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 Briana Kohlbrenner and her trials and triumphs as an up-and-coming regional artist. Consider this an insider’s look into one local artist’s life.

When we last touched base with Briana, she was busy with the Salt City Urban Art & Craft Market, which was, from all reports, a stunning success! The venue was thronged with hundreds of eager art supporters, and Bre’s already thinking about where this can be housed in a larger location next year. Now that this is behind her, she’s again focused on exhibitions at Craft Chemistry.

As I walk into C², Briana is on a ladder hanging the new gallery display, “pop66: pop can pinhole photos of route 66.” In keeping with the culture of the shop, this is an experimental show. The walls are carefully being covered with sepia-toned photographs sporting a vintage/nostalgic/industrial feel to them.

I’m in luck because Wes Pope, the exhibit’s creative genius, is here, and I’m able to spend some time with him as well. Wes is a rather laid-back guy with a knack for photography. He’s also working on his Master of Arts in documentary film and history at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

At first look, I think the pictures have been manipulated in some way, but Wes tells me he used pinhole cameras. I’ve never heard of these, so when he explains what they are, I’m amazed – he used simple items like soda cans, tape, tin foil and film to make his own cameras. Thirty-three of them, in fact! Depending on the amount of sunlight in a camera shot, a photo can take anywhere from 4 seconds to 15 minutes to be produced.

Though the materials are unpretentious, the gallery pictures were painstakingly taken over a period of 12 years, whenever Wes went on a road trip on Route 66. The photos offer glimpses of modern life in the American West and Midwest: a metal structure of a whale sitting on a lake; an old gas station sign on barren land. Viewer beware, though – they might make you a bit itchy to jump into a car and see for yourself what’s out there!

pop66: pop can pinhole photos of route 66 is up until December 23, so stop by 745 N. Salina to see the exhibit, meet Briana, and perhaps pick up a few things on your holiday shopping list!