About Signs of Utica, New York.

IMPORTANT NOTE [ March 2, 2014 ]: This blog and all my blogs are works in progress under construction on a daily basis and far from "complete". Also, I am an amateur at this learning as I go. THANK YOU--peter gumaer ogden

" Key to the City of Utica Sign ". Franklin Square, downtown. This and most of the images in this blog are available as print on demand minus the large copyright watermark through the center at:
http://peter-gumaer-ogden.fineartamerica.com

About Signs of Utica:


Recently I read an article about a photographer in New York City who had been working on a blog of photographs of vintage neon signs in The Big Apple. Many of these signs are quite fascinating, harking back to a different era and are continuously being demolished. Gone forever. This has been my inspiration for "Signs of Utica".

Not that there are a lot of vintage neon signs here anymore, but there are a lot of antique and vintage signs as well as many more recent ones that reflect the great commercial, industrial, ethnic and cultural diversity of Utica. Utica, incorporated in 1832 has always been a great melting pot of cultures and this is true now more than ever due to the presence of Mohawk Valley Refugee Center which has repopulated the once declining post industrial city with over 10,000 Bosnians alone.

 Interest in the Utica area has increased dramatically within the past few years, and more so in the past few months as our new status as a major center for the nanotechnology industry has boomed. Between SUNYIT facilities and a recently announced new nanotech research facility at nearby Marcy, in the past few years a total of more than $2 billion has been invested with several more billion expected within the very new future for the nanotech chip site now partially completed near North Utica.

As a result of Utica's nanotech boom [ the latest nanotech construction facility now underway is an investment of more than $1.5 billion expected to generate over 5000 jobs ] interest in this re-emerging old city is increasingly greatly as are long dormant real estate prices.

Climatically [ knock on wood ], Utica has a history of stability with very little experience of severe or extreme weather. The most severe weather is winter and we have many months to plan for that. Flooding is rare because although Utica is a river city it is not built along the Mohawk River but mostly on very high well drained hills to the south of it. Nearness to Canada and 40 degrees latitude is also a big plus as worldwide high temperatures continue to break records on an annual basis.

People who might be interesting in relocating to Utica to "get in one the ground" floor --and there has been increasing building renovation and restoration throughout the city for several years now-- will get a fair snap shot of what Utica is made of by perusing the signs represented here. For an anthropologist, sociologist and the layman signs tell a rich story about a community. Sign makers, graphic designers and people in the advertising business might also benefit from these images.

I have tried to focus on signs that are notable for their quality, age, cultural or ethnic significance, or their standing as representing an important Utica entity such as a very popular restaurant that has been or was in business here for many years; such as Grimaldi's.

Initially I had intended to photograph the majority of the signs in Utica and publish them in color in a hard copy paperback book. Utica has approximately 275 miles of streets. Over two to three years I covered 95% of these streets on foot and mostly on a bicycle. One sees a lot more detail when walking or riding a bicycle at a relatively slow speed. It seems to me that most people in our society today move so fast and are so distracted by their phones and other electronic gadgets that they miss out on a great deal of the "bricks and mortar" as well as the "natural" world around them. This is unfortunate especially at the beginning of the 21st century because of Climate Change and the importance, now more than ever of paying attention to the changes and degradation Climate Change is rapidly causing to our "hard copy" environment.

I have always been a keen observer of my visual surroundings which comes from scholarly training in art history, including a semester in Florence, Italy via Bucknell University [ Lewisburg, Pennsylvania ], brief stints at New York School of Visual Arts [ Manhattan ], Fashion Institute of Technology [ Manhattan ] and, also from being a "scrounger" since I was a small child: seeking wild berries, rare wild plants, antique bottles in old dumps, overlooked treasures at flea markets and estate sales, and seashells on the beach and under the sea. Also, having spent many years visiting Manhattan I learned at a very early age, thanks to some " New Yo Rican " urban born friends to pay extreme attention to my surroundings in the great city in order to avoid the many dangers there.

One of the most challenging aspects of this project was dealing with the suspicions of people who encountered me photographing their sign. One man wanted to know "What did I do wrong?" Another challenged me to dare photograph his corner store while yet others simply ran outside demanding why I was photographing their locale---a business card helped with this. The rougher neighborhoods, especially "Corn Hill" were especially interesting due to the presence of street drug dealers, hustlers, etc. who warily eyed me, convinced that I was "The Man": a bit scary but also extremely amusing as I am the last person who could ever be "The Man".

To date I had about eight hundred digital photos of Utica signs. Initially, having been a dedicated collagist, I had planned to save money on publishing by printing out the images in various sizes and arranging them in detailed full page collages which would have enabled me to display as many as a hundred or more related signs on a single page. This extremely tedious handmade work would have taken years. I am a rote amateur when it comes to publishing, Photoshop, or manipulating digital images.

The project seemed to go on and on without an end in sight as I found more and more signs and then other images: antique doors, windows, Victorian woodwork, giant old trees, etc., etc. It's amazing how many subjects of visual interest one can find in a fair size Victorian city if one REALLY LOOKS. All the while I was planning to move to another region for religio-spiritual reasons and I felt that this project was like a ball and chain keeping me here. ...and then there is the issue of the cost of "hard copy" publishing.

So in a fit of depression I began deleting many of the images that I had worked so hard to obtain until I had an epiphany that I might as well spend a few weeks this winter of 2013-14 publishing the images that are left to a blog for posterity. All these images are copyrighted. They will be arranged by category which will sometimes result in multiple category listings such as a Neon Vintage sign landing in the Neon and the Vintage categories. If anyone out there is interested in partnering with me to publish the originally planned project in book form please contact me and we can discuss a "concrete" business commitment plan. I will have time in the spring to go out again and rephotograph many of the more interesting signs, many of which will be rapidly disappearing as demolition and renovation projects continue to accelerate here in long-sleepy old Utica: now being referred to by some as "Nano Utica ", or by pranksters like me as " Nanutica ". My email: peterogden7x7@yahoo.com  Snail mail: Peter Ogden, Suite 707, 110 Genesee Street, Utica, New York, 13502

Genesee Tower, 110 Genesee Street, Utica, New York. One of the grandest and most elegant remaining large antique buildings in Utica.

Bagg's Square West. The largest block of extant Erie Canal era buildings in Utica; most of the structures were constructed circa 1830.

THANK YOU for your time and attention Suggestions and constructive criticism as well as humor is always welcome. Some of these images and more are available via print on demand at:
 fineartamerica.com/profiles/peter-gumaer-ogden.html or to fineartamerica.com and type: "peter gumaer ogden" into the search box.