Because the state of Florida has been managing this ten thousand acre prairie to appear as William Bartram first described it in 1775, the Alachua Savanna, as Bartram called it, is still very much a “level, green plain” with “scarcely a tree or bush of any kind to be seen on it.” During its more recent history it has occasionally flooded for periods long enough to support a commercial ferry service, but it was very much the prairie Bartram described as I painted from the shoulder of Highway 441 on the morning of June 27, 2009.
Painted on location.
Exhibition History
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The Southern Frontier, Landscapes Inspired by Bartram’s Travels
January 28 - May 8, 2011
Telfair Academy
Savannah, Georgia
May 28 - Aug 14, 2011
Morris Museum of Art
Augusta, Georgia
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Searching for Bartram’s Wilderness: Studies from the Field
Sept 24 - Oct 16, 2010
Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation
Watkinsville, Georgia
Publication History
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Philip Juras: The Southern Frontier, Landscapes Inspired by Bartram’s “Travels”
Published in conjunction with Philip’s 2011 exhibition at the Telfair Museum, Savannah, Georgia. With essays by Philip Juras, Dorinda Dallmeyer, Holly Koons McCullough – poem by Janisse Ray – foreword by Steven High. Winner of the Georgia Author of the Year Award (Specialty Book Category) from the Georgia Writers Association, 2012. Published by Telfair Books, 2011. Second printing (paperback) published by the University of Georgia Press, 2015.
