Texarkana Museum Systems have Partnered with the Texarkana Regional Arts & Humanities Council and TXK150 to bring the Texarkana community a brand new exhibit titled: From Their Texarkana to Our Texarkana. The exhibit is set to feature work from 15 different local artists from around the Texarkana area, who have taken pictures of original Texarkana historical paintings/pottery/artwork and more, and reimagined them using different mediums into what they believe represents Texarkana now.
“All of the artists were allowed to come into the local museum and take images of whatever historic image, painting or piece that the museum has from our local history. They were tasked with then taking that piece of history and reimagining it using their differing skill sets/ preferences, and are getting ready to showcase their final results starting September 19th- November 25th. This all ties into Texarkana celebrating their 150th year,” says Emily Tarr, the new Interim Executive Director of Texarkana Museum Systems.
2023 marks the Texarkana Sesquicentennial (150th year) of our local history. “This project has been underway for a while. The artists have had over six months to determine what they are going to do, using whatever medium they choose, to reimagine a piece of existing Texarkana history. They won’t be using the originals, rather recreating a new piece using inspiration from what we have here at the museum,” says Tarr.
Local artists include: Kelsi Brinkmeyer, Marshall Chandra, Mary Cyrus, Montreal Denmark, Fred Holyfield IV, Cindy Holmes, Amanda Langley, Lauren MicKinney, Rachel Miller, Kayleigh Moreland, Cynthia Stone, Darlene Taylor, Chris Thomas, Agnes Tirrito and Sydney Williams. Many may recognize these local artists who have been working diligently in the Texarkana area recently to help revitalize the Downtown area. Darlene Taylor is well known for her painted murals throughout the Texarkana area, Chris Thomas is well known for his pottery, and the many others represent the many well known photographers, painters and more from around our area.
Running from September 19th-November 25th, the exhibit will be available for viewing at the TRAHC Building. “We truly want to keep history alive. Through this event, and what these local artists are doing, we are hoping to help reinvigorate a sense of pride in the Texarkana community about our history and how far we have come. This is the first time since I have joined that we will be working with TRAHC, and it has been an absolute pleasure working with them and the local artists from around the Texarkana community. We hope we can encourage our local community to come out to not only support our local artists, but the TRAHC and Texarkana Museum Systems as well,” said Tarr. For more information about the event please visit HERE.
The event is a free event for the local community and the work will be available for viewing at the TRAHC building from September 19th- November 25th. If you are interested in becoming a member of the Texarkana Museum Systems, memberships range anywhere from $50 and up. Self-guided tours of our local museums are $5. For more information about Texarkana Museum Systems please click HERE.
