Thank you Schames Paint & Hardware Supply, Lower East Side, NYC!

M. Schames & Son Paints has been in the same family for four generations. It was founded by Mendel Schames, a Russian immigrant and is now run by father and son, Marshall and Brian Schames. This photo taken in 2004 for our book “Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York” is of their old Essex Street store located directly across the street from Seward Park. Sadly, the Schames family was forced to relocate their business to Delancey Street after the construction of a neighboring condo building destabilized their northern wall. We love their #vintage colorful PAINTS #signage and Brian told us that they wanted to take it with them but their new location is narrower and the sign won’t fit across the #storefront.

We are very happy that this #momandpop business survived despite the forced move and has generously supported our sculptural storefront installation “Mom-and-Pops” of the L.E.S.” by donating paint so we can weather-proof the frame trim and plywood panels that will be exposed to the elements for one year while the installation is on display at Seward Park. We can’t thank Brian and the family enough for their support.

• Please visit our Kickstarter campaign page to help us raise funds for our "Mom-and-Pops of the L.E.S." sculptural installation: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1581279891/mom-and-pops-of-the-les-public-art-installation

•Our Kickstarter campaign has only 2 days left and we need your help to raise some additional funds (besides the grant money we received from NYC Parks/Uniqlo) to help us cover the high costs of materials, fabrication, installation and general liability insurance for the storefront sculpture. With any additional funds we raise past our Kickstarter goal, we can plan on achieving our longer-term goal for the "Mom-and-Pops of the L.E.S." installation, which is to find a new home for the storefront sculpture after its exhibition period inside Seward Park has ended in June 2019. We hope that the installation will be able to continue to act as an artistic intervention to help raise awareness of the importance of small mom-and-pop stores to the fabric and character of their community.