Poster Image

Across the Landscape

$20

Item#: 2009SYR12

Purchase Details

11x17-inches, printed on heavy weight (100-pound) Hammermill cover paper. We package each print with a piece of chipboard in a clear plastic sleeve.

You also receive…

An information page with photos of the artist and poet, and hand-written comments from each.

Medium- and large-format posters are available by custom order. Contact us for details.

Across the Landscape

poster information

Description

Across the landscape
cranes and girders dot the sky
Healthy progress shows

In these trying economic times, we do have positive things to look forward to. The signs are around, everywhere, although I didn't notice this one until a friend pointed it out. It was last summer, around the time of the State Fair, and I was driving along 690 with a friend from Binghamton. He said, "Every time I'm in Syracuse, I see a lot of these construction cranes."

And I'm thinking, "Is this a derogatory remark he's making, about Syracuse having a lot of construction?"

It took me aback. So I thought about it. And the response I came up with was, "Yeah, that shows progress." What else could it be? And that was the germ of the whole poem.

In choosing a poem, I was looking for a piece that I connected with, as well as one that immediately brought to mind a conceivable and strong visual idea. This poem had an aspect of narrative imagery that was appealing to me. It also reminded me of the sadness and hope of putting away what was and looking forward to the possibilities of the future.

When I was taking reference, I went downtown to look at different construction sites. At every one, I was really drawn to the positive and negative shapes created by the scaffolding and machinery, and how they were silhouetted against the sky. The illustration painted itself after that!