Communities drawn together through mural program, artists say
Randy Matthew Plavajka | Contributing Photographer
The first out of a dozen murals for 315Alive's project will be installed on City True Value Hardware's side wall.
Armed with brushes, paint, masking tape and plastic tarps, a veteran artist examined the mostly blank side of the two-story building in front of him.
His initial sketch of a woman riding a bicycle spans the left side of the wall, balanced by the red “HARDWARE” sign on the opposite end.
Jacob Alan Roberts, the artist, is an owner at Spark Contemporary Art Space and the project lead of 315Alive, a new grassroots public art initiative aimed at supporting some of Syracuse’s underserved communities.
As he scouts the wall, he makes notes in his sketchbook about dimensions, proportions and shapes. He plans to create a modern rendition of an original Stearns Bicycle advertisement from 1896. But Roberts must be meticulous about the details.
The crowdfunded pilot program is designed to generate interest in public art and create spaces where residents can build a sense of community.
“We can be a community that intermixes and flows freely,” Roberts says. “Public art can kind of be that fascia repair, that connective tissue that starts bringing us closer together.”
The wall where Roberts paints his mural was once home to the E. C. Stearns Bicycle Agency. The building is now occupied by City True Value Hardware, and is set to display the first of 12 murals planned for installation by the organization.
Cliff Carey and Chris Fowler, both founders of local companies, lead the project alongside Roberts.
Carey said 315Alive will help promote economic diversity through its public art. In western New York specifically, funding the arts helped support more than 10,000 jobs and generate about $40.3 million in revenue for state and local governments combined, according to a 2015 Americans for the Arts study.
Out of 20 locations currently selected for their pilot “12 Murals in 12 Weeks” program, the majority of sites are located on the Southside, Northside and Near Westside. The three areas have historically seen high rates of poverty, according to a City of Syracuse Office of Innovation report.
Fowler said he believes a healthy community is a place where people are thinking about their surroundings and have emotional connections to them.
“This is more than just putting art on walls,” Fowler said. “This is about how to transform the experience for people in the community to improve their quality of life.”
Published on August 10, 2018 at 1:57 pm
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