I am most happy when I am creating something. Currently I am the curator of the 3,500 foot space in the historic train station at 400 Burnet in  Syracuse. It is a gallery, maker space, and creators collective and anything else we want it to be.

I am also the president of a 501C-3 charitable organization, Pinnacle International Center located in the South Side Innovation Center, 2610 South Salina Street. next to Dunkin Bright. Our goal there is twofold: to have positive impacts in the culture AND to help people improve the happiness and fulfillment in their lives through personal artistic or intellectual development. There we have a small office, and access to a 30 seat training room, a boardroom, and a main room that holds 150 people. There is ample parking.

I have created hundreds of ads, promotional pieces, signs, displays; placed advertising in all media TV, Radio, Billboards, designed trade whow booths. I have written many successful business and marketing plans, applied and received several millions of dollars in grants, and was a paid consultant for hundreds of clients from sole entrepreneurs to major corporations

I taught and administered the Emerging Enterprise Program at Syracuse University for 20 years and received 5 national awards for teaching and consulting and eve did some work for the United Nations in Zurich. And I also did teaching for other institutions and planned many major events attended by hundreds of people. I have dome a signicant amount of writing, my estimate is about 3 million words. There is a piece I wrote at the bottom of this section entitled , "A Typical Day in Japan".

I also had a 4,000square foot gallery at Shoppingtown Mall  with 350 people involved until the mall closed a few years ago.

These are some pictures of things we had at the Galley at Shoppingtown

Hope by Ron Warford, 40' x 30 " Graphite on Black Board, Framed $900
Mr. Warford's work was selected by the Smithsonian Institution for a national traveling exhibition in 1973. He was one of the initial founding and teaching members at the Folk Art Gallery in Syracuse. His work spings from his imagination and is masterfully executed. Tel (315) 391-5115 for more info or to purchase. One of the presidents of a local art guild referred to Ron's work as  "master works" for their power and quality.

Strength , by Ron Warford. 20 " X 30"   $750.

Home is Where the Hearth Is by Jaws. This piece took 600 hours. Amazingly, to produce this the artist had to put the snowflakes  in first on a white fine piece of paper and then build everything around it. Think about it - this amazing work, and other pieces of the artists work can be seen at CNY Artists Gallery, which purchased this piece in 2013.

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Prints on quality paper done on fine paper many by local artists. we choose a few of the works that we feel have extra special value. Any of these are a worthy and special piece for your wall.

A Very popular print " Clinton Square Snow Storm 1939", on quality paper 16X 20, ready to drop into frame, Randy White,
$45

The "Stroke at the Dinosaur" David Hickock, $35, quality print

Rare - Print of earliest known picture of Lincoln - $200 without the frme

Degas a large colorful piece,a possible companion piece to the one above - reg 4150, on sale $75

Dream Horse - 24x 36 $450

Green Lakes 24 x 36 Oil $200

Onondaga Lake 1930 - 24x36 oil $325

Shakespeare - rare piece celebrating the bard with a famous line from each of 13 plays around he edges and the Bard's History in the middle, perfect fora Shakespeare lover $135

The Titanic at Rest - oil 24 x 35 $350

The Snake game - wonderful decorative piece of a game from the Revolution

Beautiful large decorative piece $400

Rare Beauty - a beautiful oil $450, 24 x 36

Framed Quality Print WW 2 Bombers Over Germany $125

VERY LARGE CivilWar - Vicksburg $165Rare Devon Print- Southwest Bicycling - Value $900- our price $300 professionally framed

Basketball for Breakfast Print
Shannon Comins - $45

Framed quality print by Ron Warford - $135

Original 16x20 Oil, $45 in our art start program, try original art, you'll discover its magic

Original oil 3 D Paint on Canvas , "Chuckie, Cereal Killer, Sir Quala. comes with 3 D Glasses $125

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Grader by,the late Stanley Oleniuech, 23 inches in length, fine detail and many moving parts These are collector items, not to be used as toys.

Large OIL Painting of Venus of Willendorf - 4 inch sculpture over 25,000 years old fertility goddess

Kamiiron Pritchard - $600.

Below is a small selective sample of the work comprising more than 4,000 offerings that you WOULD HAVE FOUND at CNYArtists Gallery in Shoppingtown (near the food court). UNFORTUNATELY THE MALL CLOSED SO MOST OF THE FOLLOWING IS NOT AVAIALBLE

Nationally recognized Artist Richard Williams has several pieces with us and high quality prints of some of his work are available at CNY Artists. This piece was recently sold but we have others.

Joob Whitman

Emerging Artist Joob Whitman has done quite well at CNY Artists and offer original oils 8x10 for $ 40 and larger for $140-$225. A very special gift of original affordable art.

Pardon the reflection, these are large pieces by Ron Warford that were recently called masterworks by one of the Presidents of an art guild. Print $65 and up. originals $300 and up.

Truly a Masterwork, measuring 17 X 22, it took over 600 hours and skilled artist, Jaws. had to put in the snowflakes first on a blank sheet of of fine paper and then put in the trees,hearth and other pieces behind it. 

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A Typical Day in Japan

By Peter Svoboda This is a true story

If you are lucky enough to escape death, the car that almost hits you, the fall that you avoid, the building you don’t walk into at the wrong time on the South Side of the city, where the two occupants, as the paper puts it, are “hacked to death”, and the killers are never found, - then maybe you live long enough to hear some interesting stories from some pretty amazing people. This is one from a senior executive, Phil Owens, who I knew from AT&T, when everyone knew the name AT&T, and who was sent to Tokyo, Japan to negotiate major installations. My friend and his negotiating team were there for 10 days working with their Japanese counterparts and the government. On the third or forth day there, the American negotiating team asked if their hosts would arrange to have the Americans taken by cab to the best Japanese restaurant in the city. Wishing to oblige, the Japanese called the Kansei cab company and prepaid for the short 15 minute ride to what they, and many magazine reviews, felt to be the best Japanese restaurant in town. The Americans were looking forward to this treat after which they were to return to the negotiations at 9:30 that evening. A little after 5:00 on that day, the American party was picked up by a smiling driver, Onji, who arrived on time, greeted them, helped them into their spotless cab, and took them on their supposed brief ride to the restaurant for their reservation at 5:30. As it would happen, the traffic was particularly heavy that day and due to a water main break, they became emerged in grid lock, the traffic coming to a dead stop. When this happened, Onji turned to his guests and with a smile said in the very best English he could muster, “No worry”. With that, he slowly maneuvered his car so he could edge on to the sidewalk, drove half a block down the sidewalk to an alley he could see, made a right, and then drove down the alleyway to the next street, made another right, and sped in an alternate route to take the bridge to the restaurant. But when he got to the bridge, he found that an accident on the bridge had caused the bridge to be shut down, so he sped on up the street to hopefully take the next bridge and get his customers to their appointed destination. Luckily, when he got to the next bridge, it was open, and he made a left over the bridge and got them to the door of the restaurant. Unfortunately, when the American party got there, they found a sign on the door that said “ Closed due to water main break”. Seeing the note on the door, Onji turned to his guests and said , “No worry – I take you best Japanese Restaurant”, and promptly turned the cab around and headed back the way they came. He re-crossed the river, drove directly back into the traffic jam, then proceeded back down the alley they had previously used, but found the area still in gridlock. He then pulled his cab into a space marked, -No Parking Anytime-, pretty much guaranteeing a ticket which he would have to pay, and tuned to his guests with a smile and said “ Come, come”. Not knowing what else to do, the American party followed him at a brisk pace down the street to the subway, where Onji bought their tokens, smiling all the while saying “No worry, no worry”, and ushered them on to a train. After a ride of about 15 minutes, the train stopped and Onji once again led his party down the steps where he hailed a cab and gave the new cabby an address , piled into the cab with his American friends, and took the ride with them to the neighborhood where the restaurant was located. But when the party arrived at the restaurant, now at about 7:00, they found a very long waiting line which reached around the block. It now seemed impossible that they could eat at all and get back to the negotiating table on time. But once again, Onji turned to them and with a smile said, “No worry, no worry.” Onji then led them a few doors down into an apartment building where he raced up the stairs, his American party now in curious pursuit, onto the roof, then to the edge of the building, where they then crawled along a fire escape to the adjoining building, where he knocked on the glass window of one of the tenants. An old woman came to the window and Onji, with a smile, yelled something in Japanese, and the old woman opened the window and Onji and his American counterparts crawled and followed Onji through the small apartment, down the hallway, down the stairs, out into the air shaft, to the back door of the restaurant. Onji banged on a back door and when someone finally opened, Onji started to converse with the cook who had opened the door. This went on for several minutes, and the cook eventually called the manager, and Onji, with a smile, conversed with him. After a few minutes, the door was opened and Onji led them threw a rather large kitchen into a beautiful restaurant where Phil said they had one of the finest meals of their lives. But Onji didn’t eat with them. He was waiting outside, with a new cab he had arranged for, to take the American’s back to their negotiations at 9:30 where they arrived on time to meet their Japanese counterparts. As Phil emerged from the restaurant he found Onji waiting there still smiling, now holding open the door of the cab. “ My God man, why did you do all this? - We never would have expected all this, this never would have happened where we come from.” To which Onji, with a smile, answered, “ Customer is God - Customer service number one idea” Phil said it was one of the greatest learning experiences he ever had.