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Along the tree-lined streets of Ruskin Avenue in the Strathmore neighborhood of Syracuse sit some of the city’s beloved historical homes. Children with paintbrushes in hand gathered around easels and yard signs on manicured lawns, eager to recreate the houses with watercolor paint.

“This street and the architecture is such a big part of the festival,” said Andrea Farrow, coordinator of the kids’ area for the Greater Strathmore Neighborhood Association. “We decided that we would try and bring that into the kids’ art area, and people really enjoy it.”

On Saturday, Strathmore’s annual art festival, Art on the Porches, returned for its 22nd year. The festival is a celebration of local artists and hosts dozens of vendors on the neighborhood’s porches and lawns. This year, attendees danced to live music, enjoyed bites from food trucks and admired artwork. The fair’s vendors specialize in various mediums ranging from painting and photography to jewelry and wood burning.

Art on the Porches held three, one-hour-long painting and drawing workshops for the first time this year. Instructed by local artists and sponsored by The Art Store, the classes introduced attendees to drawing portraits and painting still life compositions. The kids’ area hosted a pottery workshop for younger artists to immerse themselves in the arts.

Katie Mulligan, who is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in illustration at Syracuse University, sold her portraits and instructed a drawing workshop at the festival. When drafting a lesson plan for her workshop, accessibility was at the front of Mulligan’s mind.

“I didn’t really want to jump in at a super advanced level,” Mulligan said. “I didn’t want to scare people away or make them feel like (art) wasn’t accessible to them.”

Instead, Mulligan focused on keeping her workshop as fundamental as possible in terms of portrait drawing concepts, while still keeping it interesting for artists of all experience levels. This consideration for accessibility and inclusion was seen in other aspects of Art on the Porches, like the inclusion of children’s activities and wide-ranging workshops and live performances.

While parents browsed the festival and spoke with local artists, their children found their inner artists by painting the Strathmore houses. Since being introduced last year, young attendees flock to the paintable yard signs.

“We’ve even had kids come this year and go, ‘Oh, I did the houses last year. I forgot about the houses. I want to do the houses now,’” Farrow said.

Farrow said the activity engages all ages, as children, teenagers and their family members enjoy collaborating on the houses’ designs. The young artists often help each other on their masterpieces and praise others’ designs, she said.

“One of the most fun things is you’ll see their parents or grandparents get right down with them,” Farrow said. “They actually enjoy painting with them. I think it’s a thing we’ll keep going (with).”

Vendors also got a taste of the community aspect of Art on the Porches. Mary Notarthomas, a visual artist who focuses on painting pets, was excited to table at the festival for the first time. Though she has been a vendor at other arts festivals, she never felt that it was “her thing.”

Previously, tabling felt like selling her artwork rather than sharing it with the community, Notarthomas said. But when she heard about the Art on the Porches community, she was convinced to give tabling another try.

“That’s (meeting customers) the best part of it because my work is very solitary,” Notarthomas said. “I feel proud of what I’m doing too, so that makes all the difference.”

Published on September 8, 2024 at 9:15 pm

Contact: Jepryor@syr.edu