title.       Cooke County History

date.      2021

location. Morton Museum of Cooke County, Gainesville, TX

story.     Thank you to the Morton Museum for entrusting me with the blank "canvas" of the north wall of the museum building to tell a story in visual                 art about the history of Cooke County. I met with representatives from the museum to discuss aspects they wanted included, then set to work               with a sketch of how I saw it all flowing together with research into major aspects of the county's history. The project started in mid-                           September 2021 and was completed in early December.

 

             Many aspects of the design are referenced from historic photos such as the Camp Howze entrance sign (photo in the museum collection),                   WWII era plane referenced from a postcard from Camp Howze (in museum collection), black & white train referenced from a photo in the                 UNT digital library of the first train that came through Gainesville, TX and black & white elephant referenced from a photo of the Gainesville               Community Circus (in museum collection). 

 

             It's difficult to include all of an area's history, but my hope is that this design is something the residents of Cooke County can be proud of                   and an added element of attraction to downtown Gainesville.