In 1996, my good friend Richard Dana – who I have to confess gave me some great breaks and tolerated my early experiments with good humor! – had an early exhibition of works at the University of Maryland. The exhibition was catalogued in the first volume of the short-lived journal “Encontro,” an electronic publication of the Latin American Studies Center at UMD. In the exhibition were 5 mixed media works on wood panel, which I realized while writing this is the way I work today. Talk about “latent” influences!

Anyway, it was neat-o to see these older works online, in which some themes Richard explores in much of his work – notions of masculin/feminine identity, history, and mythology – are prominent. Sound kind of like…Fusionism!

Anyway, Richard’s work has been touring lately as part of an exciting group collaboration called Take Me to The River. Here is how the project’s website describes the effort:

Take Me To The River is an international collaboration between artists from different countries whose mission is to promote greater understanding among nations and peoples through cultural projects… The Take Me To The River Project was founded in 2001 to promote greater understanding and cooperation among different peoples and nations during these unsettled times… the purpose of Take Me To The River is to create a bridge across borders, through art, by reflecting both the diversities and similarities amongst people of different countries.

…The river was chosen by the founding members as the metaphoric, unifying theme of the artwork, because of the positive, life-affirming connotations of “river,” and for the role in history the river has played as a primary source of commerce and interchange between nations and cultures, and, thus, a critical means of bridging distances between different religions, politics and philosophies.

The central component of [Take Me to the River] is a multidisciplinary exhibition of artwork. As the Take Me To The River Project travels from country to country it works with local artists and invites one or more of the artists to join the project as a permanent member. TMTTR is currently exploring possibilities of taking the project to venues in Belgium, Brazil, Portugal, and Turkey.

Virtually all media is represented in TMTTR exhibitions including, painting, drawing, photography, video, sound, sculpture, installation, and performance. Artist members of TMTTR all are well-established professionals with extensive national and international exhibition experience.

To learn more about the project, please visit Take Me to the River. To learn more about Richard Dana’s work, visit his website.