The project that won over the crowd at Sunday’s debut DISHES dinner was Tonja Torgerson and Joel Weissman’s proposal to create art that is also activism as part of their collaborative called SUBPAR, or Syracuse Urban Beautification Public Art Resistance.
Both graduate students at SU, (Minneapolis native Torgerson is studying print making student; Weissman, from Montana, ceramics), the idea for SUBPAR originated in a class last semester.
The classmates were charged with developing a project that would combine their two mediums in a public and meaningful way. They chose to create street art installations, “forcing beauty into urban surroundings,” and SUBPAR was born.
The SUBPAR proposal will create “unconventional street art” using hand-made, screenprinted ceramic tiles mortared permanently into place in an otherwise unused, unnoticed public space.
“Imagine a series of tiles that add a splash of color on a drab grey wall or boarded up window,” the team said during their presentation Sunday. The project received 30 votes.
Like many of the ideas presented at DISHES, Torgerson and Weissman had plans to realize their project and agreed they would have it to fruition with or without DISHES funding.
“We were planning on actualizing the project no matter what, but DISHES allows us a lot of leeway in what we’re going to do,” Weissman said.
That extra $1,000 certainly opens some doors for the artists.
“A couple hundred dollars can make a big difference,” Torgerson said. “A lot of artists aren’t looking for a lot of money, they just need a little help. And people who like the arts feel like they can help the artists.”
Their presentation included examples of similar projects by other artists, a detailed tentative timeline for completion and an estimated budget. Though the other eight presentations were delivered in a variety of formats, from improvisational comedy exercise to well-rehearsed skit, co-founder and organizer Stasya Panova said anyone who submitted a proposal had to also submit a budget and project outline.
“This is a pretty interesting approach to granting money,” Panova said. “I’m not sure that every artist in the world could make a presentation for their work.”
In the runner-up spot with 25 votes was Daniel Aguilera’s Syracuse Community Cookbook Series project. For information on how to submit a proposal for the next DISHES dinner, set for May 1, e-mail [email protected].
