“For the People: The Federal Art Project and SIU,” now in SIU Carbondale’s Sharp Museum, features work by artists including carvings by West Frankfort sculptor Fred Myers. (Photo by T. Lance)
February 19, 2026
Sharp Museum hosts documentary on New Deal artwork Friday
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Sharp Museum will host a documentary by filmmaker TG Jamroz on Friday, Feb. 20, as part of a reception for a new exhibit, “For The People: The Federal Art Project and SIU.”
Jamroz will screen and discuss his 2024 film, “The Murals,” that shows a pair of New Deal era murals in Chicago’s Uptown Post Office painted by Henry Varnum Poor. The murals are among artwork commissioned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) throughout the country.
The documentary features an in-depth look at Henry Varnum Poor, who founded an arts colony north of New York City in the 1920s. Poor was married to Bessie Breuer, a writer whose papers are held in Morris Library’s Special Collections Research Center.
The free, public reception is from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. with the screening and Q&A at 5:30 p.m. in the museum auditorium.
The Federal Art Project (FAP) was launched to give meaningful work to artists across the nation, including here in Illinois, said Aaron Lisec, special collections research specialist.
“In return, some of the art was given to the public, either distributed to museum collections or as murals in public buildings such as post offices, where many can still be seen,” Lisec said.
Lisec said the exhibition will feature nine of the mural panels that once decorated the second floor of Wheeler Library; 19 paintings by artists employed under the FAP; six carvings by West Frankfort sculptor Fred Myers; and five of the 21 dioramas showing life in frontier Southern Illinois that were made by a team of artisans working in the Altgeld Hall basement between 1939 and 1942, also under the FAP.
The six Fred Myers pieces, all carved in black walnut, include a sculpture of Abraham Lincoln. A former coal miner and self-taught sculptor, Myers worked for the museum under the FAP from 1939 to 1942. He first carved prehistoric animals for exhibits before turning to more contemporary subjects at the encouragement of then-museum director John W. Allen.
Museum hours
For more information, contact T. Lance, curator of exhibits, at 618-453-5388 or t.lance@siu.edu or visit museum.siu.edu. Sharp Museum hours are noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 1-4 p.m. Saturday. The museum is closed Sunday and Monday, and during all SIU breaks and holidays. Admission to all exhibitions is free.