And that's what Ken Ragsdale is trying to convey in his 360-degree photograph embellished with pencil drawings.

The Albany artist has contributed the piece to "Vacancy: Albany's Abandoned Buildings through Artists' Eyes," the fourth annual one-day art show and sale held by the Historic Albany Foundation. This year, the fundraiser will be held on Saturday night at the Washington Park Lakehouse.

The purpose of the event, in addition to raising money, is to display Albany's once-grand architectural treasures, according to Historic Albany, and underscore the need to save those buildings. The art show is part of the Foundation's Vacant Building Initiative, and all artwork will be for sale in a silent auction.

"It's an important fundraiser for us," said Historic Albany Executive Director Elizabeth Griffin, who will step down from her post after the event. "It's so tied to our mission." Last year, the event raised $20,000 for the not-for-profit group, but the contributing artists will receive 60 percent of the sale prices their pieces fetch on the auction block.

Submissions up

To participate in the show, artists picked a vacant structure for inspiration from a survey commissioned by Historic Albany or from simply driving around and looking for "For Sale" signs and, sadly, shells of buildings. This year, the foundation received more submissions than they ever had since they began hosting the show. About 90 artists submitted about 230 pieces. Seventy artists were selected; those who weren't chosen didn't meet specific criteria. The displayed work will be judged by Janet Riker, University at Albany Art Museum director, and Ian Berry, curator of the Tang Museum at Skidmore College. A best in show award of $500 will be presented.

Ragsdale, a 2005 graduate of the University at Albany master's of fine arts program, chose 48 Hudson Ave., the former Saul Equipment Co. building, near the bus stations and the Pepsi Arena, as his subject. The faded lettering on the sign on the side of the building indicates the company sold new and used equipment for bars, hotels and restaurants, including pizza ovens, ranges and ice machines. Today, through dusty windows, debris litters the floor.

"When I got down here, I realized it was a desert down here, like a little island in a sea of nothingness," Ragsdale said on a recent afternoon as workers retrieved their cars from the many parking spots rimming the building.

Ragsdale has always been interested in memory: "My memory, the memory of things, the memory of places, and what's left and how do you notice what's left."

Active area

What struck Ragsdale while observing the area is how many people come and go in Albany, using the commuter parking lots. And it made him think about how active the area might have been a hundred years ago, or more, when it was in its prime. "It must have been a heck of a place," he said.

Ragsdale photographed the building, creating a panorama of the area. On this afternoon, he was still working on his piece for the show, and spoke while he penciled in the "ghosts" of buildings rising out of the existing structures, including 48 Hudson, in what Ragsdale imagined what they could have been, or could be.

According to Historic Albany, the building was known as the Radliff-Holt House, and is believed to have been constructed in 1759. For comparison, the oldest building in the city is Quackenbush House, built around 1730, the location of Nicole's Bistro. The significance of 48 Hudson is its early Dutch frame construction, buried beneath many layers, including nondescript fake brick and large plate glass windows.

It's surprising how many Albany icons can be seen in Ragsdale's 360 degree photo: the spires of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the old D&H building (where the State University of New York headquarters are now) and the Cultural Education Center at the Empire State Plaza.

But the immediate area surrounding 48 Hudson is mostly blacktop.

"It's so empty. So barren," he said.

"I thought this was so evocative of downtown Albany. There's so much promise and so much left to do," he said.

Salvation Army

Farther to the north, Deborah Chess chose the Salvation Army building on Clinton Avenue, next to the new Albany County Family Court building and across from the Palace Theater, as the subject for an oil painting.

"It's a wonderful opportunity for someone who has the means," she said, referring to the renovations that would have to be done to bring the building into a usable state.

To find her subjects (she contributed three pieces for the show, all inspired by different buildings), Chess drove around looking for "Available" or "For Sale" signs.

"It's a fairly handsome building," said Chess, who is retired from a career of illustrating machine parts. She also has worked as a sculptor and a potter. "I felt sad that it wasn't being used," she said of the spot at 22 Clinton Ave., which until 2003 housed an outpost of the Salvation Army.

"Erected to the glory of God for service of humanity," the cornerstone, dated 1927, reads.

Chess also painted the front doors of a brownstone, and joked that she forgot the location of the house. Her third piece is the loading dock of a former Freihofer cake bakery on Spruce Street.

The painting of the Salvation Army building is straightforward, lit by August's midmorning light. The doors include the elaborate wrought iron railings, so common in Albany. The loading dock painting depicts a circular shape on the parking area where, Chess said, tanks of baking ingredients were once stored.

There is good news for the subjects of Chess' and Ragsdale's works. The Salvation Army building is slated to be renovated and rented out as office space. And a deal involving a local preservationist is in the works for the Saul Equipment building, according to Historic Albany.

Donna Liquori, a freelance writer from Delmar, is a frequent contributor to the Times Union.

BUILDING A FUTURE

"VACANCY: ALBANY'S ABANDONED BUILDINGS THROUGH ARTISTS' EYES"

* What: Fourth annual one-day art show and silent auction to benefit Historic Albany Foundation

* When: 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5

* Where: Washington Park Lakehouse, Albany

* Tickets: $50 each, includes cocktail reception