The Truth Staff
What a block party it was!
On Saturday, September 14, the Toledo Museum of Arts closed off the portion of Monroe Street separating the original museum with the Glass City Pavilion so that visitors could move freely between the two buildings and on the grounds. Families were able to watch artists at work, learn to create art, receive a face painting, listen to a steel band or a Jamaican music band, visit the galleries of the museum, sample the food of numerous food trucks and watch folks wandering around on stilts.
The day started at 1 p.m. with the House of Yatreda Coffee Ceremony in the Glass Pavilion. The House of Yatreda, a highlight of the “Ethiopia at the Crossroads” exhibition showcasing 1,750 years of Ethiopian artistic traditions, blends ancient traditions and legends of Ethiopian culture with 21st century blockchain technology.
Then at 3:00 p.m., the party really started. The grounds were open for listening to music, creating art and eating from numerous food trucks.
In addition, the House of Yatreda began a coffee ceremony at 3:30, to be repeated at 5:30
For the third year, TMA presented the key to the museum to a member of the Toledo community who exemplifies the core values of the Toledo Museum of Art, namely “diversity community, innovation and trust.”
This year’s award recipient was Steven Ahn, who with corporate strategy at Owens Corning. Ahn was honored, said TMA officials, for his commitment to the Asian American and Pacific Islander culture around Toledo.
The purpose of the Block Party is not only to have a good time but also to recognize key figures in the local art community. This year Jordan Buschur, TMA’s Community Artist in Residence. Buschur unveiled her digital art piece Handiwork, Shadow Play.
At 4:45, visitors were treated to curator-led tour of Ethiopia at the Crossroads in the Levis Gallery. Ethiopia at the Crossroads transports visitors though centuries of that nation’s “extraordinary history, artistic impact and global connectivity,” according to TMA’s literature.
It is the first major United States exhibition to examine Ethiopian art in a global context ad highlight the country’s influence that reached from the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, the Nile River and Mediterranean Sea which served as a bridge between Africa, Asia and Europe.
Over 225 objects are on display including devotional paintings, manuscripts, coins, textiles, metalwork and carved wood crosses in conversation with vibrant photographs, paintings and sculptures by contemporary artists and the Ethiopian diaspora as displayed in the works of Merikokeb, Julie Mehretu and Elias Sime.
The “Ethiopia at the Crossroads” exhibition was co-organized by the Toledo Museum of Art, Walters Art Museum and Peabody Essex Museum and curated for TMA by Sondra Ong, assistant director of Strategic initiatives.
The Block Party’s entertainment included Glass City Steel, Toledo School for the Arts’ steel drum band and Island Guys, a Caribbean steel drum band from Detroit.
The entertainment concluded with a performance by the Ethio Dankira Traditional Music Group, an Ethiopian music and dance group based in Washington, D.C.