By Francesca Merwin, staff writer

There is a grand community of artists in Syracuse – some well-known, some at the creative fringe, and others whom we have yet to discover. One of our aims on the Connective Corridor is to seek out these folks and highlight their endeavors. For the next several months, we will follow Brendan Rose, Syracuse Public Artist in Residence (SPAR), and his triumphs (and sometimes trials) as an up-and-coming regional artist. Consider this an insider’s look into one local artist’s life.

In Lipe Art Park, a sculpture sits that has caught the attention of the people who pass by. It’s… a giant shark: colorful, interesting and complicated at the same time. Much like its creator, Brendan Rose.

Rose, 36, is Syracuse’s first public artist in residence, a position in its inaugural year which has granted him some of the funds and the ability to install two artistic contributions along the Connective Corridor. This is also a position that allows Rose to combine his passion for art and architecture in a community setting.

“I have a particular position in the community that’s pretty unique,” Rose explains. “There are a lot of people who don’t get to do what I do.”

This position seems to be a perfect marriage of Rose’s interests in design and public space, combined with his love of his hometown. Rose grew up in the Syracuse area and has been passionate about it ever since. He attended Nottingham High School and then SUNY Buffalo, where he got his B.P.S. (Bachelor of Professional Studies) in architecture. After that, he received his sustainable building advisor certification in Seattle in 2002 and worked for various architecture firms before returning to obtain his master’s degree in architecture from Syracuse University in 2010.

It was while he was working on his master’s thesis that he built The Hand in 2008, his first distinctive, architectural installation in Syracuse. He then built the “Art Shark,” which gave him a presence in Syracuse and helped him to start building his connections. Eventually, he caught the attention of Maarten Jacobs and Dominic Robinson, members of 40 Below’s Public Arts Task Force and two youthful movers and shakers in the development community. Together, they helped to lay the foundation for the Syracuse Public Artistic in Residence (SPAR), an initiative which aims to create art in a collaborative way.

“It’s about having a first-hand, direct way to grapple with how people interact with public spaces and the objects that inhabit those spaces,” Rose says of his position. “[Public art] is about how people respond to images, forms and materials, which are all things that inform architecture. Sometimes it’s really hard for an architect to get in there and see those things on a close basis.”

One can see that Rose is constantly wrestling with those ideas himself. He uses materials such as mesh and concrete, combined with abstract ideas, and then finds a way to make them a reality. It’s a trial and error process that turns out incredibly unique results.

“I think there’s something genius in the way that he can take something that he sees in his mind and translate it into a concrete thing,” says his sister, Vanessa Rose. “It’s interesting to me that he can make that happen and then have the skills to actually build it.”

As Brendan finishes out his year-long position as the SPAR, he will continue to translate his abstract ideas as he unveils his latest pieces and works on his next Big Thing. You can keep up with him here and stay tuned as we try to explain the complex world of “art-chitecture” and its purveyor, Brendan Rose.