Written by Nicole Gaudier
Jim Draper’s work was displayed in the Cumer’s exhibition Jim Draper: Feast of Flowers, which was on view from December 18, 2012 through April 7, 2013. The exhibition was a collection of large scale paintings that capture the beauty of Florida’s rich natural landscape, in honor of the 500th anniversary of Florida’s naming by Ponce de Leon.
Jim Draper‘s work Vermeer, Vermeer will be in the Our Shared Past exhibition, on view in the Stein Gallery from December 17, 2013 through May 25, 2014.

Jim Draper, Vermeer, Vermeer, 2013, from the film still She’s 21, Colored pencil, graphite, found frame, gold leaf, vellum
A Statement from the Artist:
“Images are our history. That glance over the shoulder that was a part of my past was a part of so many histories. Vermeer saw the same light catch that glance in Girl with a Pearl Earring. I worked lightly on layers of vellum and put the work in a gilded found frame in order to add layers of physical separation to the image. My effort was to memorialize the universal idea of the glance. As mammals, we see the same glance from a squirrel on a tree branch or the bonobo mistrusting the prying eyes of the public at the zoo.”
There will be artist appearances at the Stein Gallery January through April. Each Saturday, artists from the exhibition will be in the Gallery from 1 to 3 p.m. Others will make appearances throughout the day on Weaver Free Saturdays, and on Tuesday evenings during the exhibition.