Preservation League Presents "Hidden in Plain Sight" Art Exhibit

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Meet the Artist Reception Friday, 11/9, 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. at the League’s National Register-listed headquarters at 44 Central Avenue in Albany. The reception is free and open to the public.

ALBANY, NY (10/17/2018) (readMedia)-- The Preservation League draws statewide attention to New York's most important and at-risk historic places through its biennial Seven to Save list of endangered places.

Last year, the League mounted an exhibition of photographs of the 2016-2017 Seven to Save designees, taken by Bruce Harvey, a consulting professional historian and documentation photographer based in Syracuse. The "Hidden in Plain Sight" exhibit was such a success that they engaged him to photograph the 2018-19 Seven to Save list.

The exhibition will open with a Meet the Artist Reception on Friday, November 9, from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. at the League's National Register-listed headquarters at 44 Central Avenue in Albany. The reception is free and open to the public and refreshments will be served.

The exhibit is sponsored by the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor with co-sponsors Consigli Construction Co., Inc.; Gray Slate Partners LLC of Troy; PBDW Architects; Matthew Bender; and Phoebe Powell Bender; with additional support from Rev. Dr. Thomas M. Pike, and Caroline and Michel Zaleski.

The 2018-2019 Seven to Save list includes: the South End-Groesbeckville National Register Historic District in Albany; the Watervliet Shaker National Register Historic District in Colonie; the Jamestown Arcade in Chautauqua County; Wells Barns, concentrated in Monroe and Livingston Counties; the Enlarged Erie Canal Schoharie Aqueduct in Fort Hunter, Montgomery County; the Lehigh Valley Railroad Roundhouse and Related Structures in Manchester, Ontario County; and Historic Opera Houses, statewide.

Through the Seven to Save program, the League has worked with local stakeholders to avert demolition, develop plans for reuse, secure landmark designation, and foster greater public awareness of the value of New York's unique and irreplaceable historic resources. Press conferences, tours, grants and new legislation are among the strategies the Preservation League uses to secure the future of historic places at risk. The League also collaborates with advocates, elected officials and other stakeholders to craft preservation strategies and put these plans to work.

Bruce Harvey holds a Ph.D.in History from Vanderbilt University, and traveled around the state to photograph the League's most recent Seven to Save designees. He produces all of his photographs in accordance with the standards of the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historian American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER). HABS was a New Deal program from the 1930s that employed out-of-work architects and historians in the documentation of major historical landmarks, while HAER was an addition in the late 1960s that drew from a growing interest in America's industrial history.

"I am an experienced journeyman historian, very familiar with the range of sources that allow me to tell the stories of the vast range of places where I have worked," said Harvey. "From cities and towns in southeastern Alabama to the northernmost reaches of Maine, to military bases for nearly all of the branches, and hydroelectric facilities throughout the nation, I love to tell the stories of places, to recapture and represent the continuities from past to present."

The Preservation League invests in people and projects that champion the essential role of preservation in community revitalization, sustainable economic growth, and the protection of our historic buildings and landscapes. It leads advocacy, economic development and education programs across New York State.

For more information on the League and its Seven to Save program, please call 518-462-5658 x10 or visit www.preservenys.org.