Fairview Elementary students Kit and Connor Moore play on the Tiger Spot mosaic after its unveiling. They and parents Bill and Kelly Moore were able to locate the individual tiles they and more than 1,000 school children and community members helped place during the project's final week.

More than 100 volunteers and art students worked on 201 panels ultimately joined together to form the 30-foot Bengal tiger design, comprised of more than 300,000 pieces of glass from Murano and based on a 1999 Jackson watercolor.

Unveiling ceremonies Oct. 12, 2001, in front of Ellis Library on the University of Missouri campus included remarks by Chancellor Richard Wallace, Missouri First Lady Lori Hauser Holden, College of Arts and Science Dean Richard Schwartz, Art Professor Brooke Cameron, student Lindsay Melson and project benefactors Joseph and Linda Warden. Jackson told some 300 people at the gathering: "This project really is about family and community. I didn't do this. They did this!"

"I wanted to see art take the forefront for once." Jackson said. "We thrill at destruction and we yawn at creation, but today creation prevails."

Photo and text by Julie Wolpers