UB Student-Designed Art Spruces Up Allentown (excerpts)
You have to look closely, in some of the most unlikely places, to see them -- beneath your feet, in a tiny wedge of space between two storefronts, on the slender poles that anchor parking meters to the sidewalk. But once you find them, organizers of a series of functional art projects in Allentown ask that you stop for a moment and take a look.
The seven projects, a joint venture of the Allentown Association and a group of architecture students at the University at Buffalo, were constructed to spruce up existing structures, correct damages with a unique flair and shed new light on Allentown's oft-neglected treasures.
"I really like how it's a combination of subtle things that you'd hardly even notice, and big, in-your-face things," said Elizabeth Licata, an Allentown resident who helped organize fund-raising events for the project.
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A garden structure at Main and Allen streets—the "gateway to Allentown"—is one of the project's largest undertakings. The graceful web of metal anchors another recent community project—a garden planted in a former vacant lot.
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Perched on a curb across from the Spirits of Allentown liquor store, a 6-by-1-foot granite rectangle frames Days Park, the historic green sliver that slices through the neighborhood's residential area. The stone slab will be outfitted with handrails and a bronze casting through which visitors can have an unobstructed view of Days Park.
Licata said the Days Park "viewer" radiates a message to passers-by. "It says: 'Stop, look where you are. Don't just walk by,' " she said. " 'Look at the uniqueness of where you are.' " The project would have exceeded $50,000, but donations from area construction and building materials companies and residents cut the cost to $7,000.
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