Poster Image
$20
Item#: 2010SYR12
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.
Siren Warbles Past
poster information
Description
Siren warbles past
flashing lights, weaving traffic
nine—one—one response
I've taught illustration and graphic design at SU for 35 years, and I tell my students to think of poetry when composing an ad, especially the headline. Both poetry and the ad are designed to evoke a response, a thought, or a feeling.
I've also lived in several cities. Downtown areas of cities are much alike in what they evoke through sights, sounds and smells. The University just moved us to Armory Square, and my work is on the upper floor, close to the road. There is a lot of sound from the street, engine noises, horns, sirens. It doesn't bother me; I know they all are responding to something urgent. I like the sense these sounds convey, the untouchable things that communicate with our ambient senses.
I picked this poem because it gave me the chance to do lights in watercolor; lights are hard to do with watercolor for me and I wanted to try. I surprised myself in picking this, but I worked really hard on it; you can see every brush stroke.
I found a reference picture with good composition, and thought: I can do this. I even added the traffic light to the picture, and the buildings and light remind me of Syracuse. I was going to put the lettering on the back of the fireman's clothes but it made things too complex—so I made this separate.
For my future, I really like everything about design, but watercolor is what I do best. I think I would like to do something like illustrate children's books.