601 Tully, 2008-2016

601 Tully, named after its street address, was an abandoned residence on the Westside of Syracuse, that Wilson renovated, with college students, into a neighborhood art museum and center for education. Both Mel Chin framing toxic soil and Matta-Clark drawing a circle though which we view urban blight, help to reveal an existing site. Wilson broadened these definitions of “social” sculpture to include the act of neighboring. In Wilson’s case it was the collaboration and gathering of the mixed expertise of neighbors to invent a new space that is porous and in a state of flux but also becomes an anchor in an otherwise transient neighborhood.

601 Tully was developed, conceived, and executed through an artist’s lens. At the groundbreaking ceremony for example, dignitaries, deans, politicians, and school kids were handed paper, pencils, and drawing boards and Wilson led the crowd of 160 people in a blind contour public drawing lesson – an observational drawing exercise typically taught to art students - which allows for deeper perception merely by disallowing the artist to look at their paper, forcing them only to study the subject that is before their eyes. Through much of the renovation project (to the discomfort of the contractors), Wilson intentionally did not pre-determine what the building would become but rather let it take shape in response to the evolving desires of the neighborhood.

CONSTRUCTION & DEVELOPMENT

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DOCUMENTS

Class description

601 Tully Description

History

The 601 Tully project grew out of a design/build class entitled, “New Directions in Social Sculpture” taught by Associate Professor Marion Wilson. 601 Tully was a 1900 square foot abandoned residence that had become the neighborhood drug house located on the near westside of Syracuse. Wilson, with the assistance of grants and the NWSI, purchased the building for renovation in 2009. Over seven semesters, a rotating team of art, architecture, education and ESF students (totaling 74 students) programmed, designed and re-built 601 Tully into a neighborhood contemporary arts space. Several of 601 Tully’s art and education programs continue to be sustained through Wilson’s Artist and Social Profit class (EDU 300/600). 601 Tully houses a contemporary gallery/project space for socially engaged art; an adjacent teaching garden, poetry and writing workshops, and a classroom space for afterschool homework club and art classes. 601 Tully, a member of CMAC, has two fulltime staffpersons, and a voluntary Advisory Board of community members and artists. 601 Tully is housed academically and fiscally in the School of Education.

Mission

601 Tully supports interdisciplinary creation and studies in art, architecture, ecology, entrepreneurship and education. 601 Tully invites both local and international artists and scholars in residence that engage the neighborhood and/or use the building a catalyst for creating new work. 601 Tully is committed to the coproduction of new culture. All of our art, education, and entrepreneurship programs are offered free to the public and grow out of a partnership between university, city, and neighborhood.

An auxiliary component of 601 Tully is MLAB (Mobile Literacy Arts Bus) – a renovated 1984 American Eagle RV into a mobile classroom diigital lab, poetry library and gallery that travels throughout New York state partnering with local communities through innovative programming.