1959 Chevy Pick-up Truck

When she visited Baltimore, Alison Saar said she was "inspired to create a piece that addressed the beauty and wisdom of certain traditions and the importance of preserving them." A mobile sculpture on wheels, Catfish Dreamin' combined oral history and the local traditions of painted screens and Arabbers, or African-American fruit and vegetable vendors who still sell their wares from painted horse-drawn carts. Installed on a 1959 Chevy pick-up truck, the work was driven into 80 neighborhoods in four states by an artist/educator; the tour stops included schools, libraries, senior centers, and other public places. Rural hosts for the exhibition were: Academy for the Arts, Easton, MD; Carroll, Dorchester, and Howard County Arts Councils; Frederick Community College. Urban Hosts were: Baltimore City; Delaware Center for Contemporary Art; the Hirshhorn Museum; Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY; Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC. Project support was provided by the National Endowment for the Arts Museums Program.