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"It's
a mosaic that looks like a Buffalo made from thousands of self portraits
drawn by people of our community."
How It Began...
Brian
Nesline was inspired to create a bridge between artists,
non-artists and art itself.
In imagining a solution to his quest, he used the Creative
Problem Solving model (CPS) from his creative studies
coursework at Buffalo State College, where he received his
BFA in Graphic Design.
The end result was
"Faces of Buffalo",
the first ever community-wide event of its kind in that
everyone is welcome to participate each year by creating
their self portraits and other drawings to be united into
beautiful mosaics representing the community.
 Buffalo at Home Article [11.15.06]
The National Veterans Creative Arts
Festival [10.13.04]
The Danbury News Times
Article [06.15.04]
The Buffalo News Story
[07.06.03]
Artvoice Interview
[06.06.02]
International
Creativity Day Celebration
The
Mission...Engage a Community!
Faces of Buffalo continues to expand the concept of public art by
including every participant as an artist. The aim of Nesline’s “ Faces
of …” innovation is to excite and unite communities through simple,
practical creative expression.
In spring 2002, Brian Nesline and his now wife Mary Nesline
began to collect self-portraits from every willing
participant
in the community.
Self Portrait Response Forms©
were made available at events and locations throughout the
area. The vision was to create a large scale mosaic of
a Buffalo using all of the faces. Close up, viewers see all
of the individual self-portraits; from a distance - It's a
Buffalo!
And
it Grew...
By the end of the first collection year [2002], Faces of
Buffalo visited over 20 community organizations, schools, and
events, and collected nearly 1,000 self portraits. In June of 2003
Faces of Buffalo
released its 2002-2003 opening year mosaic.
In 2003
participation increased to over 3,500 self portraits which were
united into an all new Buffalo mosaic along with six other
images representing an Architectural Series. The exhibit was
displayed at the Arts Council in
Buffalo & Erie County, The Virginia Weiss
Gallery of Empire State College located on the 3rd
Floor of the Market Arcade, then it
moved into the Buffalo Niagara International Airport where it remained
during the 2004 and 2005 holiday seasons.
In 2006 Faces of Buffalo
opened at the Buffalo Home & Garden Show, raising funds
for the Buffalo firefighters Guardian Foundation. By year's end
Faces of Buffalo for Charity moved
into the McKinley Mall, covering 300 feet of wall space.
Passerby's were able to draw their face at the mall and buy select matted prints
to support a charity. As time goes on Mr. Nesline sees Faces of
Buffalo continuing to support a wide variety of local charities
while bringing this creative experience to communities year
after year. It's becoming a tradition, a staple of Buffalo. We
are all creative and we all have a place in the mosaics.
“The
success of my endeavors comes from a personal relationship with God through faith in
the name and practical spiritual teachings of Jesus Christ",
says Nesline.
Interactive
Art Projects, School Fundraising and More...
Prints
of the mosaics are available through retail stores, fundraising events and
directly from the artist through this
website.
Each
year we are all re-invited to participate in creating our faces and carrying
on the tradition of uniting the community with Faces of Buffalo. Nesline's
branch of business, Faces for
Fundraising™
contracts to do
special mosaic
projects with schools and not-for-profits as an
innovative program to heighten creativity and raise money. Mr. Nesline
also offers special mosaics of companies, and other
cities through Faces of Buffalo LLC.
Faces of Buffalo State
College and their Community, which depicts a mosaic of Rockwell
Hall, was completed in May 2004. Other
clients include schools, companies and organizations such as Leadership
Buffalo, Fisher-Price and The BISON Scholarship Fund, D'Youville College,
AmeriCorps, BlueCross BlueShield and more.
Media Coverage...
Faces of
Buffalo has been written about in Artvoice, The Buffalo News and Buffalo
Spree Magazine. Brian Nesline has appeared locally on Artscope, WIVB’s
The Why Guy w/ Kevin O'Neill
and AM Buffalo. Mr. Nesline also offers
freelance Graphic Design, interactive projects, speaking
engagements and special promotions.
Currently expanding the “Faces of…” innovation to other cities; Nesline
envisions Faces of America.
This
Website
www.facesofbuffalo.com serves as the local
hub for the entire Faces of Buffalo experience. Through the site you can
stay in touch, explore unique services and
learn about
fundraising
and leadership opportunities designed for schools and not-for-profits.
Brian
Nesline can be reached at 716.854.5033
or email:
facesofbuffalo@hotmail.com
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716.854.5033
