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In 2005, Syracuse local Kenny Harris made a goal to one day have his work shown at the Everson Museum of Art. Little did he know, the CNY Artist Initiative would help him reach that goal much sooner than he expected.

“My mom was like, ‘I remember you coming here in the church choir when you were nine years old to sing Christmas music, and here you are doing an exhibit in one of their main galleries,’” he said.

On Sunday, the Everson Museum of Art showcased the artists who were chosen for the CNY Artist Initiative, allowing artists to express the thoughts behind their exhibits. The Initiative is a competitive program that highlights six different artists each year who use a range of modes and mediums, and provides space for CNY artists to display their artwork locally.

This year, the six artists chosen were Harris, Laura Reeder, Abisay Puentes, Achala Wali, Helene Starr and Dan Shanahan. The chosen artists have had showings in the Everson since January of this year, including Shanahan’s exhibition, Scenes of Syracuse, which opened last month.

Out of 60 applicants, the six artists were chosen for their diverse experiences, mediums and motivations.

The artists’ differences were also illustrated in the different ways they chose to present and discuss their work. Shanahan showed off this diversity as the only watercolor artist with a demonstration of his painting process with a typical Syracuse landscape. The Everson set up a desk and camera which allowed the audience to see each stroke as he painted Syracuse buildings and narrated his process and the reasoning behind his choices.

Puentes showed his multimodal expertise by showing the audience a video displaying his artwork alongside his instrumental music. He assured the audience the absence of words or text in his work was intentional.

“Words could be use like a weapon to hurt people,” Puentes said. “Sometimes it could be a medicine, but in many times, it’s a weapon, and that’s why I don’t want to be talking too much. I want to show you my art.”

Most of the artists were present at the event, with the exception of Helene Starr and Laura Reeder, who both shared videos in lieu of their attendance. Starr’s exhibition highlighted the intersection of ceramics and metals and how she uses them to create a new sculpture, while Reeder’s exhibition, “Now More Than Ever,” focused on images and how she walks through the world and captures those moments with her camera.

Wali studied in Paris and London before she settled down in Trumansburg, New York, where her family had immigrated to from India when she was five years-old.

Wali’s exhibition was heavily influenced by her parents — she spent a lot of time drawing her mother’s “unruly” hair and her father’s ears, which resembled the ears on sculptures of Indian deities, she said. Both passed away in the last year, just six months apart, but Wali’s sketches of her parents still headline her exhibit.

The initiative highlights both art and community perspectives, said Adam Carlin, SU’s Director of Learning and Engagement. Carlin, who started in his position nine months ago, feels positive about the future of the initiative and the heights it will reach.

“Six artists from one year,” Carlin said. “Think about it — in 10 years, that’s 60 artists that are having these solo exhibitions in the museum.”

The initiative also benefits the students, families and children who can view and learn from these exhibitions, Harris said. The opportunity also gave Harris a connection to other Syracuse artists, which influenced his work as a professor.

“Artists in Syracuse are doing these specific things, and these emerging artists are interested in the same things,” Harris said. “Let’s get them together so we can all have the same conversation.”

Carlin hopes the initiative will continue to grow and draw more artists and community members to the Syracuse art scene.

“We’re in our second year — I would see this going for a long time to come,” Carlin said. “It’s just a great platform to accomplish that goal of supporting local artists.”

Published on November 6, 2022 at 11:40 pm