TMTTR Project History
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TMTTR PROJECTS Cairo, Egypt The first Take Me To The River exhibition took place in Cairo, Egypt, in October, 2002, at the El Hanagar and Opera House Galleries, located on Zemalek Island. The exhibition’s principal sponsor was the Egyptian Minister of Culture. Twelve TMTTR members, representing seven countries, participated in the exhibition, which featured painting, drawing, photography, video, sound and fabric art. The exhibition was extremely well-received in Cairo and enjoyed extensive television, radio and printed media coverage. Washington, DC The second Take Me To The River exhibition occurred in Washington, DC, in May, 2003, at the Millennium Art Center. This exhibition included TMTTR artists and four Egyptian artists, who created work specifically for the exhibition. After the exhibition one of the Egyptian artists was invited to become a permanent TMTTR member. The TMTTR exhibition in Washington, DC, was staged in conjunction with an exhibition of eight Egyptian artists at the World Bank which was co-curated by two TMTTR artists. Pretoria, South Africa In May, 2005, TMTTR traveled to Pretoria, South Africa, where an exhibition was held at the Pretoria Art Museum, and, for the first time, a community outreach component was introduced to the project. Four South African artists were invited to exhibit with the TMTTR artists. TMTTR - South Africa enjoyed extensive media coverage, and the exhibition’s opening was the largest in the Pretoria Art Museum’s history. For the community outreach component of TMTTR - South Africa, TMTTR artists conducted an art workshop with forty 10 to 14 year old schoolchildren at their school in Mamalodi Township, outside of Pretoria. The schoolchildren's’ paintings and drawings were exhibited with the work of the TMTTR artists at the Pretoria Art Museum, and all forty students received a certificate at the exhibition’s opening ceremony. Additionally, TMTTR artists held a discussion and private tour of the exhibition with 40 students from the Tshwane University of Art and Technology. Wichita Falls, Texas, USA In September, 2006, the Wichita Falls Art Museum hosted TMTTR. Sixteen TMTTR artists exhibited their work at the museum, along with three invited artists from the Wichita Falls area. The exhibition’s opening ceremony was one of the largest in the museum’s history. For the TMTTR community project in Wichita Falls, TMTTR artists partnered with the Wichita Falls Art Museum and the Wichita Falls School District to conduct art workshops with 250 students, ranging in age from 8 to 18 and reflecting the diverse heritage found in the Wichita Falls region (African American, Native American, Hispanic, Asian, and European). Each student was given a small wooden boat with which to create a “reliquary” reflecting her or his heritage. In a ceremony the day after the exhibition opening each student, with family members, came to hang his or her creation in the museum, generating the largest attendance in the museum’s history. Additionally, as part of the TMTTR outreach component, students from Midwestern State University, located in Wichita Falls, came to the exhibition for an informal discussion with TMTTR artists and a guided tour. TMTTR - Wichita Falls received extensive and very positive media coverage. Istanbul, Turkey In March, 2009, TMTTR partnered with the Turkish arts organization Tutun Deposu to stage an exhibition at DEPO Gallery and conduct a community project. For this exhibition TMTTR invited artists from Turkey, as well as Afghanistan, Bulgaria, and Oman, to participate. For the exhibition TMTTR artists created a site-specific large- scale installation. The artists from Afghanistan and Bulgaria were invited to become permanent TMTTR members. For the community project TMTTR artists worked with approximately 80 children from a low-income Istanbul neighborhood to stage in a neighborhood park a performance addressing water-related environmental issues. This TMTTR project was an official event associated with the 5th World Water Forum held in Istanbul at the same time. Adelphi, Maryland In 2010 TMTTR was invited by the University of Maryland University College, located just outside Washington, DC, to stage a community program and exhibition for Fall, 2011. In response, TMTTR developed a multifaceted project involving professional poets, senior citizens, and young disadvantaged African-American boys. For this project TMTTR partnered with two regional arts-related community service organizations: Arts For The Aging (AFTA), which provides older adults with arts experiences, and; Life Pieces To Masterpieces (LPMP), which uses art as a means to foster the personal growth of at-risk African-American boys. Two well-established poets based in Washington, DC, were invited to conduct a series of 8 poetry workshops at AFTA and LPMP, with project artists in attendance. During the workshops the older and younger participants created poetry which referenced water. Then each of the 18 visual artists participating in the project was given a poem to serve as an inspiration, or point of departure, for the artists in the creation of a work of art. The two poets also contributed poems. As with all TMTTR projects, several regional artists were invited to join the permanent artist members of TMTTR for the project. Invited were five artists originally from Chile, China, Jamaica, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. Additionally, an artist from France was invited to participate. The artists created their work with whatever media they wished, which included oil and acrylic paint, drawing, photography, digital imagery, glass, and collage. All the work was then converted to large-scale digital prints, providing a unity to the presentation of the work. For the exhibition, the poems were displayed next to their respective artwork. The exhibition also included paintings on the theme of water by the young workshop participants from Life Pieces To Masterpieces. The exhibition opened in November, 2011. The project received significant media coverage, including a major article in the Washington Post. Aix en Provence, France By invitation of the Musee Des Tapisseries and the municipal government of Aix-en-Provence, Take Me to the River staged a community outreach project and exhibition at the museum in March, 2012. The multimedia exhibition and community project addressed a variety of water-related themes. Four regional French artists also were invited to participate. For the community project TMTTR artists collaborated with women from Northern Africa under the auspices of Centre Albert Camus, destitute citizens from Foyer l’Oree, and pyschiatric outpatients from La Croix Rouge. Prior to TMTTR artists arriving in Aix-en-Provence the outreach participants were all given disposable cameras to take water-related photographs during 6 water-related excursions the museum arranged. Five photos were selected from each outreach participant’s photographs. These photographs and photographs brought by the TMTTR artists were printed out as 8.5 x 11 inch black and white prints, colored and then coated with thick gel medium colored. The 400 so prints were assembled in 20 columns and hung side-by-side as a “high-tech” tapestry. The project received significant media coverage, and the exhibition opening was one of the largest in the museum’s history. This project served as an official cultural event associated with the 6th World Water Forum that was held in Marseilles concurrent to the TMTTR project. Montevideo, Uruguay In May, 2014, nine TMTTR artists traveled to Montevideo to stage a project unique to TMTTR’s history: The heart of the project was to be the creation of collaborative art work with Uruguayan artists. For this project TMTTR partnered with Taller Salamandra, an artists’ atelier based in Montevideo comprised of six artists. The project took place over the course of twelve days. Starting in December, 2013, the Uruguayan and TMTTR artists began a “virtual” dialogue, via a dedicated Facebook site and via e-mail, to develop concepts for the collaborative work and to actually begin the creation of work, where possible. It was jointly decided that there would be four separate bodies of work to be exhibited as a result of this project: 1) One large collaborative work on which all the artists would work equally; 2) Five collaborative works of art created by five group of three artists each (with Uruguayan and TMTTR artists in each group); 3) An individual work by each of the participating artists; 4) The artwork created in a community outreach project. For the two-day outreach project the TMTTR and Uruguayan artists participated with people who had lost sight in a painting workshop using a scented acrylic paint developed in Uruguay. The project in Montevideo culminated in an exhibition at the Iturria Foundation. Prior to the exhibition opening the Uruguayan Ministry of Culture declared the project one of National Cultural Interest. The exhibition opening was the second largest in the foundation’s history. The project, the exhibition and the opening reception received extensive media coverage which included all of the major media outlets in the country. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Take Me to the River | New Orleans Community Outreach Project and Artist Collaboration: May 19 – 28, 2015 Exhibition at Octavia Art Gallery: May 30 – June 13, 2015 Opening reception: Saturday, May 30, 5 – 7 pm TAKE ME TO THE RIVER (TMTTR), an international artists’ collective nonprofit organization, founded in 2001, is collaborating on a unique project with Octavia Art Gallery, KID smART, and four prominent New Orleans artists. The project includes an outreach program with young students, an art collaboration between TMTTR artists and NOLA artists, and an exhibition at Octavia Art Gallery. The exhibition opening will be on Saturday, May 30 from 5 to 7 pm. Two weeks before the exhibition opening, ten TMTTR artists (from Chile, France, Germany, Jamaica, Pakistan, and the United States) will arrive in New Orleans to stage the outreach project and work on a collaborative piece of art with NOLA artists Jenna Bonistalli, Jeffrey Pitt, Allison Stewart and Michel Varisco.