Waterlines: Stories of Urban Ebb and Flow
Waterlines: Stories of Urban Ebb and Flow is the public installation created in response to the similarly titled show on view at the
Somerville Museum from December 15th, 2022 - March 22, 2023.
About the Exhibit
Artwork by Ted Ollier
Curated by Arlinda Shtuni
Rivers, nature's wild running waters, have carved landscapes and drawn ecologies, shaping the habitats where we live and how we live from time immemorial. Flowing down from source to mouth, they meander and change as they grow and recede. Over time, we tamed the rivers, damming and shifting their flow to sculpt the environment around us, claiming their beds to possess more fertile land on which to grow our food and build our cities. And through these processes, we altered their flow and sediments.
Ted Ollier's series renders the bodies of several major rivers--from source to mouth--in their majesty and vulnerability. And through transforming them into stitchwork pieces, he offers a fresh lens through which to view and relate to them.
"Now the rivers in the earth are like the pulsating blood vessels of a man. As the blood flows through them they throb or are still in accordance with their own times and measures. So it is with the rivers. Their rise and fall, their going and coming are like human respiration, like breath coming in and out."
--Wang Chong, first century Chinese naturalist
Exhibit website:
www.somervillemuseum.org/waterlines
About the Inside-Out Gallery
Initiated in 2009, The Inside-Out Gallery is located in the CVS Window in Davis Square, a unique space that allows the public to view an eclectic array of works from artists and local organizations each month. The mission of the Somerville Arts Council is to cultivate and celebrate the creative expressions of the Somerville community. Through innovative collaborations and quality programming we work to make the arts an integral part of life reflective of our diverse city.