Guts and Glory: The War Train that Shaped a Nation
This project is part of a large exhibition which includes Iowa BIG and the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library in Cedar Rapid, Iowa. The exhibition is composed of large scale graphic panels about the exploits of the Czecho-Slovak Legion as they made their way across Russia into Siberia on the Trans-Siberian Railroad during World War I. First they had to fight against the Austro-Hungarian Empire and then Trotsky's Red Army. In some instances they had been part of the Austria-Hungary troops, later captured and housed as POWs in Russia, only to be recruited by Tomas Masaryk to join the Česká Družina, fight their way across Russia, take a boat from Vladivostok to the Western Front, and fight side by side with the French. In the meantime Masaryk is living in exile and working with leaders to gain independence for the Czechs and Slovaks in the Hapsburg Empire. It is an amazing story. I collaborated with Kevin J. Mcnamara, the author of Dreams of a Great Small Nation (http://www.kevinjmcnamara.com/) to craft a scrip for the exhibition panels based on characters he created, and original research. We worked closely with the curator Stefanie Kohn, who the a vision for the exhibition. It took approximately 5 months to paint and create all of the panels. In the end there were 25. The entire exhibit runs from April 7th, 2018 till December. Here is a wonderful video about the exhibition created by Laura Formanek. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL-LXRlsbKE