The project began in the Fall of 1997, when UF art students enrolled in a course titled Art and Community, taught by Professor Craig Roland, were "buddied" with children in Kanapaha Middle School, Prairie View Elementary School and Stephen Foster Elementary School in Gainesville. During the 1998 school year, UF art students worked with children from Glen Springs Elementary School, Norton Elementary School and Stephen Foster Elementary School in Gainesville. Each year, the "art buddies" met and worked once a week for six weeks on creating mental maps of their community. In addition to this year's online exhibition, you can also see the maps created in 1997.

Initially, the art buddies worked on planning their maps separately and then edited and combined them into one final map using various art materials. These maps are more conceptual than realistic and are intended to show how the artists think and feel about their community.

In addition to the school project, UF art students also directed the creation of a huge sidewalk map during the 1997 Fall Downtown Art Festival in Gainesville. This was truly a "community effort" as 100s of children and adults participated in drawing what was billed as "the largest map of Gainesville ever drawn." The collaborative community maps were also exhibited during this event in both 1997 and 1998.

We hope you enjoy our second exhibition of the Community Maps Project! The project will continue next year with new participants.

Special thanks to Corky Ashcraft, Linda Henderson, Sue Johnson, Wendy Sauls and Linda Zidonick (local art teachers) for their assistance and involvement in the project. Also, thanks to Barbara Jo Revelle, Director of the School of Art and Art History, and Dean Donald McGlothlin of the College of Fine Arts for their support of the project.

For more information on this project, contact Craig Roland.