APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – An area artist is working to snap 10,000 portraits of people in the Fox Cities and the aim is to turn those portraits into a work of art for the new exhibition center.
Qhat are 10,000 pictures worth? To Appleton artist and Lawrence University Professor Rob Neilson they’re worth more than words can say.
“It’s public art in the highest form, right? It’s about the public, the images are the public.”
Neilson tells FOX 11 he’s using 10,000 portraits of local people to create an artwork that will eventually hang in the Fox Cities Exhibition Center.
He ‘s taken about 2,000 of the 10,000 needed so far.
“Then I put all those together and into ten larger portraits, each are made up of a thousand one inch by one inch portraits of members of the community.” Of all the photos taken, Neilson says he will choose ten that focus on the diversity of the community.
“To try to represent the Fox Cities.”
Neilson explained that he based ‘We Are Here’ off a sculpture he is also completing for the exhibition center called ‘You Are Here.’ The sculpture is an outline of Wisconsin with a push pin in the Fox Cities area.
“It’s all about destination, the Fox Cities as a place of arrival, to visit.” Neilson says ‘We Are Here’ is meant to give visitors an idea of what the Fox Cities is like as a community.
“What is the community? The community is the people, it’s not the sidewalks and the buildings, it’s the people.”
Neilson has been setting up photography sessions and taking pictures at area events.
It takes less than a minute to sit for a portrait and he said he is enjoying every minute.
“It’s been crazy and wonderful, a joy to talk to people about art.”
The exhibition center is scheduled to open January 11-th.
You can find dates and times of the photo session on the ‘We Are Here’ website here.
