Buffalo, NY – Today the Buffalo AKG Art Museum’s Public Art Initiative announced artist Bunnie Reiss (American, born 1975) will return to Buffalo to produce another mural on the West Side of Joe’s Deli at 1322 Hertel Avenue. 

Reiss charmed the local community when she came to Buffalo in 2017 to paint Magic Buffalo. She believes in creating spaces where people feel safe to imagine a gentler, more beautiful world. From May 23–27, Reiss will be creating an entirely new mural at the Hertel Avenue location after construction obscured the old one.

“I want people to feel good when they’re looking at my work, to simply have a nice emotional response,” said Reiss. “Mural painting has a real function in a community. It beautifies neighborhoods, shares stories, encourages people to interact and gather, helps people slow down their busy lives. Murals reach a large demographic because they’re accessible and free to everybody. The public has a right to beautiful things.”

From May 16–20, Reiss will be printmaking collaboratively at Buffalo’s own fine art print studio Mirabo Press. Over the last few years this studio, founded by Bob Fleming, Rachel Shelton, and Mizin Shin, has been pushing the boundaries of art through print with collaborations by local, nationally known, and international artists. 

About Bunnie Reiss

Weaving together whimsical and fantastical narratives, Bunnie Reiss is a natural storyteller seeking to create work inspired by and filled with magic, imagination, and a love of nature. Reiss spent much of her career in the Bay Area before recently moving to Los Angeles. Since relocating, Reiss has inaugurated more than fourteen mural projects in the area. “Painting murals is my favorite thing to do,” says the artist.

About the Public Art Initiative

The Buffalo AKG Art Museum’s Public Art Initiative is an innovative partnership between the museum and the County of Erie established in 2013 to enhance our shared sense of place and cultural identity in the urban and suburban landscapes of Western New York. The City of Buffalo joined the partnership in 2014.

The goal of the Initiative is to create spaces of dialogue where diverse communities have the ability to socially engage with, actively respond to, and cooperatively produce great public art that is capable of empowering individuals, creating stronger neighborhoods, and establishing Western New York as a critical cultural center.

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