BUFFALO, N.Y. — A new pop-up retail space, featuring the work of Edreys and Alexa Wajed, has opened up on Ellicott Street in downtown Buffalo for the next two months.
On Fridays and Saturdays in November and December, you can check out Eat Off Art at their retail location on Ellicott, near Chippewa Street. The effort is all about making sure artists aren't considered starving, but thriving.
Edreys is a muralist, and his work can be seen all around Buffalo. Alexa is also an artist and creates jewelry.
At the pop-up site, you will find local entrepreneurs, artists and others.
"Our products are handmade, and they're accessible. They're not waiting to ship somewhere, waiting to clear customs. They're here," Alexa said.
The Eat off Art website features T-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, jewelry, art prints, and more.
"There is a particular kind of energy around the Eat Off Art brand, for sure. It is about uplifting inspiration and entrepreneurship; largely entrepreneurship, because small business runs quite a bit, dictates quite a bit," added Edreys.
You can see more and learn more about Eat Off Art on the November 2021 episode of commUNITY, with Claudine Ewing and Pete Gallivan. The YouTube video is below.
This past summer, dozens of brightly decorated mailboxes popped up in neighborhoods in Buffalo's East Side as part public art project and part suggestion box system for the community.
Alexa Wajed, the project manager, said Local Initiatives Support Corporation of Western New York (LISC WNY) and the Buffalo Center for Health Equity wanted to use the boxes to collect ideas from community members about what they would like to see happen to the spaces in the future, as well celebrate pride in their neighborhoods.