One hundred eight-by-eight-inch canvases created by area artists and assembled into one large work of art will debut to the public on Saturday, September 19 at the Jacksonville Area Museum. The completed work of art is part of a larger exhibit titled “The Geography of Memory: Jacksonville in Art,” also opening that day, which will highlight artwork of Jacksonville by Jacksonville area residents.
The individual canvases came with a small square image which depicts a piece of a larger image. Participating artists were asked to interpret the image they were given on their individual canvases, which will be combined with the 99 other canvases to reveal an image celebrating the Jacksonville area. Each artist worked only on one-one hundredth of the finished piece of art without knowing what the final, larger image depicts. That larger image will reveal itself only after the 100 individual canvasses are assembled side-by-side.
“Imagine a checkerboard where each square is an individual work of art, and when placed together on the board those squares make a much bigger and recognizable work of art,” said Jacksonville Area Museum board member and event coordinator Marcy Jones. “This has been a very enjoyable process, and we invite the pubic to see the end result as well as dozens of other pieces of locally-produced art starting on Saturday, September 19.”
The canvasses will be assembled for participating artists during a private reception on Friday, September 18.
“The Geography of Memory: Jacksonville in Art” may be seen at the Jacksonville Area Museum, located at 300 E. State Street. The museum is open Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m.