The Syracuse Poster Project will be exhibiting its new posters for 2010 at Maxwell Memorial Library throughout June. The project, started in 2001 by Jim Emmons to provide an ongoing source of public art, starts with a haiku written by a local poet and is completed with poster art created by an illustration student at Syracuse University. The resulting 16 posters, celebrating scenes from Syracuse and Onondaga County, are displayed year-round in large panels downtown, while smaller prints are displayed in a traveling exhibit. Camillus’s Erie Canal Aqueduct, newly restored and dedicated, is one of the subjects of the 2010 Poster Project, revealed in April. Poet Elizabeth Dunn wrote these 17 syllables: Canal over creek,
yearning for one another;
waters never blend.
In her poet’s statement, Dunn says she chose this part of the canal because it feels rural although it flows next to a highway, and because it enjoys many of the natural elements associated with haiku. But, she wrote, “in a addition to the natural beauty of the place, there is a sadness. If you think about it: the canal is flowing toward the creek and the creek toward the canal. You are ready for the two waters to meet and become one. Instead, they are carried separately, one over the other, so very close, but forever apart.” Artist Tang Dao illustrated the haiku.
This and the 15 other posters will be on display from June 2 to 29 at the library. An open house will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday June 22. Emmons and a trustee of the non-profit Poster Project will be available to talk about the project, answer questions and sell poster prints. They will also have information about the next haiku contest, which will open in July and have a deadline of the second Friday in September. The exhibit and open house are free and open to the public. Maxwell Memorial Library is located at 14 Genesee St., Camillus. For more information, drop by the library, call 672-3661 or visit online at maxwellmemoriallibrary.org.