Artist creates transformation
Street muralist brings a new feel to Franklin Alley with brushstroke of vivid imagery
Troy Many people looking down the restored Franklin Alley will see new sidewalks, a freshly paved street and the absence of the 16 commercial garbage dumpsters that dominated the connection between River Street and Broadway.
Joe Iurato views it differently. Franklin Alley is a canvas rich with textured brick surfaces, stockpiled with architectural history and a surface calling for stories of Troy past and present to be told.
“I’m a street artist. I work primarily
with stencils, aersols,” said Iurato, 47, who hails from New Jersey.
The alleyway is a canvas Iurato will bring to life over the next month as he installs 12 to 15 murals, stencils and sculptures down its length.
Iurato’s creations are inspired by his own experiences, Troy’s history and the people and places he has encountered and soaked up during his visits to the city.
Iurato is collaborating with the Arts Center of the Capital Region to provide the transformative effort that will make the Franklin Alley Pedestrian Path stand out as an inspiration for discovering new life and purpose for the city’s 43 miles of alleys and providing a new downtown venue. The Arts Center is the force behind the $100,000 aspect of reinvigorating this downtown connector with a missing artistic quality.
Iurato has found Troy welcoming. Local artists have opened up to him. The Troy Boys and Girls Club members have inspired him. The city’s urban architectural fabric has stirred him.
“Everybody is really enthusiastic. The enthusiasm for the project has really been inspirational,” he said.
Iurato will draw on his own
personal story with pieces featuring his sons, Hudson, 12, and Maddox, 9. In the middle of the alley is another piece depicting a young Troy Boys and Girls Club member throwing a paper airplane with the message love on it. Then there’s a stencil drawn from a newspaper advertisement for local rail travel.
Working up and down the alley, Iurato is making use of the
doors, windows and metal fixtures and encompassing them into his art.
The existing mural that depicts farms, food and restaurants will be rehabbed and remain part of the alley’s developing artistic presence.
Iurato’s artwork will tie together the alley’s overall $330,000 transformation brought about by the Arts Cen
ter, the city’s agencies and local business and property owners. The alley’s revitalization has seen it left clean and sparkling as the trash containers have disappeared to be replaced with businesses bringing their garbage out to the street for daily pickup.