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Boil advisory for some residents in Wilkes-Barre after main break

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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Blinking and shaking your head, you might look at some of the pictures in the Second Floor Gallery at Marquis Art &amp; Frame, and ask:</p><p><em>Hey, when did somebody paint a mural on the South Street Bridge?</em></p><p><em>Didn&#8217;t I just pass the old Frank Clark&#8217;s Jewelers? There wasn&#8217;t any mural on it, was there? Or on this garage wall? Or that old furniture store?</em></p><p>The answer would be, no, there are no murals on these particular buildings.</p><p>But maybe, eventually, someone will create artwork there, or on other bare walls that Jordan Semar can&#8217;t help but see as potential canvases.</p><p>Semar, 31, is a graphic designer at Pepperjam who has spent lots of lunch breaks walking around downtown Wilkes-Barre, noticing empty walls and imagining how much more eye-appeal they could have.</p><p>His exhibit at Marquis, titled &#8220;Local Art (un)Scene,&#8221; includes designs he positioned onto photos of various local walls, to give people an idea of the possibilities.</p><p>&#8220;What would the city look like if we embraced more street art?&#8221; he asks in his artist statement, suggesting it could lead to &#8220;a boost to tourism to view the art or simply more of an overall positive mentality in the area.&#8221;</p><p>Semar likes the idea of incorporating elements from local history, such as images of miners and trains, as well as messages of encouragement, such as the slogan &#8220;Life is an adventure&#8221; floating atop a mountain range.</p><p>One of his pieces shows a little girl with a paint roller crossing a word out of the saying, &#8220;One person can only do so much.&#8221; The youngster is eliminating the word &#8220;only,&#8221; so the sentence becomes a mantra rather than an excuse.</p><p>The artist framed his pieces with reclaimed lumber and displayed them at Marquis, where they will share space through Nov. 2 with portraits his friend and co-worker Alan McLaughlin painted.</p><p>Semar grew up in Schuylkill County and has lived in Wilkes-Barre since he began to study Integrative Media and Art at Wilkes University.</p><p>He doesn&#8217;t expect the owners of every wall where he has envisioned artwork to invite him to start painting. But he&#8217;s hopeful the city might find some places he could brighten with his pictures, which he sees as &#8220;a marriage of street art and graphic design.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;It could be an opportunity to work together,&#8221; said Diamond City Partnership executive director Larry Newman, who attended the art exhibit opening reception last month at Marquis Art &amp; Frame.</p><p>&#8220;The discussion hasn&#8217;t begun in earnest yet,&#8221; Newman said on Monday. &#8220;But I think it&#8217;s absolutely something we&#8217;d be interested in continuing to pursue.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">In a piece he calls &#8216;Fairbain Lane,&#8217; artist Jordan Semar has envisioned what one of Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s many bare walls might look like with a mural painted on it. The piece he designed shows a little girl transforming the sentence &#8216;One person can only do so much&#8217; to read &#8216;One person can do so much.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_artist1-1.jpeg</photo0><caption0>In a piece he calls &#8216;Fairbain Lane,&#8217; artist Jordan Semar has envisioned what one of Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s many bare walls might look like with a mural painted on it. The piece he designed shows a little girl transforming the sentence &#8216;One person can only do so much&#8217; to read &#8216;One person can do so much.&#8217; </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_Artist4-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Jordan Semar incorporated the message &#8216;Life is an Adventure&#8217; into this piece he envisioned on an old building off North Main Street in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_Artist4-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Jordan Semar incorporated the message &#8216;Life is an Adventure&#8217; into this piece he envisioned on an old building off North Main Street in Wilkes-Barre. </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_artist.3.semar_-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Jordan Semar talks about his artwork in the Second Floor Gallery of Marquis Art &amp; Frame in downtown Wilkes-Barre. The two portraits on the wall at left were painted by his friend Alan McLaughlin. The artowkr to the right is Semar&#8217;s. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_artist.3.semar_-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Jordan Semar talks about his artwork in the Second Floor Gallery of Marquis Art &amp; Frame in downtown Wilkes-Barre. The two portraits on the wall at left were painted by his friend Alan McLaughlin. The artowkr to the right is Semar&#8217;s. </caption2><photoCredit2>Sean McKeag | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_artist.semar2_-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Jordan Semar&#8217;s piece titled &#8216;Pennsylvania Ave.&#8217; imagines what the South Street Bridge might look like if it was decorated with pictures of miners and a train. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_artist.semar2_-1.jpg</photo3><caption3>Jordan Semar&#8217;s piece titled &#8216;Pennsylvania Ave.&#8217; imagines what the South Street Bridge might look like if it was decorated with pictures of miners and a train. </caption3><photoCredit3>Sean McKeag | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Artist suggests ideas for city&#8217;s bare walls</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mary Therese Biebel</p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO </strong></p><p><strong>What: </strong></p><p>Exhibit of works by Jordan Semar and Alan McLaughlin</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Marquis Art &amp; Frame Second Floor Gallery, 112 South Main St., Wilkes-Barre</p><p><strong>When:</strong> 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays through Nov. 2</p><p><strong>Info: </strong>570-823-0518</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

For now, it’s Local Art (un)Scene