ELLIS ISLAND QUARTER DESIGNER BARBARA FOX

Local artist Barbara Fox will be recognized Aug. 30 on Ellis Island by the United States Mint for her most recent design featured on the 2017 Ellis Island National Park quarter.

Fox, a master designer for the U.S. Mint, has been part of its “artistic infusion program” since 2007. Sculpted by U.S. Mint sculptor-engraver Phebe Hemphill, Fox’s design featured on the reverse side of the Ellis Island quarter depicts an immigrant family approaching Ellis Island with a mixture of hope and uncertainty.

This is Fox’s 21st coin or medal designed for the Mint, as well as her fifth quarter design chosen to be minted. She has designed four other quarters for the America the Beautiful Quarters Program including Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in 2016, Saratoga National Historical Park Quarter in 2015, Acadia National Park in 2012 and Glacier National Park in 2011.

Local artist Barbara Fox will be recognized Aug. 30 on Ellis Island by the United States Mint for her most recent design featured on the 2017 Ellis Island National Park quarter.

Fox, a master designer for the U.S. Mint, has been part of its “artistic infusion program” since 2007. Sculpted by U.S. Mint sculptor-engraver Phebe Hemphill, Fox’s design featured on the reverse side of the Ellis Island quarter depicts an immigrant family approaching Ellis Island with a mixture of hope and uncertainty.

This is Fox’s 21st coin or medal designed for the Mint, as well as her fifth quarter design chosen to be minted. She has designed four other quarters for the America the Beautiful Quarters Program including Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in 2016, Saratoga National Historical Park Quarter in 2015, Acadia National Park in 2012 and Glacier National Park in 2011.

“When I began researching, I didn’t know that half of Ellis Island belongs to New Jersey and half to New York,” she said. “This is New Jersey’s quarter and, unfortunately, the big main administration building that all the immigrants went through is located on the New York side, so I featured the hospital building that is on the New Jersey side.”

In her design, Fox wanted to not just show the building, but she also wanted to show her emotional feeling about it, which was transferred to her drawing. Although her drawing is busy with details, she thinks people liked it because it really tells the story about the island and the experience of being an immigrant.

“These people were leaving everything they knew behind and chances were they would never go back to their country. They were making a whole new life in a place they had never been before,” she said. “They didn’t speak the language and didn’t know the customs. Chances are they knew nothing about the U.S. except what they had been told. They used to call Ellis Island the ‘Island of Hope’ and ‘Island of Tears’ because people were very hopeful about coming to the United States.”

To read the complete article, see:
Local artist designs New Jersey quarter (http://www.salamancapress.com/news/local-artist-designs-new-jersey-quarter/article_b5806a68-81e1-11e7-b7ac-9f37e26515ff.html)

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