Naperville residents have a chance to share their voices — and faces — as part of a pop-up art project at the Naperville Fine Art Center and Gallery.
The Emerson Collective’s nationwide campaign tour’s stop at the gallery Saturday will tell people more about the collective and allow them to have their pictures taken for an art project being applied on the exterior of the 508 N. Center St. property.
The photo display was inspired by French street artist JR, whose Inside Out project is featured around the world.
Another Inside Out work was pasted on a wall a year ago in the alley next to Liam Brex Kitchen Remodelers on Main Street between Jackson and Jefferson avenues.
Creator Shannon Greene Robb, founder of Arranmore Arts, decorated the alley wall with the photos of 28 residents of Naperville and surrounding areas. She spent about a month using her iPhone to take photos of more than 100 people.
Executive Director Naperville Art League Erin Schneider is looking for similar results.
“I hope we have a lot of people turn out,” she said.
Between league members and word-of-mouth, she’s anticipating between 50 and 100 people will participate.
Schneider said the goal of the project is to have members of the community take a selfie in the poster truck located in the gallery’s parking lot from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The 3-by-4-foot images then will be hung on the front, side and rear of the building using biodegradable glue.
“Collectively, these images show the faces and voice of the local community,” Schneider said.
The faces will likely last a few weeks until the weather and elements wash the images away, she said.
The Emerson Collective was created by Apple founder Steve Job’s widow Laurene Powell Jobs to advocate for policies focused on education and immigration reform, social justice and environmental conservation.
Besides the pop-up art project, Schneider said she expects immigrants and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals will be among the topics that will be raised at the community gathering.
