The water where we live
Exhibition Opportunity
A House Unbuilt’s Art + Water + Ecology Space in Downtown Stillwater is collaborating with the Brown’s Creek Watershed District to provide a unique exhibition opportunity to area artists. In response to stories and descriptions of the unique organisms living in the watershed, artists will be asked to create new works on paper for exhibit over a 3-month period in the AWE Space. Artists will receive a $100 stipend for participation.
Each artwork will also be made into a postcard for distribution by the artists and BCWD. Future collaborations between the Watershed District and the artists as well as additional exhibition opportunities may be possible in respect to the project. Details TBA. An Opening Reception showcasing the artworks will be held on January 24, 2025, 4-7pm. Angie Hong will be a guest speaker at the event, speaking about her new book on the St. Croix River Valley.
Please submit a brief letter of interest along with 1-3 work samples (.jpg format) to Victoria@ahouseunbuilt.com no later than December 15, 2024.
Exhibition
A Collaborative Project between A House Unbuilt and Brown’s Creek Watershed District
A 2023 Supreme Court decision revoked the Clean Water Act’s power to protect approximately two-thirds of the nation’s wetlands and millions of miles of rain-fed streams. Many states don’t have their own legal protections for these waters. In states with strong laws, polluting industries are taking action to weaken them.
Through the work of watershed districts, conservation management, citizen advocacy, and creativity we can raise awareness about the public’s role in maintaining clean water and how we pursue that at higher levels of municipal and state government. To that end, The Water Where We Live—a collaboration between A House Unbuilt and Brown’s Creek Watershed District—will amplify the hidden stories living in our watershed as well as the ways we can protect the water that flows there.
Opening January 24, 2025, A House Unbuilt’s Art + Water + Ecology Space (AWE) in Downtown Stillwater will host a unique exhibition featuring area artists. A selection of 5-10 works on paper will be created in response to stories and descriptions of the unique organisms living in the watershed, accompanied by a “first person” narrative of the organisms’ experiences moving through Brown’s Creek. Artists will receive a $100 stipend for their participation, and each artwork will be made into a postcard for distribution by the artists and BCWD. Future collaborations between the Watershed District and the artists as well as additional exhibition opportunities will be sought in respect to the project.
The AWE Space is approximately 500 square feet with two blank walls for display space. The artists’ responses will be featured on one wall, and on the opposite wall, A House Unbuilt will feature blown up versions of Washington County Conservation District’s Water Pollution 101 info cards featuring the impacts of bacteria, phosphorus, nitrogen, chloride, mercury, and sediment on our waterways and watersheds. Additionally, in the open area of the AWE Space, Artistic Director Victoria Bradford Styrbicki and other volunteers will host a “water bar,” featuring a tasting of regional drinking water sources, as an activity to spur awareness of our impacts on our waterways.
According to a March 2024 GALLUP poll, pollution of drinking water tops environmental worries in the US. The National Wildlife Federation suggests our best approach as advocates of waterways is to advance a message of clean drinking water, which will simultaneously amplify the other concerns that people are apparently less worried about, such as pollution of waterbodies, contamination of soil and water by toxic waste, climate change, air pollution, loss of rain forests, and extinction of plants and animals. Through this immersive installation and project collaboration, we can have an impact on clean water in our community, raising awareness and changing behavior.
The Opening Reception showcasing the artworks on January 24, 2025, 4-7pm will also feature Angie Hong as a guest speaker, highlighting her new book Exploring the St. Croix River Valley: Adventures on and off the Water. The exhibit will be on display for a 3-month period in the AWE Space: January 24 – April 18, 2025, Monday-Friday, 10am-3:30pm and by appointment. As mentioned before, together in partnership with BCWD leadership, we will seek out future exhibition opportunities for this project, solicit groups to tour the space, and explore other applications for these creative materials within the Watershed.
