OLEAN, N.Y. ‒ Renowned artist Meg Saligman shared designs this week for her large-scale community mural to be installed on SUNY Jamestown Community College’s Cattaraugus County Campus in the coming months.
Presenting to the JCC community via Zoom on Tuesday, Saligman unveiled a cohesive concept that will cover the four exterior walls of the Library & Liberals Arts Center. She expects work to begin on May 18 and wrap up in early fall. The design was approved by the JCC Board of Trustees in April.
Saligman has titled the installation “Vantage Point: Our Valley of the Sun.” The name is inspired by community input and poet Robert Lax’s famous work “Circus of the Sun.” Lax was born and raised in Olean and lived in a house on Clinton Street on grounds that are now part of JCC’s campus.
JCC’s Cattaraugus County Campus Library & Liberal Arts Center. Work on the
projects is expected to start on May 18 and wrap up in early fall.
During the presentation, Salgiman figuratively walked the audience around the building, explaining how the concept pays unique homage to Lax’s writing, and the past, present, and future of the Olean area and JCC.
“My public murals always begin with the site and the people that surround it,” she said. “That is where I discover content.”
The building’s west side design includes a group of community figures representing all generations, a re-creation of a fall foliage image captured by local photographer Pat Schwabenbauer, and rising steeples from Basilica of the St. Mary of the Angels church.
The south wall shows geese flying over a formation from Rock City Park, a fishing boat on the Allegheny River, and a stone that Senecas once used to sharpen their tools.
Noting that the south wall faces Olean’s African American Center For Cultural Development, Saligman said, “The story is told that Sarah Johnson, who was the first African-American woman to own property in Olean, found her home here because she was told to follow the clouds and the migrating geese. This is a poetic nod to her, her spirit, and her journey.”
The east side of the building features two historical components of the Olean area: an oil derrick representing the industry that once powered the region, and the original silent policeman landmark that rested at the intersection of State and Union streets.
The north wall, facing the Olean Center Mall, highlights the architecture of the city, showing the Old Library, the Olean home of former New York governor Frank W. Higgins, and a vintage scene of the city’s downtown during the holiday season.
Among JCC-themed elements included in the design are the campus clock tower, the surrounding roundabout, and a student whose eyes are covered by cloth.
“Students don’t begin their journey entirely awake, informed, eyes open,” Saligman said. “This symbolizes different forms of someone coming from the community to this campus and beginning their life’s journey.”
Saligman said each wall of the building highlights a season of the year and time of day. Each element of the design, she added, was constructed through her own research, conversations with community members, old photographs and artifacts, and community meet and greets where she solicited input.
The Olean project is the latest in a line of notable, community-driven public artworks Salgiman has created.
Her landmark “Common Threads” mural in Philadelphia served as the backdrop for a scene from the popular television series “This Is Us” in 2019.
Her murals on buildings in Shreveport, Louisiana; Omaha, Nebraska; and Chattanooga, Tennessee, are amongst the 10 largest murals in the United States. Outside of the U.S., Saligman used her artistic talents to transform a theater in Mexico City, a water tower in Tanzania, and a village gathering site in Ecuador.
She also created public installations for Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia in 2015 and for the Republican and Democratic National Conventions in 2016.
Yet, her latest project is the most personal to Saligman, a 1983 Olean High School graduate who resides in Philadelphia. Saligman’s inspiration for the work comes from her father, late Olean attorney Don Fish.
“This is a visual poem from me to the city in memory of my dad, who passed away last year,” she said.
In keeping with the community theme, Saligman said “we are going to have community paint days where people can actually do a paint by numbers system” to contribute to the project.
One will be held during Olean’s “Strolean” event downtown on June 3. Saligman hopes to dedicate the completed mural during the Oct. 7 Strolean.
Before that, work is set to get underway in less than two weeks.
“We have two aerial boom lifts ready for arrival,” Saligman said. “The first phase of the project will be power washing and priming the wall. We have to have a good clean substrate on the wall to put the paint on top of.”
Smiling, Saligman added: “We should be fun to watch most of the time.”
Those interested in volunteering or donating to the mural project can do so through the Tri-County Arts Council at www.tricountyartscouncil.org/heart-of-olean-mural-program