Trout Gallery

Partner Story

The Trout Gallery is located on the Dickinson College campus in Carlisle, PA. Through the Art Bridges + Philadelphia Museum of Art cohort, the gallery sought to engage the broader Carlisle community, specifically the African American community in their area.

The Art Bridges Cohort Program (also known as the Art Bridges Initiative) is committed to supporting multi-year exhibition partnerships among museums nationwide. Through the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) cohort, The Trout Gallery worked with PMA to collaboratively curate two overlapping exhibitions that featured works by African American artists that the Trout Gallery did not have in their collection.

The first exhibition, “Horace Pippin: Race at War,” centered around Pippin’s work, Mr. Prejudice, 1943. The work highlights the Double V Campaign that sought to promote attention to racial injustices in the United States as African Americans risked their lives for their country abroad during WWII.

The second exhibition, “Tracing Slavery: Moses Williams and Kara Walker,” provided a unique opportunity for the Trout Gallery to feature artwork with local ties. The founder of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Benjamin Rush, was close friends with Charles Wilson Peale, for whom Moses Williams was a former slave. Art Bridges funded Learning & Engagement opportunities for these exhibits sought to educate audiences about these artists and act as a springboard for conversations on local history as well as current inequities.

Students and adults alike participated in a community art project to create silhouettes inspired by Moses Williams’ work addressing inclusion and diversity in Carlisle. Additionally, Trout Gallery was “…able to engage with Dickinson community members by presenting a panel discussion on re-writing the local history with regards to slavery….” The local history panel was able to reach some conclusions on creating a more inclusive history in the Carlisle community.

The programming shed light on the lack of information available about certain aspects of Carlisle history. “… participants repeatedly expressed a need for more conversations on the subject of African American history in Carlisle.” By highlighting the connection of Moses Williams’ works to local history, the Trout was able to give voice to a strong need in their community.

Local elementary-aged students received copies of A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin to introduce them to the work being displayed for Horace Pippin: Race at War. Teachers and librarians were invited to workshops that introduced them to Pippin’s work.

Because of COVID restrictions, the Trout staff had to rethink where programming for school-aged children could take place. However, the Trout education team noted, “Through our collaborations… we were able to reach many more students than we would in a typical after-school program.”

Additionally, Trout held a student art contest that challenged students to create works of art inspired by the work of Horace Pippin and featured a “splash of red,” which Pippin noted made paintings more interesting. Paintings by students were displayed at the Trout, where local student work had never been shown. Along with their works on display, students were able to select music to accompany the show.

The students explored be-bop and the song “Yankee Doodle-Tan,” the Double V campaign song. This song was featured in the exhibit as a photograph and the lyrics were incorporated into programs. A family night at the Trout gathered a large audience who came to see their children’s work on exhibit.

Each set of programs for these two exhibitions allowed the Trout Gallery to activate the artworks on display in a myriad of ways while using them to foster important conversations regarding the history of their area and, in turn, increasing their reach.

The Trout Gallery education team learned a lot through this project: “Our big takeaway from this program is that it’s essential to go into the community and introduce individuals to our exhibition content if we want them to visit us.”

We love that The Trout Gallery reached out and worked with new audiences in ways they never have before, including their local neighborhoods, new community partners and multi-generational groups, and that by addressing their difficult local racial history, they provided a platform for dialogue to heal and connect their community.

Listen to the “Horace Pippin: Racism and War,” audio tour here.

Listen to the “Tracing Slavery: Moses Williams and Kara Walker,” audio tour here.