Chalk it up to building up Buffalo

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — When you step out of Shea’s Buffalo under the signature marquee Saturday, you’ll find a bright welcoming work of art on the sidewalk that almost looks like a carpet.

That is, you’ll find it there until it rains! The work of art is made of chalk and the artist knows she is just one rainstorm away from losing it.

“It’s sad, but that’s the nature of artwork, ” said artist Heather Buechi. “Like life, you’ve got to enjoy it while it lasts.”

Buechi is a graphic designer who has been creating her art in chalk as a pastime and side gig for the last eight years. She credits chalk with reawakening her love of art.

“It completed me,” she said. “I’d do it full-time if I could. I enjoy it so much.”

Buechi was commissioned by Visit Buffalo to produce the work of art which features the new marketing slogan for the Queen City: ’That’s Buffalo For You.’

The timing was crucial. It had to be done on the evening when thousands of people, some of them out-of-towners, flood the Theatre District for the celebrated opening of the theater season labeled ‘Curtain Up.’

Buechi positioned herself on the sidewalk, alongside boxes brimming with chalk, at 11:00 on the Friday morning of Curtain Up. She mixed and measured and rubbed chalky images into the pavement for hours, and was closing in on the finished piece when theatre-goers were heading into Shea’s for the 7:30 p.m. performance of “The Outsiders.”

While the young actors were pouring their hearts out on stage, Buechi was outside quietly pouring her artistic zeal into city catchphrases turned sidewalk sketch.

“I want people to see it and feel the love of Buffalo. I absolutely love the city. People take it for granted,” she said.

As the show concluded and theatre patrons began flooding out onto Main Street, Buechi was there to greet them, having changed out of her work clothes and taken up a spot next to her chalk work to watch reactions and answer questions.

She often heard praise and disbelief that it was done in chalk. ‘I thought it was a carpet,’ some said.

There’s rain in the forecast, which means Buechi’s chalk art will soon disappear. It’s bound to become a colorful smear on the sidewalk — a reminder of a bright, busy night that reawakened Buffalo’s Theatre District for another entertaining season.

However, as this work of art washes away, Buechi says she’ll take her creative skills and chalk to Fall Fest at Canalside next Saturday — always keeping one eye on the forecast!