From the Syracuse Post Standard

Column by Dick Case, published September 13, 2012

http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2012/09/connective_cooridor_billboard.html

It’s called “Iconic Syracuse” and it kicked off last week.

The project is a series of billboards, which will change each month for a year. The first one is up at West Fayette and West streets, next to the Syracuse University Warehouse Building.

This is a co-operative project between the Onondaga Historical Association (OHA) and SU’s Connective Corridor project, which finally seems to be at a stage we can actually reach out and touch something, almost.

The first image is of Firefighter’s Memorial Park and shows an elaborate turn of the 18th century fountain that once stood in the park. The second panel is an artist’s concept of a fountain detail. The picture is from the OHA archives, curated by Dennis Connors, curator of history; the art work is by two SU students, Jesse Handelman of Rochester and Greg Mawicke of Milwaukee.

Linda Hartsock, director of SU’s Community Engagement office, helped create the project with Denise Heckman, an associate professor in SU’s Industrial Design department.

“We see the billboard as a gateway to Armory Square,” Hartsock said.

Future billboard images will be both vintage and modern.

Quinton Fletchall, of the SU architecture faculty, created the billboards’ design.

Linda Hartsock said another aspect of the project will be a walking tour of the Corridor on a website, accompanied by a printed brochure and signs.

Another park on the Corridor is Forman, one of Syracuse’s oldest parks. This summer it was involved in an extensive rehabilitation program, as of a larger Corridor project which took in street reconstruction and installation of a bike lane. Part of the redo included installing a modern fountain which has the look of a 19th century one.

In another collaboration, the Erie Canal Museum has installed a group of displays as part of a partnership with 14 other venues in Syracuse, “The Other New York: 2012.”

“This is the edgiest exhibit the museum has ever attempted,” said Dan Ward, the museum’s curator.

One display is called “Variography,” and is a pair of installations – one inside the museum, the second outside. It’s the work of Michael Bosworth, an artist and photographer. A second installation is called “A Long (the) Line” and is by an artist from Fredonia, Timothy Frerichs.

Ward said this is a “pod” installation. It is a shipping container parked on Erie Boulevard East, across from J. Ryan’s. It features two “sails” mapping the Erie Canal and showing drawings and collages representing upstate New York native and invasive plant life. He said the artist intends this public art to encourage a “cultural dialog in regard to the Erie Canal’s historical significance.”

Both displays will debut in an opening reception at the museum Friday, from 5 to 7 p.m.

“Variography” uses the camera obscura, a device dating to the Renaissance used by artists to study a scene to create a more accurate representation. Bosworth’s museum installation uses a cement camera, screen and a tank of water to view historic photographs of Syracuse.

“Looking through the camera, the viewer see an amalgam of live imagery and photographs reflected on the surface of the water in the tank,” according to Dan Ward.

A second exhibit will be on a concrete pad behind the boy and mule statue across Erie Boulevard East from the museum. The Bosworth piece includes a stand camera obscurae built of concrete on heavy wooden tripods.

Skunk City signage

A more prosaic art form soon will appear in the Skunk City neighborhood.

Three signs identifying the neighborhood have been designed by Beth Crawford of Crawford and Stearns, architects and preservation planners. They are out to bid and will be installed in a few weeks, according to Shirley Humble of the Skunk City Initiative, which will pay for the signs.

Shirley said they’ll be installed on the green basin area of Grand Avenue, at the corner of Arthur and West Onondaga Streets and in front of Mundy Branch Library, at South Geddes and Rowland Streets.

Shirley is a long-time resident of Skunk City who objected when a neighbor, Ed McLaughlin, the city parks advocate, wanted to change the name of the neighborhood a while back. Ed suggested “Area of Harbor Brook,” the stream that winds through Skunk City on its way to Onondaga Creek.

Dick Case writes Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at 470-2254, or by e-mail, dcase@syracuse.com.