By Tara Nelson
Lipe Art Park is two acres of land that often feature head-turning sculptures and artwork from local and regional artists. Located on West Fayette Street in the Near Westside, the park and the art pieces within it bring color and beauty to what would otherwise be an empty lot. Formerly a train yard, the public space became Syracuse’s first art park in the spring of 2007.
The park is intended to be a venue for exhibitions and performances on a rotating basis, relying on guest curators to organize, promote, and arrange each event. In this way, various members of the community develop a sense of ownership of the park and pride in what it represents. The park is managed by the Friends of Lipe Art Park (FLAP), and The Gear Factory, Vibrant Syracuse Spaces, (R) Evolution Studio, SUNY ESF, Syracuse University, La Liga and other organizations have participated in exhibitions.
Mary Giehl – sculptor, installation artist and SU faculty member – is a recent guest curator. Giehl regularly teaches two fiber courses each semester and has a lot of experience with outdoor art projects. She also relishes the element of surprise that may accompany her work. Just last semester she facilitated an “art bombing” on the quad of Syracuse University. (“Art bombing” is art that typically crops up overnight and without permission.) In that particular course, students first learned a fiber technique and instead of knitting a scarf, they conceptually created whatever they wanted around a given tree or designated area on the quad. In the end, a transformed space exploding with art had many stopping in their tracks in amazement.
Giehl had been itching to do a community art project and had been staring at the 600-foot fence in Lipe Art Park for years. When she was recently given the opportunity to do something, she thought up a cost-effective and community-based approach to enhancing the neighborhood. Her idea was to recreate a map of the Erie Canal and Syracuse’s bodies of water by weaving colored pieces of felt into the wire fence. This isn’t just regular felt, though – this felt is recycled from plastic bottles and had a former life in a sculptural piece some of Giehl’s students had produced.
On a warm evening in July, I met our rogue artist along with a newly-recruited group of teenagers who were participating in a summer writing and arts program. The kids, most of whom were from Somalia and have been in America for one to five years, listened intently to Giehl talk about how the map would be transferred onto the fence line. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how engaged the youth were going to be. When they started though, they were clearly focused and shots of color quickly sprouted through the wires.
In just over an hour, about 50 feet of fence were transformed into an abstract piece of art. With blue representing the many lakes and the Erie Canal, red representing the locks, maroon the boat launches, the fence now serves as a visual reminder of Syracuse’s rich history. Equally important, the youth were really proud to have created something others would be stopping to admire.
Community art projects like this are starting to happen throughout the city. After you check out Lipe Art Park, venture a few blocks down nearby Oswego Street to Skiddy Park, where you’ll see another fence sporting colorful plastic inserts in the gaps. As for Giehl, she plans to connect her three upcoming fiber courses to an area along the Connective Corridor this fall. Where and when? We guess you’ll have to be on the look-out!
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