Featured image credit: Sierra Weir
Artists Selected for ‘Reflections Through Art:
Water Trails on the Susquehanna Basin’ Artist in Residency
The Pennsylvania Environmental Council, in partnership with PA Water Trail Manager organizations, has selected three artists to participate in its new artist-in-residency program, “Reflections through Art: Inclusive Access on Water Trails in the Susquehanna Basin.”
During the summer and early fall months each artist will spend at least three weeks “on location” connecting local community members to Pennsylvania Water Trails in the Susquehanna Basin and the remarkable recreation opportunities on those trails through creative, experiential, interactive, and exploratory art.
A review committee selected the artists from a pool of impressive applicants. They include:
- Spencer Verney of Coatsville, a painter whose work has focused on preserved lands and protected waterways in historic settings
- Meg Lemieur of Philadelphia, a nature-journaling educator and creative mapmaker
- Sierra Weir of Pittsburgh, creator of the Colors of the River project, which uses foraged materials to create colorful data visualizations of water quality
The residency program, funded by the National Park Service’s Chesapeake Gateways Grant Program and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Community Conservation Partnership Program, implements several principles of the Pennsylvania Water Trail Program, including enhancing public outreach and education, cultivating community development and deepening sense of place, and creating opportunities for broad-based participation in experiences in and along Pennsylvania’s waterways.
Three of Pennsylvania’s 28 designated Water Trails were selected as residency locations. These include the Lower Susquehanna River, managed by the Susquehanna National Heritage Area, the Swatara Creek managed by the Swatara Watershed Association, and the West Branch/Lower North Branch Susquehanna River, managed by the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership. PEC will work with each of these organizations to facilitate opportunities for the artists to meet and interact with community members, attend local events including a paddling Sojourn, and learn more about the region.
Tali MacArthur, PA Water Trail Program Coordinator at PEC, secured funding specifically intended to connect Pennsylvanians with their local waterways through interactive creative experiences. Initially, she was uncertain how the idea would be received.
“I wasn’t sure whether the opportunity would appeal to members of the creative sector, but apparently it did,” MacArthur said. “We had 35 outstanding applications to review, making selecting just three of them quite a challenge.”
By the end of the residency, each artist will create a locally meaningful piece of artwork that reflects the stories of the people, places, histories, cultures, and natural environment of their Water Trail destination, and depicts the relationships among water recreation, cultural identities, and environmental stewardship.
PEC and its affiliate organization, the Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers (POWR), will promote public events at which the artists’ work will be showcased. You will also be able to see photos of the pieces on POWR’s website, pawatersheds.org.
The Pennsylvania Water Trail Program is administered by PEC in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, and the National Parks Service and serves to maintain and promote recreational value of Pennsylvania Water Trails Program’s network of creeks and rivers. For more information, visit pecpa.org/water/pa-water-trails.