These events took place in the spring and summer of 2022. You will find a description and more details below the calendar.
Our lantern-building workshops will take place at Tuscaloosa’s First Friday event in March, April, and May. We’ll be at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center from 5-7 p.m. Flow Tuscaloosa workshop participants will work with artists to build lanterns that connect to the history and ecology of the Black Warrior River watershed. In May, we’ll gather with our lanterns for a parade down the Riverwalk. If you miss our workshops, you can build your own at home!
We’ll be at Bama Bug Fest on Saturday April 9! Join us for a lantern workshop from 1-5 in Smith Hall on UA’s campus. See the Bug Fest website for more details.
On May 21, we’ll host a lantern parade on the Tuscaloosa Riverwalk. We’ll line up at the entrance to the Riverwalk at the terminus of Greensboro Ave (near Hotel Indigo) at 7:00 p.m. and begin the procession at 7:30 (the darker it gets the more beautiful our lanterns will be). We’ll end the parade at the River Market, before crossing the street to the Mildred Westervelt Warner Transportation Museum (MWWTM). You can park along Greensboro and at the Tuscaloosa Public Library.
After the parade at MWWTM, we’ll hang our lanterns and gather for an evening of togetherness and reflection inspired by the Swimming Together exhibit, which will be on view at the museum starting April 19. In the exhibit, writer and urban planner Hannah Palmer explores the history of public swimming in Tuscaloosa, putting out story in the context of national trends. We will “animate” the former Queen City Pool, now filled in on MWWTM’s grounds, with lights and enjoy food trucks and music.
Finally, the Flow exhibit will open June 3 at the Paul R. Jones Museum (5-8 p.m.) and UA Gallery at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center (5-7 p.m.). In the installation, artists Tony Bingham, Boo Gilder, Michi Meko, and Kelly Taylor Mitchell respond to the histories of the Tuscaloosa waterways.
