Poster Image

A distorted depiction of people walking by a building full of windows

$20

Item#: 2010SYR10

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.

Poem Inspiration Location

Summer Sun Mirrors

poster information

Description

Summer sun mirrors
A gallery of faces
Salina glitters

I grew up on the west side of Syracuse and still have strong ties to the city. I always liked Salina Street. In the 1950s everybody, including my parents, went downtown to shop. I remember walking along the street in the summer and staring at the faces of the other shoppers. Who were these people, where did they come from? As kids, we'd make funny faces at the shoppers and at each other. All these reflections in the large store windows were like watching a movie.

I started haiku as a teacher at Liverpool High School when my students were entering poems for the New Times haiku contest. The Syra-haiku were about life in Central New York and I started submitting poems along with my students. This is one of my favorite pieces and I am humbled and thrilled to be included in this project.

I chose this haiku because it was related to architecture. I instantly thought of an image after reading it for the first time, because I was familiar with the Syracuse Galleries due to its modern design compared to most of the other buildings downtown. My interest is more in architecture than in landscapes. I am more of a linear person and like drawing in ink and watercolor.

For a poster, I used photo reference and took photos of the people separately and added them together. I gave curves to the buildings and the people using Photoshop to illustrate whimsically. The different colors in the windows are reflections of other buildings. I wanted to add sunspots for “sun glitters” as well but when I took the photos there were clouds in the sky and the cloud reflections worked out well too.