Mount Calvary Cemetery

Original Artwork Fundraiser,

Winter 2008

Mount Calvary Heritage Foundation Art Sale

The Mount Calvary Heritage Foundation continues it's fund raising initiative to help offset the cost of replacing and/or saving the hundreds of trees that were devastated by the October 2006 Surprise Storm.

These original framed watercolors by Francis Richardson's can be viewed online (below) or at our Pinelawn Chapel located at 2915 Harlem Road in Cheektowaga, NY. Call 716 892- 6600 if you are interested in purchasing one of these paintings.

#1 "Flame" 18X22 Gold Wood Frame / Matted $425

#2 "Abstract Floral" 18X22 Gold Wood Frame / Matted $425

#4 "Bunch 'O' Bananas" 18X22 Gold Wood Frame / Matted $425

#5 "Hibiscus Garden" 18X22 Gold Wood Frame / Matted $425

#9 "Delightful Daisies" 22X18 Gold Wood Frame / Matted $425

#11 "Summertime" 22X18 Gold Wood Frame / Matted $425

#13 "Snow Pair" 30X24 Gold Wood Frame / Double Matted $475

#17 "Sail Away" 22X30 Wood Frame / Matted $650

#18 "Hawaiian Tropic" 45X37 Neutral Wood Frame / Double Matted $650

#19 "Snow Cranes" 45X37 Neutral Wood Frame / Double Matted $650

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#21 "Don't Fence Me In" 45X37 Neutral Wood Frame / Double Matted $750

#22 "Little Green Apples" 16X20 Gold Metal Frame / Matted $500

#23 "Sunday Regatta" 22X28 Silver Metal Frame / Double Matted $580

#25 "Doled Out" 22X28 Pewter Metal Frame / Double Matted $650

#27 "Hilda's Hibiscus" 40X32 Black Metal Frame / Double Matted $680

About the Artist
Frances (Fran) Richardson
Lake Suzy, Florida

Fran Richardson is an award-winning artist who specializes in transparent watercolor. She makes her home with her husband, Don, in Lake Suzy, Florida.

Richardson’s subjects most often comprise seascapes, landscapes, still-lifes, florals and portraits. Her original paintings are included in numerous private and corporate collections through the United States.

Richardson seeks to convey the sheer beauty around her through the watercolor medium. Her inspiration come from the masters such as DaVinci, Michelangelo, Winslow Homer and Monet, whose soft blended strokes of color influence her own paintings. She has an instinctive sense of color and harmonic composition giving her the ability to use watercolor’s flowing properties. The result is paintings of fluid tranquility.

Painting since the age of four, Richardson’s formal training began at the Silvermine College of Art in Norwalk, Connecticut, in commercial art. She studied under renowned watercolorists Fred and Eileen Whitaker, alumnus of the National Academy of Design in New York City. She had eight years of professional instruction with Paul and Carolyn Berry of Skylark Studios in Manlius, New York. In addition she participated in workshops with professional artists Bob Fagan, Joe Fettingis, Tom Jones, Barbara Nechis, Janet Rogers and Lian Zhen.

Richardson has showcased her paintings at a one-woman show at the Oak Street Gallery in Syracuse, New York. Her works have been featured at numerous shows including the Outdoor Art Show in Norwalk, CT, and Skylark Studios Art Exhibits. The Visual Arts Center in Punta Gorda, Florida, has featured Richardson paintings at Florida shows including Primavera, Summer Sizzler, Harvest of Art, Lighten Up, Welcome Back to Paradise and Cape Coral Art League.

Richardson’s works continue to be shown in galleries and juried shows where she frequently takes top honors. Richardson paintings are available at several Florida galleries and by commission.

Richardson is a native of the Northeast and lived for many years in central New York and Connecticut. She now lives in Florida.

Richardson is an avid reader, poet and pet lover. Her passion for watercolor painting is followed by her love for her adopted beagle puppy Quincy. Other talents include gardening, sewing and crocheting.

Heritage Foundation

The Mount Calvary Heritage Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation formed to assist in the conservation of the natural beauty, historic integrity and cultural heritage of Mount Calvary Cemetery in Cheektowaga, NY, a Buffalo suburb. In addition, it serves to increase public knowledge, awareness and appreciation of the unique cultural, historic and architectural resources of Mount Calvary Cemetery and the community it serves.

While Mount Calvary Cemetery maintains a solid permanent maintenance fund, the cemetery wants to extend its commitment to, and interaction with, the community. In order to do this, it required funding apart from finances obligated to those buried at the cemetery. Thus, the Heritage Foundation was established.

Heritage Foundation programs center on:

Architectural Preservation and Restoration

Education/History

Environment

The Mount Calvary Cemetery Heritage Foundation is a permanent community endowment built through gifts and organizations that are committed to the heritage and future of the region. The Foundation offers donors great flexibility, the most favorable tax benefits allowed under the law, and the opportunity to benefit Western New York for generations to come. Each of the initiatives is designed as a tribute to past generations, serve local families and salute our populations of the future.

The community is invited to support the Heritage Foundation through contributions that will preserve and acknowledge the best the community has to offer. Tax-deductible donations can be made as memorial gifts, tribute to honor a special person or occasion, or as a general contribution.

For further information, call 892-6600.

Architectural Preservation and Restoration

In addition to offices, permanent and temporary display areas, a theater and meeting room are planned. A dedicated area for computer terminals for genealogical research is incorporated. Restoration and renovation costs are estimated at $750,000.

Mount Calvary cemeteries are home to many monuments and features of archetectual and historical significance. It is in many ways an outdoor museum. The Foundation seeks to increase the public awareness of the architectural and historical treasures, their importance to the area, and preservation/restoration where needed. Two examples are St. Ann's Chapel and the Shrine of the Crucifixion.

Education/History

Statue maintenance and restoration is time consuming and can be expensive. Specific project areas are available for underwriting. These range from detailed repair and cleaning by artisans to education programs for school program visits so children can take headstone rubbings and trace family histories.

Once complete, the Heritage Center will house items reflecting the tremendous ethnic heritage that helped shape Buffalo and its surrounding community. Residents formed special attachments to neighborhood churches, taverns, and local landmarks. Waves of immigrants relocated to the Western New York area bringing with them their music, craftsmanship, food and architecture representing the world.

To this day, the Buffalo area maintains much of its "ethnic stratification." South Buffalo is recognizably Irish, west Buffalo has a strong Italian culture, east Buffalo houses much of the African-American population, and the Polish population still remains in the Broadway-Fillmore District and Cheektowaga. Hispanics gather on the lower west side of the City to be among family and friends, while the German population founded many significant Buffalo suburbs including Lancaster, West Seneca, Eggertsville and Snyder.

The cemetery properties of Mount Calvary and other adjacent cemeteries represent a melting pot of world culture. Each ethnicity that defines Western New York is a part of these historic properties; significant leaders and thinkers from every culture are buried at Mount Calvary in unity. The Heritage Center will help visitors understand the origins of social division, the unique cultures that each ethnicity has to offer, the overall importance of integration for the future.

When opened, the Heritage Center will serve as a landmark where people can meet and learn. It will be a beacon shining as a cultural focus and the center of expertise and knowledge. It will enhance the quality of people's lives and play a key role in developing a sense of identity.

Environment

Mount Calvary prides itself on some of the most beautiful landscaping and managed grounds in the area. It is an unintentional well kept secret. The Heritage Foundation wants to return the cemetery to its stature at the turn of the century when cemeteries were a social gathering place.

Mount Calvary has set aside property for just such a purpose. However funding is needed to develop community friendly spaces. The Foundation plans to turn 50 acres of open land at Pine Lawn Cemetery (bordered by Genesee Street and Harlem Road) into park like settings as well as establish wildlife sanctuaries, nature preserves, and arboretum area. Mount Calvary already hosts a horticultural center at Pine Lawn that will serve as a resource for environmental enhancement.

In addition to the general Environment fund, the Foundation has an adoption program whereby patrons can donate money designated specifically to adopt an area, tree or plant, or features. Seating areas with benches, memorial gazebos, flower gardens, and other park-like elements are incorporated in design plans and are available as tributes to individuals and organizations.