FEBRUARY 21 – MARCH 28, 2015

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved our country’s infrastructure while combatting the Great Depression’s economic uncertainty and high unemployment rates. Among the job recipients were tens of thousands of artists, including actors, dancers, writers, photographers, painters, and sculptors. 

The WPA was the first government agency to promote the arts in America. Government art programs served a larger purpose—to give all Americans access to art and culture. New Deal artists brought theater, music, and dance to every corner of the nation and created hundreds of thousands of paintings, prints, drawings, posters, and sculptures. Their work continues to adorn public buildings throughout the country, seen locally at the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum.

To increase domestic tourism and encourage the public to “see America first,” Roosevelt created 65 new national parks during his presidency, preserving remarkable locations for the enjoyment of all. The Poster Division of the WPA’s Federal Art Project supported his recovery and conservation efforts through its creation of appealing travel posters, such as those in this gallery. Its artists pioneered the use of silk screening to mass-produce multi-color posters and favored bold, experimental designs. 

The WPA’s historic travel posters continue to influence graphic designers. In 2013, San Francisco’s Creative Action Network and the National Parks Conservation Association relaunched the See America project as an online, crowdsourced campaign to expand awareness of our country’s treasures among a new generation. The Meadows Museum put out a call for additional entries last November, resulting in 50 additional poster submissions. Those submissions appear digitally within this gallery. 

Twelve of the finest national submissions are displayed here, selected by Centenary’s Communication students. Additionally, twelve posters from the Meadows’ call for entries were selected for printing by juror Dr. Erika Doss, Art Historian and Professor of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Every contemporary See America design may be viewed at www.seeamericaproject.com. On that site, you may submit your own designs or buy copies of the prints within this gallery, supporting contemporary artists and the conservation of our National Parks.