It took 6 years for Brand Lazore’s bench to finally be in a place where people can enjoy seeing and using it, and he couldn’t be happier that its new home is on the Onondaga Community College quad. “It makes me feel great to see my work on campus. I want students to know I was able to make a career out of my OCC education. I took the skills I learned here and utilized them to the maximum potential I could and it’s gotten me to this point.”
Lazore ‘14 is a member of the Onondaga Nation who returned to campus earlier this semester for the opening of the Indigenous Student Center. That same day, he delivered his bench to its new home between the flagpoles on the west quad.
He created the bench in 2019 while working in the old Gear Factory building at the corner of Fayette Street and Geddes Avenue on Syracuse’s West Side. The bench was commissioned through the Public Arts Task Force, and was supposed to be placed on the Creekwalk which winds its way through downtown Syracuse. A year later Covid happened, the work of the Public Arts Task Force was put on indefinite hold, and his bench remained in the Gear Factory. Earlier this month, it arrived at OCC. “There’s no better place for it than here. I’m so glad it gets a second life. It makes me happy that it’s here.”
Lazore’s inspiration for a career in art came from graffiti he saw everyday while growing up in Syracuse’s Hawley-Green neighborhood. “There was an old train station right behind my house (which can still be seen while driving on Interstate 690). I liked the big styles. I thought it was amazing these guys had their art all over the city.”
He would eventually meet the graffiti artists who introduced him to this new, fascinating world. “I was 14 or 15 years old. They taught me how to make murals and it was the first time I ever saw art supplies like markers and pencils. It made me want to get into art.”
Inspired by his new friends, Lazore participated in graffiti jams up and down the east coast. It became a big part of his life, but eventually he realized there was no money in it.
In the late 1990s, Lazore moved to Washington, DC for a position as a civil engineer apprentice. When the economy crashed a decade later, he moved back to Syracuse.
Lazore’s passion for art remained, and he decided he would enroll at Onondaga Community College and see what he could learn. As a teenager, he had dropped out of Henninger High School and earned his GED. “I had the smarts, but the homework and the essays weren’t for me.” Now in his 30s, he had the focus and the desire to do well. “I was trying to prove something to myself. It took me a semester to figure out what it was like being back in school. Once I did, I wound up graduating magna cum laude."
After completing his degree, he worked as a carpenter while continuing to improve his art skills. Eventually, he built up his business enough so he could support himself solely as an artist. “It was a dream come true, like hitting the lottery. When I was in DC working, I never thought I would be where I am today. I want to keep going. I want to have a physical storefront. I want to bring some of my other art to the front like architectural art, city skylines, graffiti. I love painting city skylines. I have a series I do called “Salt City” and it’s about Syracuse architecture. I want to do some new ones.”
Lazore’s work can be seen in multiple locations across campus. Besides his newly installed bench, there are several pieces in the Ann Felton Multicultural Center on the first floor of Ferrante Hall. And the new Indigenous Student Center features his most recent work titled Haudenosaunee Harvest. “I wanted this to be here to showcase that this is what the talents of an OCC graduate can do. I stuck to what I learned here, and kept working and moving. I want students to know they can do this too.”
Being successful as an artist is about more than the artwork. Lazore has also been able to excel at the business side as well. “You have to learn things like how to market yourself and how to order materials. I’m at the point where I might need people to work for me so I can keep my machine going while I push the business and it turns into a store where someone works while I create the art.” Until then, his remarkable work can be seen and purchased online.
