A homage to haiku...and Sherwin Williams...

Nearby John’s office is an old empty lot and brick building—the old Sherwin Williams Paint Factory. For the past six months or so, the empty lot that runs parallel to Sherwin Street has been a sandbox for large earth movers. They are doing soil remediation and to prevent the neighbors from breathing in the dust as the kick up the dirt, they constructed a covered plywood walkway along the existing sidewalk. Each end of the structure was painted—we suspected by any of a number of artists who live in the neighborhood.

We drive by it often but one day a few weeks ago the octopus gatekeeper on the north end of the makeshift “tunnel” beckoned to us. It was an unseasonably warm January day, so we decided to stop and take a stroll.

Inside we discovered a long wall of art. Word art. Actually, as we looked closer we could see it was an installation of haiku poetry that incorporated paint chip colors. This was definitely the work of local artists paying homage to the Sherwin Williams Paint Factory!

I would suggest you visit, but sadly I just drove by this week and noticed it’s been removed. Seems the project is entering the next phase. So…enjoy the photos below.