I spent nearly 13 years at The Buffalo News as an arts critic, Sunday columnist and digital editor, telling stories about the arts and the people who make them.
Long-form reporting on the people, places and money behind Buffalo’s cultural life.
In 2017, billionaire bond trader Jeffrey Gundlach made the largest donation to a Buffalo cultural organization in the city's history. I went to Los Angeles to learn more about Gundlach's life, work and grand ambitions for his hometown.
Buffalo artists Manny Fried and Milton Rogovin turned their experiences with McCarthyism into fodder for their long and successful careers.
I tagged along with itinerant poet Mathias Svalina as he delivered "dream poems" to subscribers across the City of Buffalo. One of my favorite reporting experiences.
An abandoned church in downtown Buffalo has become a laboratory for the creation of a new economy.
In 2012, Buffalo ceded its status as ground zero for the work of master painter Clyfford Still to the late artist's eponymous museum in Denver. This is a deep dive into his work and legacy.
The "Freedom Wall," one of the most important public art projects in Buffalo's recent history, was the result of a fierce community debate.
This 2008 piece, about an arts program aimed at improving healthcare in Western New York, won first place in the New York State Associated Press Association Awards for arts and entertainment writing.
Buffalo barista Jeremy Twiss had never painted before. But that didn't stop him from transforming a former church into a modern artistic marvel.
A good critic connects communities, translates complex artistic visions into plain English and holds artists to high standards. That's what I try to do in my work as a critic of art, theater and books.
For seven years, I wrote a Sunday column on Buffalo culture. It explored the intersections of visual art, theater and architecture with politics, education and sports. These selected columns exemplify my belief about the centrality of the arts to the life of my region.
Conversations with artists, writers and performers who came through Western New York.
Few tasks were more rewarding to me as a newspaper reporter than writing obituaries and remembrances of great artists and performers who lived and worked in Western New York. A few of these pieces, straight-ahead obits and deeper reflections, are below.
Short videos I produced to pair with my reporting on Buffalo’s public art and cultural institutions.
Buffalo artist Shasti O'Leary Soudant has made a name for herself with an approach to public art that embraces bold colors, playful concepts and the pleasure principle. Here she introduces viewers to "Gut Flora," her new piece in Buffalo's Medical Campus metro stop.
Buffalo's public art renaissance began with a series of grassroots murals, of which this three-way collaboration at 515 Main St. was the most prominent.
A splash of color on the side of 710 Main Street signaled a sea change for this Buffalo neighborhood.
The Brooklyn-based artist Anne Muntges spent two years meticulously hand-drawing an entire room for this exhibition in Big Orbit Gallery.
To pair with a Sunday arts cover story on the 150th anniversary of Buffalo's Albright-Knox Art Gallery, I produced this brief look at the gallery's history.
I challenged members of Buffalo's cultural community to participate in the Ice Bucket Challenge with this video, created with the help of my boyfriend, a talented designer and creative director in Buffalo.
As a print nerd at heart, I put design on equal footing with writing. Below are some of my favorite collaborations with the talented print designers at The Buffalo News, with whom I worked closely to develop reader-friendly, design-driven features and cover stories.
Since 2025 I’ve written features for Building Western New York, the magazine of the Construction Exchange of Buffalo & Western New York, on the projects reshaping the region. Open any story to read it as it ran in print.
Hiding in plain sight: The Chandlery at CanalsideThe $14.25 million Chandlery, the first finished building on the North Aud Block, brings a historical look back to Buffalo’s waterfront.Read the layout →
It’s Showtime! Shea’s 710 is newest Theatre District starA $5 million renovation rebuilt the 710 Theatre’s lobby, bar and cabaret in 10 months, finishing hours before opening night.Read the layout →
Golisano Center for Student SuccessCanisius University gathers student support services once spread across four buildings into one center at the heart of campus.Read the layout →
Legacy MausoleumArc Building Partners builds Forest Lawn’s new mausoleum, and its president remembers crawling through hot concrete crypts as a teenager.Read the layout →
Graycliff ConservatoryLeChase Construction’s board-formed concrete at the heart of a $4.3 million visitor center at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Graycliff.Read the layout →
McBride Animal HospitalHow Picone Construction built a major veterinary expansion in Tonawanda while the hospital next door kept treating patients.Read the layout →
The Landing at EllicottA $12 million renovation turns the entrance to UB’s maze-like Ellicott Complex, nicknamed “Lego Land,” into a bright student hub.Read the layout →
Riviera Theatre ExpansionA $3 million expansion ends the pre-show crush in the lobby of North Tonawanda’s historic Riviera Theatre.Read the layout →
Eckhardt LoftsA $13.5 million renovation brings the 1940 home of Eckhardt’s department store, long a symbol of Broadway-Fillmore’s decline, back to life.Read the layout →
Social & Digital
7 piecesAs an arts critic and digital editor at The Buffalo News, I created many interactive projects and social media initiatives, including galleries, interactive maps, quizzes and Instagram stories. A few examples are below.
Mapping Buffalo's Mural Mania
As an obsessive fan of Buffalo's public art, keeping tabs on the latest murals was a difficult but rewarding task. This interactive map, designed to help readers navigate the city's growing collection of murals, was one of many attempts to stay on top of the trend.
Instagram Stories
In dozens of Instagram stories, I translated the work of The Buffalo News excellent print journalists into a visual medium using visual storytelling and motion graphics. Highlights: A story on a Buffalo slumlord , a look at a Buffalo cultural destination and a long-running series on abuses in local nursing homes .
Sabres vs. Coyotes: A Twitter Review
As a cultural critic, I'm always looking for ways to tie the visual and performing arts to other cultural interests, including food, education, recreation and sports. In this widely shared Twitter stream, I used the art review form to critique a surreal 2015 game between the Buffalo Sabres the Arizona Coyotes. It was linked on Yahoo Sports , Sports Illustrated and among hockey fans who rarely read about the arts.
A Look Back at the Love Canal Disaster
Digging through The Buffalo News' photo archives was one of my favorite pastimes. Among the galleries I put together was this chronological look at the Love Canal environmental disaster in Niagara Falls and its aftermath.
The Glory Days and Decline of Bethlehem Steel
Buffalo's identity is deeply tied to the steel industry, and this gallery looks back at the full lifespan of the city's biggest and most storied steel plant, now a burned out shell at the edge of Lake Erie.
Visual Tools
Though many examples have disappeared after site rebuilds, I frequently made use of storytelling tools from NPR Visuals, Google and KnightLab, including its elegant visual slider , interactive timeline and story map feature .
Facebook Live Tours
As part of a feature called "5 Cool Things," I launched a series of live video tours of Buffalo buildings. They included Buffalo's City Hall , Frank Lloyd Wright's Graycliff Estate and Silo City and the University at Buffalo Medical School. I also often documented art exhibitions in this way, including the Albright-Knox Art Gallery's 2015 Picasso show .