Pictured: Brewer Harris Projects Art Gallery at 138 Bank Alley in Downtown Syracuse. Credit: Courtesy of Miesha Shih

A new art gallery, Brewer Harris Projects, will begin showing its first exhibit starting Friday.

Its co-owners Miesha Shih and Laura Heyman are the brains behind the nonprofit art gallery. They intend to bring something novel to Syracuse while adding vibrancy to the city’s contemporary art scene. Both have longed to see a space in the city that celebrates artwork produced by women, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities. 

The gallery had been in the works for more than a year before the pair was able to find their ideal location. 

“Part of our mission is to have a space that’s offering new artistic perspectives that are bringing a certain level of dynamism and interest in the arts to Syracuse and to be able to showcase artists that the Syracuse community might not necessarily have come across in the past,” Shih said. 

The gallery is hosting its official opening on Friday at 5 p.m. at 138 Bank Alley. The exhibit features Mexican artist Manuel Hernandez Sanchez. His show, “The Singing Wall,” is expected to run through March 29. He is a mural painter and is based in New York City. 

Sanchez’s and all future exhibits are expected to run for six weeks at the gallery. His work explores colonialism’s effects, family, gender and Indigenous identity.

The exhibit will be open Thursday to Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. Guests interested in visiting the space can also call and schedule by appointment. In addition to art shows, the gallery will host programmatic arts and community activities. It will also act as a multi-use space for community members who want to rent it and host events.

In December the gallery held a soft opening for Tripty Tamang Pakhrin, an artist and Master of Fine Arts student at Syracuse University. The exhibit, entitled “Welcome to Hotel Thai,” featured photography taken by Pakhrin and was the first to be presented in the space. 

“Being in the arts in general, for a long time, [we’re] just wanting to bring something unique to Syracuse in terms of contemporary art and our focus specifically on artists of color, queer artists and women artists,” Shih said. 

Shih has long dreamed of opening her own gallery. She has worked as an art curator for the Community Folk Art Center and has worked at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She has also been on the board of ArtRage Gallery and worked at the Everson Museum of Art.

Heyman previously owned an art gallery in San Francisco and lived there for 11 years. Heyman helped co-found a cooperative gallery with a group of artists in Philadelphia when she was a student at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Since meeting close to a decade ago, the pair instantly connected on their interest in the arts.

About a year ago, the pair began looking for space for their art gallery. They toured spaces across the city, including at the GereBlock before deciding on the space in Bank Alley. The current space for Brewer Harris Projects used to be an extension of Discount Shoe Repair on East Washington Street and is owned by Ralph Rotella.

Rotella owned his business for the past 50 years and has seen the changes in the area over the past five decades of being at his location.

He is optimistic about the types of businesses and activity happening downtown, many of which are brought on by new generations of people creating change in the area, he said. 

Michael John Heagerty is proud to see another business join the block. Heagerty’s Wildflowers Armory is located near Brewer Harris Projects. He helped get Shih and Heyman to their space. 

“Everyone’s really entrepreneurial and really trying to go for it. So they fit into that category beautifully. And that’s why it’s a good match,” Heagerty said. “…. They have very interesting, lofty goals for bringing outside artists to Syracuse, which I think is an important thing that’s been missing outside of the Everson.”

Heagerty has hosted an array of events in the Bank Alley ranging from annual urban markets to block parties. 

He’s used those community-centered events as an opportunity to show the versatility of Bank Alley’s usage. Heagerty’s goal was to change the negative perception surrounding the area by making it more pedestrian-friendly and inviting.

A few steps away from the gallery is the Black Citizens Brigade owned by Cjala Surratt. She has been at her location for almost two years and is elated to have a Black and Women-owned business as her next-door neighbor.

As an arts advocate and having a career in the arts, Surratt was even more excited when she learned it was an art gallery.

“They are centering a roster of artists that will bring really important conversations and challenge communities about some of the different things that we have going on right now in our world,” Surratt said. 

Editor’s note: The original version of this article stated that Laura Heyman worked for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Miesha Shih worked as a freelancer for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The original version of this article stated that Heyman and Shih first scouted a location at the Gear Factory. They scouted a location at GereBlock.

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Yolanda Stewart was raised in the Bronx, New York City. Before choosing a career path in journalism she found a voice in writing plays, short stories, and a myriad of other creative outlets. She is a 2022...