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Kelly Weiss heard a knock on the door after she just moved into a new home in Strathmore — a picturesque, quiet neighborhood on Syracuse’s west side. The person, Weiss recalled, had a strange request: he needed to plug a stage into her house.

Weiss and her family spent one of their first days in the neighborhood at Art on the Porches, a street festival to celebrate the arts, and were enthusiastically welcomed by the community.

“It was just so lovely — I went in (to my house) at the end of the day, and there were like ten bottles of wine with welcome notes,” Weiss said. “People were just so happy that a family moved into a house on the corner.”

On Saturday, the celebration made its return following a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Attendees were met with music, food, hands-on activities and of course, art on residents’ porches.

Lawn chairs crowded Ruskin Avenue in anticipation of a stacked concert lineup, and food trucks delivered savory aromas all the way down the street. Nearly every porch boasted a vibrant showcase of paintings, ceramics, woodwork and birdhouses; what didn’t fit on the porches was brought closer to the sidewalks, housed under tents.

Weiss, now a part of the Greater Strathmore Neighborhood Association and chairperson of Art on the Porches, has been involved with the event since 2014. Watching people weave between the street and the porches, Weiss was overjoyed to see the turnout and celebration of the arts this year, specifically with young people and new talent in Syracuse.

“We have people who have never done this before — never shown their art, never sang on a stage, (now) singing their first song in front of people,” Weiss said. “It’s so special.”

Eva Hunter sat proudly by her work, a collection of colorful jewelry, clothes, ties and paintings.
A mixed media artist from Clay, Hunter works with an array of acrylics, oils and pastels to achieve her vibrant visions, like a green, yellow and pink marbled bow, or a matching tank top and mask set that both depict daisies against a bright blue sky.

As a child, Hunter chose art as a way to keep busy. She wasn’t allowed to watch much television, so instead of getting herself into trouble or “pulling her own hair out,” Hunter turned to painting.

Hunter gestured to a painting hanging on the side of her tent, a large, bashful bird sitting on a tree branch. Her “Cheeky Chick-A-Dee,” Hunter said, has a quirky face and personality and has been beloved so far at the festival.

Cassandra Roshu | Photo Editor

With something for everyone, the neighborhood festival had a kids’ area for children to draw on constructed houses. The houses allowed kids to express themselves and be part of the community fun. Cassandra Roshu | Photo Editor

Further down Ruskin Avenue, children flitted around the designated kids’ area. Nearly every square inch of the sidewalk was covered in chalk, and each small easel had a child in front of it, hard at work on their masterpieces.

Andrea Pharoah, the coordinator of the space, pointed to the small neighborhood of houses in the grass. Made from old yard signs which were then covered in white paper, these houses were such a hit that Pharoah and other volunteers had to make more.

The area was full of free activities for kids to get hands-on and creative. There was a mirror for children to do a self-portrait, and in the driveway was a wooden loom for kids to weave in goldenrod and black-eyed Susans.

This interactive artistic area was integral to the festival, Pharoah said. While the adults browsed and shopped for art, the children created some of their own.

“When there’s something for the kids (and) something for grown-ups, then families are happy,” she said.

Mary Margaret O’Hara, another volunteer at the children’s art area, has been coming to Art on the Porches for years and now brings her daughter along. The collection of the houses in the yard, O’Hara explained, was meant to replicate and celebrate the beautiful porches and houses in the area.

O’Hara’s daughter held up the sheet of paper she was working on, which was filled with purple, blue and green tones, and almost as tall as her.

“I was trying to do a house, but I don’t know how to do a house,” she said.

Meanwhile, one house over, Rebekah Bortel was “just borrowing the lawn” to showcase her ceramics for the afternoon. Scattered across a table were rows of leaf pressings and hand-built mugs, some of which displayed logos or symbols from different areas in Syracuse.

Bortel found her passion for ceramics at Corcoran High School in Syracuse when her art teacher taught her class how to create pottery. Eventually studying ceramics at Alfred University, Bortel now focuses her art on natural and vintage elements: the leaf pressings, vases with doily impressions and “record bowls.”

Bortel also makes magnets — a four-leaf clover, a paw print, a fleur de lis, the Jeep logo and symbols for Tipperary Hill, Eastwood and Strathmore. Small but careful creations, the magnets represent art accessibility to Bortel.

“I like to have art that people can afford,” she said. “Even if you can only afford a two-dollar magnet, you (still) can buy art.”

Across the street, Richard Williams sat on his porch, his portraits and paintings looming high above his head, nearly reaching the ceiling. Previously an illustrator, Williams’ subjects are monstrous yet friendly creatures — some with tails, some with beaks, some with antennae.

Why? “Because I’m unhinged,” Williams said.

Williams has previously created covers for Mad Magazine, and worked on children’s books and young adult novels’ covers as well. In 2005, Williams began teaching around the city, at Onondaga Community College, Le Moyne College and Syracuse University.

As he looked up at his work, full of spindly whiskers and sprawling tongues, Williams recalled the fulfillment and joy behind his creative process.

“It’s just like a flow of consciousness. I paint what I want to paint,” he said. “It’s not as lucrative, but it’s fun.”

Art on the Porches started out with just Strathmore artisans, Weiss said, but since then, it’s broadened to the central New York area. With the addition of musical performances and food vendors, the festival has evolved almost into a street fair to embrace creativity.

“I think there’s a lot of ways to have art,” “There’s culinary art, there’s musical arts, there’s interpretive arts. There’s all kinds of ways to be artistic.”

Through Art on the Porches, the Greater Strathmore Neighborhood Association looks to shed light on a unique urban lifestyle and celebrate all the city has to offer, Weiss said.

“We know that Syracuse can get a bad rep sometimes, so we want people to know that city living is alive and well — it’s diverse, it’s fun and we are committed to the city and to living here,” Weiss said. “It is really cool to live in the city of Syracuse.”

Published on September 10, 2023 at 10:22 pm