Artist Spotlight Series: Theresa Heinz
Artist Spotlight Series: Theresa Heinz
Olean’s First National Bank Hosts 5 Artists Studios Through December 2024, First Up
Theresa’s studio space at the iconic First National Bank, corner of Union and State in Olean NY. Photo / Theresa Heinz
Thanks to Savarino Development, an iconic Olean bank whose presence has stood for over 100 years has been given a facelift, an overhaul, and new life. The former First National Bank features apartments with retail and commercial spaces on the ground floor. The 44,000 square-foot, steel and brick framed building consists of six floors and one mezzanine. Construction began in November of 2020 and was completed in the Spring of 2023.
The First National project is the historic renovation of the thirty years long-abandoned 1915 First National Bank building and the adjacent former Siegel’s Shoes building in downtown Olean, New York. The 10-story First National building, known locally as the “Manny Hanny Building” because its former occupant, Manufacturer’s Hanover Bank, now houses 21 market-rate luxury apartments on floors 2-10. The former bank floor and mezzanine will house an event facility.
As with many projects that begin with someone asking, “why don’t we?,” this one with First National Bank Art Studios & Lobby Gallery was created by ChaShaMa with help from Paula Bernstein at the Tri-County Arts Council and Savarino Development. It happened because of an email chain which included Bernstein, who planted that seed. The project provides five artist studios and exhibition space through December 31, 2024. The artists featured will be Theresa Heinz of Cuba, Sean Huntington of Olean, Fileve Tlaloc Palmer of Great Valley, Eva Potter of Allegany, and Tara Walker of Olean.
The studios are open to the public Tuesday 10:00am-4:00pm, Thursday 3:00-7:00pm, and Saturday 10:00am-4:00pm. They are located on the first floor of the First National Bank Building, 108 N. Union Street. The Tri-County Arts Council advocates for the creation and appreciation of arts and culture in the region, and this opportunity would not have happened without the partnership of Chashama and Savarino Properties.
You are invited to take classes at the Arts Council (110 West State Street), that range from snow sculpting and pumpkin carving to tree painting and pet portraits, and most anything in between. Go to tricountyartscouncil.org for more information or look for them on Facebook at Tri-County Arts Council.
The first one-person exhibit will feature the work of resident artist Theresa Heinz of Cuba beginning Friday, September 13th (6:00-8:00pm) through October 5th. You are invited to attend the opening of her show named “Expansion. How a Space Alters the Creative Process.” In speaking with the artist, she laughed as she explained how the presentation got its name. You see, Heinz has worked consistently with small pieces, partly because her home studio is tiny. She didn’t realize that she was confined to “small” works because of the size of her surroundings until she walked into the studio space at the bank and was overwhelmed with the vastness of the creative space she could now use. She immediately had a paradigm shift.
Having already bought supplies consisting of 6x6 inch canvases, she immediately returned them and bought builder’s paper, canvases measured by the foot, large tubes of paint, large brushes and learned how to do art kneeling on the floor. Using a gelli printing process (printing without a press), Heinz creates the paper she uses for her collage work, putting to use the sheets of brown packing paper from Amazon! She has shifted from small, fine detailed pieces, some put down with tweezers, to a grand scale involving large tools and expansive ideas. She mentioned a field of hollyhocks, which this writer is partial to. Who remembers making hollyhock dolls with toothpicks and flowers when they were a child? The magic of art is that it invokes memories, feelings, emotions that can overtake us unannounced.
Theresa Hintz is a native of Cuba, retired from 31 years as a high school art teacher. She holds a BFA and MS in Art Education from Alfred University. She prefers the collage medium because it gives her the satisfaction of texture, color and perhaps a bit of serendipity when she adds just another gelli piece of paper to a creation. Married to her high school sweetheart (now, how sweet is that? She said that after 43 years they figured they might as well keep doing what they are doing because it obviously works), mom to two young women who live in Pittsburgh and Dansville respectively, and mom to her furbaby Jack Russell terrier, Ike. (knowing she has and loves this pupper should tell you reams about this lady!) She unabashedly smiles through her voice when speaking about the freedom to create that retirement has given her. Adding to that the gift of using this amazing, oversized bank space for the next few months has her giggling with joy. You will want to meet her just to catch her infectious joy and discover it exhibited in her work.