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Beautifying the downtown Syracuse area has been the goal of the Syracuse Poster Project since 2001. But this year, almost two decades after the founding of the project, the coronavirus pandemic has changed the way the organization works.

The Poster Project and other art organizations and artists have made adjustments due to COVID-19, but they continue to display art, including murals, posters and quilts, throughout the city.

Because of the high demand for masks, businesses and corporations gave up parts of their inventory that the Syracuse Poster Project would have used to make their posters.

“A lot of businesses that print things on canvas or cotton had converted part of their stock to produce masks,” said Naomi Masingale, an outreach worker for the Poster Project.

The Poster Project ended up using plastic polymer sheets to create their posters instead which still worked well, Masingale said.

Sankofa Piecemakers, a local quilters group, finished its “Art in the Windows” installation in partnership with the Poster Project earlier this summer. “Art in the Windows” is a series of quilts sewn together that hangs in the windows of the storefronts of the State Tower Building near City Hall.

The Poster Project holds an annual event each spring to celebrate the art selected to display for the coming year. Instead, the event will be livestreamed through the project’s YouTube channel on April 23 instead.

“Art in the Windows” is a series of quilts sewn together that hangs in the windows of the storefronts of the State Tower Building. Anya Wijeweera | Staff Photographer

The Poster Project board asked each artist to send in a brief video of themselves talking about their submitted work and what inspired them to create it, said Jim Emmons, the co-founder and director of the organization. The board then edited the clips of the poets and artists together to present at the celebration.

Adapting to a virtual format for the event was difficult, especially since it’s a tradition that the Poster Project had been taking part in for 19 years, Emmons said.

Even though COVID-19 has put a strain on new projects and installations, the Syracuse Poster Project is still creating art. The organization has continued to post videos of art on its YouTube channel, including an animated Jack-O-Lantern poster.

“Everything happens slower than it normally did, but it still happens,” Emmons said.

Nada Odeh, a Poster Project board member who was recently commissioned to create a mural in the Westcott neighborhood, designed her mural in January. It received approval in March, right before state COVID-19 stay-at-home orders began.
Odeh viewed staying at home in a positive way because “there was more energy for creating artwork,” she said.

Although Odeh used this time at home to do something she loves, she was aware that there were many people who did not want to be stuck at home with nowhere to go.

“Having public art like my mural and other murals … was very helpful (in) bringing more color and more energy (to the city),” she said.

Odeh understood the struggle of staying at home for most people and wanted to be able to give them something to enjoy that would not be impacted by COVID-19, especially since this pandemic had caused many businesses to shut down, including art museums and art galleries.

For Odeh, the most important factor in her art was that people could access it easily during this pandemic. Even though her mural was commissioned before COVID-19, she knew that having her art publicly displayed on the streets of Westcott would benefit the people of Syracuse.

“It is not going to be in a museum or a gallery where you have to wear a mask,” Odeh said. “You can see it in the street.”

Published on November 3, 2020 at 9:44 pm