Everyone remembers writing poems in grade school. Five-seven-five: the quintessential rule for the perfect haiku.

The Syracuse Poster Project — funded by corporate sponsorship, charitable grants and poster sales — has been displaying illustrations of haikus in downtown Syracuse for 13 years. The art project’s mission is to bring together Syracuse University artists with community poets to create an annual series of illustrated poetry posters. The non-profit project displays the posters as a means of putting downtown Syracuse’s poster panels to better use.

The posters for the 14th series will be revealed for the first time Thursday at 6 p.m. in the atrium at City Hall Commons. After their placement in the city kiosks — where they will remain for an entire year — the prints will be viewed by passers-by.

In 2000, Jim Emmons, the project coordinator, noticed the elegant work of Roger DeMuth, an SU professor of illustration, in a Syracuse University magazine. Emmons and DeMuth ended up co-founding the Poster Project together.

“He saw this postcard project that I did with my students and asked if I wanted to get involved. And I’ve been helping out ever since,” DeMuth said.

Emmons acts as the project coordinator while DeMuth and John Thompson, also an SU illustration professor, teach the students who design the images from scratch.

“The original goal of the project was to make better use of the city’s poster kiosks on Salina and Warren streets,” Emmons said. “But it has continued as a way of getting public art downtown and selling those pieces as small prints as well.”

Emmons begins the yearlong process by gathering haikus during the summer from local writers. He mails invitations to the poetry community in June with a deadline around early September. The poems can be about anything, but they must somehow incorporate the city of Syracuse.

These poems are then handed off to DeMuth and Thompson, where they are given to art students to analyze. This group includes about 20–40 senior illustration majors in the School of Art and Design, who are required to select one haiku and create a visual representation of it. The 16 best pieces are nominated by a committee in November and printed to fit into city kiosks.

“People might say, ‘Oh, 16 posters? They might do this in a couple of months,’” said Emmons. “But there’s a lot more to it. It’s a year-round cycle.”

Students are provided roughly three weeks to work on their pieces and are strongly encouraged by professors to use their favorite mediums. These unique pieces are based on their own visions of only 17 syllables.

“They can work traditionally, meaning with oil paints, or acrylics, or with watercolors, but they could also work digitally,” DeMuth said.

Experimenting with multiple poems is normal, but finding inspiration for the perfect illustration can be difficult, especially in only a few short weeks.

Erick Friely, one of this year’s senior illustrators, said he finds inspiration wherever he can.

“Going out of my way to learn new things, like going out to pick up a book at the library, or getting on Google to look up information about things I don’t know, things like that inspire me,” Friely said.

Seneca Wilson, who founded the Underground Poetry Spot in Syracuse, a group that provides local poets with the opportunity to artistically express themselves on stage, wrote the haiku Friely’s illustration is based on. Wilson holds a similar mindset as his illustrator’s.

“My motivation is just life,” Wilson said. “I use everything around me. I write for the people and hope by doing that I can inspire and help others grow.”

For those who cannot make it to Syracuse, the illustrations will be available for purchase online and at local craft festivals. Selling the prints makes a fairly large profit and keeps the project going strong.

Having drawn an increasing amount of local loyalty over the years, Emmons said that one of his favorite aspects of this project is simply hearing poets’ excitement after finding out they have been selected to appear downtown. DeMuth said while this year’s class of illustrators is strong, he hopes to see the strength increase.

Said DeMuth: “I love the visibility and recognition my students receive. It’s such a great experience and it definitely helps them find a first job in the industry.”

Published on April 10, 2014 at 12:10 am

ztgipson@syr.edu