Pembroke Art Panels
Artist - Maria Friske
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This project was funded by a grant through the Arts and Cultural Council’s Culture Builds Communities Grants Program. It was conceived by the Swillburg Neighborhood Association as a public project to depict and celebrate significant moments in the neighborhood’s history through a 5 panel structure.
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The mural reaches back over time, spanning centuries, starting with the original creation myth of the native Iroquois and extending through the early years of the Erie Canal and subway to the present day. Drawing upon the archeological record, native art and myth and historical photography, each panel depicts an important period in the Swillburg area.
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The pig motif, which appears in relief in each panel, serves as a unifying symbol, alluding to the neighborhood's colorful nickname as it spans the history of the area from an early agricultural homestead to its current incarnation as vibrant and diverse urban neighborhood. Bright contrasting colors and stylized figures and images create a visually dynamic tapestry of the Swillburg neighborhood, capturing the vitality, energy and diversity of the neighborhood itself.
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Panel 1: the Creator’s Garden
Senecas “Keepers of the western door”
The Creator's Garden pays homage to the Iroquois creation myth that recounts Sky Woman's fall from the heavens. According to legend, after she landed upon a turtle's back, she and her descendants created earth and all its creatures. Her image dominates the panel to reflect the matriarchal nature of Iroquois society and underscore the centrality of the female to early Iroquois civilization where the "clearing" was the woman's domain, while the "forest" belonged to the men.
Panel 2: Always Know Your Neighbor
Early Farming and Canal
The Erie Canal followed the course now used by the 490 East Expressway. It formed the northern and eastern borders of the neighborhood. The panel portrays the area's growing importance as a gateway, a link in historic passages and progress, not only for the burgeoning commercial traffic that ushered in wide scale agricultural development across New York State, but also the neighborhood's role as a key stop on the famous Underground railway that helped escaped slaves reach freedom in Canada.
Panel 3: Always Know Your Pal
A Thriving Neighborhood
The panel illustrates the last days of the canal, and serves as a salute to the neighborhood's children, signifying a transitional period from the first boom days of growth to the early years as a thriving neighborhood. Images span a range of notable persons who were born, lived and worked in the neighborhood, from a famous performer to a trail blazing woman to the storied characters who worked on the canal boats.
Other motifs in this panel
Inside Pig Shape: At the center of "Always Know Your Pal" is a large, colorful pig that represents the neighborhood's rapid growth from the late nineteenth through the early twentieth century including the Dry Dock station near lock 66 and the building that later becomes Rooney’s Restaurant.
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Panel 4: In Transit
A Salute To A Working Class
The panel "In Transit" honors the neighborhood's working class past. It features vivid images of the Rochester subway that ran along the old canal bed from the 1920s through the 1950s, including commuters, pedestrians and neighbors.
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Panel 5: Currents
Today’s Swillburg: Eclectic, Vibrant, Diverse
With "Currents," Swillburg's present day character comes to life. In the 21st century a vital neighborhood is a diverse neighborhood, one that embraces its ties to its past and looks out with a welcoming eye to its future. The panel depicts a profusion of daily activities throughout Swillburg, from street life, commerce, and community gardens to the high energy frenzy of commuter traffic -- all occurring under the shadow of the city's current skyline.