firehouse is a symbol: of resilience, adaptability, and also fragility. Its future is by no means assured; it hinges on whether we decide old places like these are worth keeping, and do what's necessary to keep them. Which makes the firehouse also a symbol of hope. And Albany needs more of that.

by Akum Norder

For more information about Steamer 10 Theatre and to support them visit their website or follow them on Facebook

steamer 10 curtain call 2014