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Several rectangles featuring geometric shapes and intricate designs combine to form one picture on the wall. The mural, which artist Jaleel Campbell created as part of his thesis project in graduate school, sat in storage for months after COVID-19 disrupted its exhibition. Now, it is the centerpiece of Jaleel Campbell Studios.

Campbell, who is a grant recipient of the Central New York Community Foundation’s Black Equity & Excellence Fund, created the studio space for Black creatives in Syracuse to gather. He plans to hold doll making workshops at the space in February and will also give tours of the studio in addition to hosting monthly gatherings for Black creatives. The first mixer event was on Halloween, and Campbell hopes to hold another for Friendsgiving.

After completing his Master of Fine Arts degree at SUNY Purchase during the coronavirus pandemic, Campbell was trying to figure out his next step. He visited a friend’s apartment and became set on getting a space in the same building.

The Otisco Street apartment “allows you to feel as if you’re not even in Syracuse” and is more like a New York City loft, Campbell said. It’s not just an apartment for Campbell. It’s also a place for him to create art and gather with other artists.

“This is the perfect environment for me to create my artwork,” Campbell said. “I feel extremely inspired in this space, and it is 100% my personality, which is all over the place.”

Campbell does not limit himself to one type of art. He makes dolls, creates illustrations and does video work. He has been around art his entire life, seeing artwork on his mother’s walls and creating it in elementary school art class. But his older brother Sean Adams was the first person that led him to pursue art.

Campbell started making dolls at the age of 13. Emily Steinberger | Photo Editor

Adams would create mazes, and one of them was featured on the cover of their school’s magazine, which prompted Campbell to pursue art. At the time, Campbell didn’t realize how much of a pivotal moment that was, but it has stuck with him through the years, he said.

“He said from seeing what I was doing, it made him want to do what he’s doing. But from what I did to what he’s doing now, he’s taking it to like a whole much different level from what it used to be,” Adams said.

Campbell started making crochet dolls at the age of 13. He followed an artist who made crochet dolls on Flickr when he was 10 years old, and when the artist transitioned to making felt dolls, he did as well.

In his studio on Nov. 7, Campbell picked up the first felt doll that he ever made from its place on a wooden shelf. He created the doll using a pattern cut from paper, but now he uses a Cricut Explore Air cutting machine to make the dolls for his Jalethal Doll Project.

His stitching and craftsmanship of the dolls has improved, and making the dolls is therapeutic for him. He is currently working on dolls for an exhibit at the Everson Museum of Art set for late January.

“They’re gender-inclusive because growing up, I wasn’t supposed to play with dolls because I was a boy, and I know how hurtful that is,” Campbell said. “I wanted to make sure that my dolls could be played with by whoever and however they might identify.”

“Homecoming” shows the lineage of Campbell’s father’s side of the family. Emily Steinberger | Photo Editor

Campbell’s family members helped him move in and set up the apartment, Adams said. When his mother was unsure how everything would fit together, Campbell provided reassurance that it would all come together in the end, Adams said.

Campbell had a vision planned out for the space. His mural from his thesis project was the first piece that was up in the apartment. He based the mood of the space on the mural, ordering pieces for the apartment that he thought would complement it.

“This large-scale mural, to me it represents how larger-than-life and over-the-top and just extra I am,” Campbell said.

The space includes a mix of Campbell’s own work and the work of other artists. A movie poster for “The Wiz,” which is a source of inspiration for Campbell, hangs on one of the walls. Another piece, an illustration titled “Homecoming” shows the lineage of his father’s side of the family.

One piece of art in the space that stands out to Martikah Williams, who has known Campbell since attending high school together at Nottingham High School, features cream, green and gold-colored thread hanging from a wooden bar to form a T-shape. Campbell didn’t make the piece, but he loves it, Williams said.

“There’s all of these different details all over the space, and it’s funny how it’s like nothing necessarily matches, but it all is cohesive, which is like his artwork,” Williams said.

Near the thread artwork is a lion headpiece from Campbell’s Halloween costume, where he dressed as Simba from the Broadway version of “The Lion King.” The lion represents his strength, strong will and the ability to go after his goals.

“That lion costume was me proclaiming my spot here in the Syracuse art scene,” Campbell said. “That was me letting people know how I mean business. I am strong. I’m a leader.”

The centerpiece mural also features patterns similar to the ones on the Jalethal Dolls that Campbell creates, and some of these dolls perch on a wooden shelf in the middle of the studio.

Making dolls is therapeutic for Campbell. Emily Steinberger | Photo Editor

Campbell has held two doll making workshops before, one at the Community Folk Art Center in Syracuse and one at the Yonkers Public Library. This winter, he will hold the workshops at Jaleel Campbell Studios. He hopes the workshops will be a “safety net that people can look forward to each week” and a time when people can release their inhibitions, he said.

Campbell has decided to make Jaleel Campbell Studios a dedicated space for Black creatives to gather instead of meeting at whoever’s house is available, Williams said.

So far, the Black Artist Collective has held meetings at the space for its Say Their Names event in October, and the studio has held recordings for The Salt City Podcast and photography sessions, Williams said.

“In an ideal world where COVID isn’t happening, I want to have this be the center of all Black art creativity going on here in Syracuse,” Campbell said. “I want this to be the central hub where all of the Black creatives that are working here can meet each other and network and grow with one another.”

Published on November 17, 2020 at 11:35 pm

Contact Mandy: ackrayna@syr.edu | @MandyKraynak