A base of support for totems
Groups work to transform Syracuse's old parking meters into vertical artwork.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
By Greg Munno
Staff writer
Three groups have teamed up to turn the remnants of the city's old parking meters into pieces of art.
The downtown sector of Tomorrow's Neighborhoods Today, the Cultural Resources Council of Syracuse & Onondaga County and 40 Below have been recruiting artists to design what they are calling "totems."
The totems will use the metal bases that once supported parking meters to create vertical pieces of art, according to Mick Mather, special projects coordinator for the Cultural Resources Council and the person who came up with the idea.
Working with TNT, Mather issued a request for proposals to artists asking for designs for the totems and offering a $200 stipend.
Responses were sent in from as far away as Georgia. Seven totems have been approved, and, initially, four more will be selected. Those 11 totems will be installed throughout the city.
In a second phase, 40 Below will issue a new request for proposals and select five additional totems, according to Kate Clark, a member of the 40 Below public art task force and the city's acting public art coordinator.
Mather says there are already plans in the works for a third stage, and eventually he hopes there will be 30 totems installed throughout downtown.
"Public art is a way to announce your city as being creative and open and to make it welcoming to the young professionals the area is trying to keep," Mather said. "It gives a city that cool factor. It is also a way to promote walkability. If people get out of their cars to walk downtown and see these pieces of art, they will also discover the little shop on the corner or a great cafe or restaurant."
The Common Council is expected to approve the project at its meeting Monday.
One of the artists who has been selected is Elizabeth Riker, of Camillus, who has designed a piece she calls Cultural Dancers.
"I got interested in downtown as a melting pot," Riker said, explaining her inspiration. "You have homeless people, young professionals, people from Oswego County and the suburbs, all coming into the city.
"I just thought how important it could be to have something visual going on that would be a common experience for all these visitors, and also something that would make them happy."
This item was published on 04/07/2007
