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UMass Lowell is pleased to present an encore exhibition in the Lydon Library Foyer Gallery in conjunction with the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! Festival.
The “Images of Jack’s Bridge” exhibition and competition was originally organized in March 2009 to commemorate the birthday of writer Jack Kerouac. Jointly sponsored by the Arts League of Lowell and Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! Committee, artists visually interpreted “Jack’s Bridge” in an exhibition that included paintings, drawings, photographs and sculpture, all of which were artistic representations of the University Avenue Bridge.
The University Avenue Bridge has been a focal point in Lowell’s history and culture. Originally called the “Moody Street Bridge,” it was renamed the “Textile Memorial Bridge” following World War II to honor the lives and memories of Textile Institute students who died in that war.
The bridge also occupies a significant place in Jack Kerouac’s novel “Doctor Sax,” published in 1959. In a chapter from this novel, titled “The Night the Man with the Watermelon Died,” Kerouac describes how, as a young child, he and his mother witnessed the sudden death of a man carrying a watermelon as they crossed the bridge walking home one evening. The novel itself captures much of the tone and flavor of Lowell in the Depression years of the early 1930s, especially its Franco-American culture.
Participating artists are: Lisa Anderson-Bisson, Donna Berger, Wally Brooks, Zsuzsanna Taylor Donnell, Gerry Hardy, Richard Marion, Paul Pedulla, David Phaneuf, Patrick Pierce, Laurie Simko and Janet Wolahan.
The exhibit will be on view at 84 University Ave. through Nov. 15, during regular library hours. For more information, contact Michele_Gagnon@uml.edu.