GALLERY RECEIVES GRANT FOR PAYNES PRAIRIE EXHIBIT

27 March, 1997
Gainesville, FL The Santa Fe Gallery has received a grant from the Florida Humanities Council in support of the exhibition:

The Great Alachua Savanna: A Visual History of Paynes Prairie

The exhibition will be on view June 7 through Aug. 29, 1997, in the gallery on the second floor of the library at the Northwest Campus of Santa Fe Community College, 3000 NW 83rd St., Gainesville.

Related programs include a symposium about "Preserving Eden: The Importance of Conserving Public Land" June 20-21 and a series of four lectures throughout the summer.

"The grant is significant because it allows us to borrow objects we could not otherwise use, and because it enables us to present free public lectures and the free symposium about Paynes Prairie," said Santa Fe Gallery Curator Mallory O'Connor. "For example, we are using the grant to borrow art, historical documents, Spanish period objects, fossils and early Indian artifacts from museums throughout Florida," she explained. "The Great Alachua Savanna" focuses on the human and cultural history of Paynes Prairie, the landmark 20,000-acre wilderness area and state preserve located between Gainesville and Micanopy. Items on exhibition include Indian stone tools, cattle brands and photographs of recent prescribed burns. Works by a number of major artists who have visited the area William Bartram, George Catlin, John James Audubon, Herman Herzog, George Burr, Martin Johnson Heade, James Calvert Smith and Hiram Williams will also be on view. The exhibition will open with a free celebration from noon to 4 pm on Saturday, June 7. Food, music, craft demonstrations and living history actors portraying William Bartram and cracker cowboys will mark the occasion. The symposium's keynote speech and reception will be held beginning at 7 pm Friday, June 20. Sessions will continue 8:30 am to 5:30 pm Saturday, June 21.

Speakers will address such issues as "Earliest Inhabitants of the Prairie," "Seminole Wars," "Painting Eden," "Maintaining the Prairie," and "Ecotourism and the Prairie." Presenters include anthropologist Barbara Purdy, historian Michael Gannon, art historian Gary Libby, Gainesville artist Eleanor Blair and others to be announced. The Saturday lunch break will include "Music of the Prairie" performed by Dale Crider and a special summer solstice event. A roundtable discussion about "How to Use But Not Abuse the Prairie: The Concept of Sustainable Development" will conclude the symposium.

The lecture series includes:

    "The Changing Face of Paynes Prairie" by Charlotte Porter of the Florida Museum of Natural History

    7:00 pm Thursday, June 12, room R-01 at the Northwest Campus of SFCC

    "Black Seminoles" by independent videographer Denise Matthews

    7:00 pm Thursday, July 17, at the SFCC Blount Center in downtown Gainesville

    "Earth, Air and Water: Artists in North Central Florida" by exhibition organizer Mallory O'Connor

    7:00 pm Thursday, August 7, in the Thomas Center Long Gallery, Gainesville

    A final presentation with a speaker to be announced

    7:00 pm Thursday, August 28 at the college's Andrews Center in Starke.

More information about "The Great Alachua Savanna" and related programs will be released as dates for the exhibition approach. For more information, call Mallory O'Connor or Bobby Hom in the Santa Fe Gallery, 352/395-5621.


South edge of Paynes Prairie



Image linked from http://www.lima.ohio-state.edu/~honors/Pages/HBioFT96/Saturday2.html