Monday’s Update
Video Summary (recorded Feb 22, 2014)
1.) 27 Bold Fire
On Thursday evening, the Pasadena Apartments was gutted by fire. The building, located at 27 Bold Street, was one of the oldest apartment buildings in Hamilton. The 1914 Heritage Designated building caught fire around 8 pm and by 9 pm the fire had reached the roof.
We used to live next door to the Bold Street building, and it was full of artists and freshly graduated university students who were starting her careers and wanted to be downtown and experience the urban life.
The building made the street cool and the surrounding buildings slowly upgraded to very fashionable apartments. I can only imagine what the smoke damage must be like for the nearby apartments. I visited the site on Friday evening, and the smell of smoke is still very strong in the air.
For a very good description of down-town living and the experience of the fire from a very close perspective, I recommend reading Jessica Rose’s excellent posting on Not My Typewriter.
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2.) My #HamOnt Project
I continue with photographing Hamilton’s buildings, landscapes, and interesting sites with my Blackberry cell phone camera. Every day I take a photo around Hamilton and tweet it to the community using twitter @erskinec and using the hashtags: #HamOnt, #HamArt, #FCSD.
My project was first inspired by the City’s plans to document all the historical important buildings. I was also influenced by Chris Healey’s efforts to document Barton Village using his iPhone camera. So, a shout out to him and his influence on my work; people should check out his work.
In addition to tweeting each day, I also post the daily photos to my Tumblr blog.
Every Friday, I select the best photo (defined by history, architecture, or personal connections) and post it to this blog. I missed this past Friday because of my visit to the Bold Street fire.
3.) House Portrait Painting Sketch Project
I continue to work on my house portrait project. I am currently working on the Westdale House. The project will consist of six Hamilton homes that capture the feel of the community.
The first work was entitled the Blue House.
Postscript; Several other things of note:
1.) I posted a video by the musician band Crooked Hill and the number of unique visits shot off the charts. The group hasn’t shown any activity for about one year, and I tweeted Dr. Disc ask about their status. Apparently, they are on hiatus. They would make a great group for the fundraising effort that is being organized to help the people displaced by the Bold Street Fire.
2.) The Hamilton Song by Teal Booth is a great song and video, and I would encourage you to view it. It appears to be a DIY project by the singer and artist. The 2012 McMaster Arts grad is clearly a dynamic and talent person.
Thanks to blogger Biljana and Team at Cut from Steel: Hamilton Music Blog.
3.) CBC Hamilton posted a photo of 31 Bold Street sketch that was done from life back in the summer of 2004. Unfortunately, I never finished the sketch, and that clearly shows. They used it as part of slideshow of the building and fire. It was nice of Samantha Craggs of CBC Hamilton to use it – thanks.
FCSD Studio 