In 2006, “Looking for Lost History” traveled in the form of a 19th Century American Traveling Show. This was Alison Pebworth’s first tour in a continued series of traveling exhibitions, exchanges and happenings exploring what it means to be American. The investigation continues with “Beautiful Possibility” launched first in San Francisco at Southern Exposure coinciding with a intimate exhibition of drawings and a video by Chris Sollars at Michael Rosenthal. The project will then travel May through October from California to South Dakota across the northern United States and Canada. Pebworth seeks to discover a new understanding of our past, present and future through research, conversation and survey’s comparing and contrasting opinions of those living and working in the various regions she visits along the tour.

Pebworth writes: “This interactive project combines art, history and anthropology for an investigative look at obscured people, places, stories and myths and how they contribute to our collective understanding of who we are as Americans. Venues for the traveling show are pre-scheduled and will serve as headquarters for conducting research on local histories and culture. I will be physically touring the show and living in a travel trailer for this solo journey, interacting directly with regional audiences and gathering source material for new work to be included in the second tour and culminating exhibitions in 2011 and 2012.”

Home on the Range from Chris Sollars on Vimeo.