University News
'New Deal' Exhibit at WIU Art Gallery to close March 1
February 21, 2014
MACOMB, IL – One week remains to see "A New Deal for Illinois: The Federal Art Project Collection of Western Illinois University" at the WIU Art Gallery, which runs through Saturday, March 1.
The exhibit, which opened in January, highlights the University's collection of Federal Art Project pieces, including 40 works from the University's art collection. Conservation work was done on many of the pieces to ready them for the exhibit with the help of numerous donors.
The works created through the FAP-WPA began after the 1929 stock market crash and the start of the Great Depression in the 1930s. In 1933, federal economic relief efforts were extended to help create opportunities for artists with the creation of the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP).
The exhibit is curated by Knox College Associate Professor Gregory Gilbert and is sponsored by the WIU Foundation and the WIU emeriti faculty members Bill and Jo Sanders.
An exhibition catalog, written by Gilbert, the guest curator, is available. The catalog contains high quality color photographs of works in the exhibition, as well as a detailed history about how the collection was formed and whose work is contained in it.
The WIU collection now contains works by 27 artists, including Gertrude Abercrombie, Macena Barton, Aaron Bohrod, Howard Brown, J. Theodore Johnson, Archibald J. Motley, Jr., Gregory Orloff, Romolo Roberti, Charles Turzak and Ellsworth Young, among others.
The University's Art Gallery, located just north of Sherman Hall, is open from 9 a.m. – noon and 1 – 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 1 – 4 p.m. on Saturdays. The gallery is closed on Sundays and Mondays. Admission is free.
For more information, visit wiu.edu/artgallery.
Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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