The final exhibition of Fox River paintings will open September 14 at Elgin History Museum, 360 Park Street, Elgin, and there will be an opening reception Friday, Sept.13.
The exhibit will be available during regular museum hours Wednesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m..
The final exhibit of the A Fox River Testimony collection of original Fox River oil paintings by plein air artist Joel Sheesley, artist-in-residence for The Conservation Foundation’s Art of the Fox program, will be on display September 14 through November 15 at Elgin History Museum.
This exhibit will start with an opening reception from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. the evening prior to Friday, Sept. 13 with a brief talk by artist Joel Sheesley at 7 p.m.. The reception is free, but registration is required at www.the
conservationfoundation.org/elginart.
A selection of about 20 paintings created by The Conservation Foundation’s artist-in-residence, Sheesley, will be exhibited at the Elgin History Museum. Sheesley created these paintings for Art of the Fox as part of The Conservation Foundation’s Fox River Initiative, an effort that aims to connect residents with the River and engage them to become environmentally conscious through community projects.
Sheesley originally planned to produce 50 to 60 paintings, but after spending nearly two years along an 80-mile stretch that took him from Dundee Township to Ottawa, the collection grew to 72, and has kept right on going even after the commission period ended! He is up to more than 90 Fox River paintings, and a few of the new creations will be a part of the exhibit at Elgin History Museum. He has admitted he can’t see a place to stop, and that the final number of paintings “has a kind of indeterminate feel — as if in midstream,” he said.
The Art of the Fox project took Sheesley along the banks of the Fox River and its tributaries, hiking on trails, and even canoeing to some locations, all with his French easel and paint box across his back. He even camped overnight to capture the light from the sunset and sunrise on the river’s surface.
The works selected for the exhibit show the changing character of the Fox River down into LaSalle County, where the sandstone cliffs offer a unique beauty showcasing the River’s geological past, in contrast to those reflecting the numerous urban areas along its path.
Sheesley, an emeritus professor of art at Wheaton College, kept a chronicle of his field experiences along with photos of the paintings in a 160-page coffee table book entitled “A Fox River Testimony,” which will be available for purchase at the exhibit September 14 through November 15, for $55.69 with tax, along with a selection of high quality prints of some paintings.
The original Fox River oil paintings, A Fox River Testimony books and high-quality prints, are available for purchase online by visiting
artofthefox.org.
—The Conservation Foundation