The artist collective IAM Residency will be opening a new contemporary art exhibition focused on Jacksonville’s Lower St. Johns River Basin with work from six artists.
The exhibit, called the Th3Rivers Project, opens at the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum on April 9 and runs through Memorial Day Weekend, May 29.
The Th3Rivers Project will explore the role rivers have played in the development of culture and civilization, focusing on the history, economy and ecology of the waterways.
"Rivers are the connective tissue of the world's great cities" said Brett Waller, Program Director of IAM Residency and one of the show's contributing artists. "A river flows through every socio-economic sector of a city and sustains all the people — young and old, rich and poor — along its banks. Every major city in the world grew from a settlement on a river, and the Th3Rivers Project pays homage to that enduring legacy."
The exhibit will showcase art that specifically explores the Lower St. Johns River Basin in Jacksonville, but Waller says the ideas being presented are universal to any city built along a river. He plans for this inaugural showing at the Karpeles Museum to be just one of many stops for the exhibit.
"When we designed the Th3Rivers Project, we always intended it to be a traveling exhibit," explained Waller. "We started with our local waterways, the St. Johns River and her sisters the Trout and the Ribault. But there are many great waterways in the world, and this exhibit has appeal anywhere a river contributes to the social and economic development of the community at large."
In addition to Waller, the Th3Rivers Project will feature the work of artists Greg Chapman, Brian Frus, Clark Lunberry, Franklin Matthews and Olivia Warro.
Brendan Rivers can be reached at brivers@wjct.org, 904-358-6396 or on Twitter at @BrendanRivers.
