“Blue Sky, Black Earth: Meditations on the Meeting of Sky and Land” opens in the NIU Art Museum in Altgeld Hall at 5 p.m. today.

The reception will end at 7 p.m. with an informal talk at 6:30 p.m. This exhibition is free and will run through Dec. 16.

It will then travel to the McLean County Arts Center in Bloomington, Ill. where it will stay from Jan. 19 to Feb. 17.

Co-curator Jo Burke said the exhibit is about, “horizon… Illinois landscape… that far-off view.”

Burke said she and her co-curator, Doug Johnson, struggled with the subject matter, in that they had to decide whether to keep it strictly Illinois, or to expand to encompass a larger area in the Great Plains. Ultimately, they chose just one state.

“There’s an incredible beauty right here. It’s a beauty that’s overlooked and a beauty that’s disappearing,” Burke said.

One of the show’s goals is to celebrate both Illinois and its artists.

Two School of Art faculty members — Professor Charlotte Rollman and Assistant Professor Andrew John Liccardo — contributed to the exhibition. In total, the exhibit includes work from 12 artists. All have lived or worked in central or northern Illinois, according to the Gallery’s notes.

Burke said a few pieces express political views in regards to the “beauty that’s disappearing. We have this great black earth and some of the best soil in the world… and we’re paving over it.”