Installation for the nearly 5,000 square foot mural will begin this week, followed by a community painting event.
[Syracuse, NY, September 12]— The Syracuse Urban Partnership, owners of the Salt City Market, have announced the chosen artist for the large-scale mural in their outdoor dining space. Audra Linsner, owner of Three of Four Design Co. in Aurora, NY, has been selected to design and install the mural at the property’s north end.
“We received nearly two dozen submissions from incredible local, regional, and national artists, and our mural committee had the difficult task of choosing a final design,” says CJ Butler, Marketing and Communications Manager for the Salt City Market. “We ultimately chose Audra’s submission, because we feel it gets to the core of the Salt City Market’s vision—food & culture uniting people.”
Linsner’s design features 43 food items, each chosen for their versatility and ubiquity across many cultures and regions. Notable ingredients in the design include corn, mushrooms, coffee, avocado, rice, and of course, salt. The Salt City Market plans to release a companion microapp where viewers can scan a QR code to digitally view the mural and click through all of the food to learn fun facts about them. The goal is to make the mural even more interactive, hopefully spark curiosity and creativity amongst those who view it.
“Public art helps to strengthen and revitalize communities, so we’re excited to be able to continue to contribute to the transformation of Downtown Syracuse,” says Maarten Jacobs, Executive Director for the Syracuse Urban Partnership.
The mural’s designer shares a similar sentiment: “I’ve daydreamed about collaborating with community members to make public art, so it’s hard to describe how much it means to be painting this mural for a city that has given me so much warmth—despite the cold weather,” says Linsner. “I’ll always root for Syracuse, and I’m just ecstatic to be a part of making it an even brighter place to be.”
Mural painting is set to begin this week; the Salt City Market will also host a community painting event on Saturday, September 24th from 1-4PM. Community members can meet the artist, learn more about the process, and put their mark on the mural by helping to paint a section of it.
Salt City Market is about food, culture, and people doing what they love. The four-story building, located in the heart of Downtown Syracuse, features a 10-vendor food hall, grocery store, and coffee shop/bar on the first floor; offices on the second floor; and mixed-income housing on the third and fourth floors. The Market is open Monday-Saturday from 11AM-9PM, as well as Sunday from 11AM-5PM. For more information, visit saltcitymarket.com.