Texas

In September, 2006, the Wichita Falls Art Museum invited TMTTR to exhibit at the museum and stage an community project. For the community project,TMTTR partnered with the Wichita Falls Art Museum and the Wichita Falls School District to conduct art workshops with 250 students, ranging in age from eight to eighteen.The students TMTTR worked with reflected the diverse ethnic mix found in the Wichita Falls region (African American, Native American, Hispanic and European).

For five days, prior to the TMTTR exhibition opening, the 16 TMTTR artists who traveled to Wichita Falls broke up into teams which worked with 14 different classes in 5 different schools. For the project each of the 250 students were given a small wooden boat which would serve as the foundation for a work of art addressing each student’s heritage. Each student was encouraged to research and learn about the richness within their family heritage and share it with their peers. On the day of the TMTTR exhibition opening there was a special ceremony held at the museum during which each student, with family members, came to hang his or her creation in the museum. This ceremony resulted in the largest single-event attendance in the museum’s history.

Additionally, as part of TMTTR outreach component, university students from Midwestern State University, located in Wichita Falls, came to the exhibition for a discussion with TMTTR artists and a private tour of the exhibition.