Artpark had a long history prior to becoming the first state park devoted to the arts. The First Nations people originally lived in this area and a burial mound dating over 2000 years old is located on the grounds of Artpark. Explorers Father Louis Hennepin, O.F.M. and René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, landed on the site in 1678. The first cabin built by white settlers was completed in 1720. By 1764 there was a British fort and a cable run railway that was used to ferry supplies up the escarpment. The 1800s saw the building of a large estate (destroyed by fire in 1965), a suspension bridge linking Lewiston & Queenston was built, and a sandstone quarry operated on the land. By the middle of the 20th century the land was largely used as a dump for both Chemical companies and the state.
The state took over the land and what is now known as Artpark (official name is Earl W. Brydges Artpark State Park) was officially opened in 1974.
In 2017 Niagara ’79 designed by Gene Davis was reproduced in the same parking lot.
From the Kickstarter campaign created by Artpark and Company:
In the summer of 1979 Artist Gene Davis (whose estate is held by the Smithsonian American Art Museum) installed an Artwork titled, Niagara ’79. It came to be known as The Painted Parking Lot and it was incredible. Gene Davis spent weeks hand rolling sixty, 2-foot wide by 364-foot long lines in 9 different colors. This artwork was widely covered by the media and everyone in the community came out to experience it. At over 43,000 square feet, The Guinness Book of World Record’s hailed it as the largest painting in the world at the time.
Now that same parking lot is covered in black top with standard white parking lines. With permission from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Artpark is launching a campaign to recreate Gene Davis’s Niagara ’79 in that same parking lot using his exact design. Artpark has been working with Sherwin and Williams and will use the same industrial paints found on the runways at airports, in specially formulated colors, to make this project come to fruition. Armed with 18 inch paint rollers and miles of masking tape Artpark Adventure Staff and a group of volunteer professional painters will spend the month of May 2017 hand rolling lines just as Gene Davis did. JOIN US!
Julie Lewizky is still producing her fancifal artworks.
The big wooden building (the Art-El) was demolished after nearly 40 years of use. It was both a fun and scary structure for children and I spent many days running amok on it.
Collection of Artpark Visual Arts Catalogs | eBay
1980 Artpark program- The JOFFREY BALLET | eBay
PLAYBILL PROGRAM Hamlet 1975 Sam Waterston Ruby Dee John Lithgow Artpark NewYork | eBay
Artpark 1974-1984
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