Mission Statement
Water Rising is an association of stunning watercolors and haunting poems. The authors are publishingWater Rising and plan to use the book, together with music composed by Shirish Korde, and the video installation by Siobhan Landry to generate conversations about and support for environmental stewardship. Art has played an important role in the preservation of the American landscape and the authors intend for this project to draw upon that history to challenge and inspire audiences to a greater awareness of and discussion about our relationship to our rural spaces.
The watercolors, produced by the internationally known visual artist, Garth Evans, were made over twelve months in his studio, which overlooks the woods in Woodstock, CT. The poems, written by the award-winning writer, Leila Philip, began with funding from a Guggenheim Fellowship; each poem explores ordinary landscapes as a means of insight, delight and self-awareness.
Experienced together, the poems and watercolors interact, exploring the ways in which we locate ourselves in a world rapidly changing. Water Rising is a work of collaboration between a visual artist and a writer. They challenged themselves by creating works outside of their usual practice with the goal of bringing these new works together. For twelve months, Garth Evans, known for his exploration in sculpture, turned to making watercolors, while Leila Philip, known for her distinctive work in literary nonfiction, worked in a lyric mode. They agreed to wait until each had produced a body of work before they shared the outcome, without discussing the works while they were in progress.
At the end of a year they brought their works together and selected the twelve watercolors and eleven poems that now make up the collection. Once the works were set side by side, the artists were intrigued, delighted and amazed by the power of art to translate across genres. Placed next to the poems, the watercolors began to speak to those texts, while the poems, read before the watercolors, powerfully informed ways of looking at the images.
The resulting book, Water Rising, is a unique and elegant testament to the power of word and image and is being published by New Rivers Press at Minnesota State University Moorhead for release, November 2015. At its core the book has environmental themes and celebrates a sense of place. Evans and Philip are donating 100% of net proceeds from the sale of the book to organizations working to preserve the beauty and natural resources of New England, especially in Northeastern Connecticut, where the work was made.
In order to produce a book of the highest quality, the authors raised funds by selling the original watercolors along with a limited edition broadsheet. Net proceeds from these sales along with contributions from supporters and grants helped underwrite the book’s production costs. Supporters of the project are recognized on the website and in the book. Some watercolors are still available along with a number of broadsheets.
Since the books publication, we have done events throughout the United States and generated over $5000 from the sales of books and broadsheets, which has been donate to groups supporting environmental stewardship. But our mission is not over yet. With the video installation we hope to do more.
The watercolors, produced by the internationally known visual artist, Garth Evans, were made over twelve months in his studio, which overlooks the woods in Woodstock, CT. The poems, written by the award-winning writer, Leila Philip, began with funding from a Guggenheim Fellowship; each poem explores ordinary landscapes as a means of insight, delight and self-awareness.
Experienced together, the poems and watercolors interact, exploring the ways in which we locate ourselves in a world rapidly changing. Water Rising is a work of collaboration between a visual artist and a writer. They challenged themselves by creating works outside of their usual practice with the goal of bringing these new works together. For twelve months, Garth Evans, known for his exploration in sculpture, turned to making watercolors, while Leila Philip, known for her distinctive work in literary nonfiction, worked in a lyric mode. They agreed to wait until each had produced a body of work before they shared the outcome, without discussing the works while they were in progress.
At the end of a year they brought their works together and selected the twelve watercolors and eleven poems that now make up the collection. Once the works were set side by side, the artists were intrigued, delighted and amazed by the power of art to translate across genres. Placed next to the poems, the watercolors began to speak to those texts, while the poems, read before the watercolors, powerfully informed ways of looking at the images.
The resulting book, Water Rising, is a unique and elegant testament to the power of word and image and is being published by New Rivers Press at Minnesota State University Moorhead for release, November 2015. At its core the book has environmental themes and celebrates a sense of place. Evans and Philip are donating 100% of net proceeds from the sale of the book to organizations working to preserve the beauty and natural resources of New England, especially in Northeastern Connecticut, where the work was made.
In order to produce a book of the highest quality, the authors raised funds by selling the original watercolors along with a limited edition broadsheet. Net proceeds from these sales along with contributions from supporters and grants helped underwrite the book’s production costs. Supporters of the project are recognized on the website and in the book. Some watercolors are still available along with a number of broadsheets.
Since the books publication, we have done events throughout the United States and generated over $5000 from the sales of books and broadsheets, which has been donate to groups supporting environmental stewardship. But our mission is not over yet. With the video installation we hope to do more.
