The New York State Canal Corporation and the Erie Canal Museum, in collaboration with the Everson Museum of Art, today announced “At Water’s Edge: Reflections on 200 Years of the Erie Canal” is now open at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse. The gallery highlights the works of the 2024 Erie Canal Artists-in-Residence Judit German-Heins, Alon Koppel, and Clara Riedlinger. All three artists spent a year capturing the New York State Canal system’s history and relevance today through photography, while contemplating the Erie Canal’s Bicentennial, which is taking place this year.
“For two centuries, the Erie Canal has been part of New York State’s very fabric,” said New York State Canal Corporation Director Brian U. Stratton. “Just as our experiences engaging with this storied waterway are ever evolving, so too is our artists-in-residence program, capturing parts of this evolution in ways that we have not yet contemplated. Visualizing the creative interpretations these artists bring may help influence the Erie Canal’s next century of operation and use.”
Throughout last year, German-Heins photographed women in upstate New York whose current work is related to the Erie Canal. Her images pay tribute to women workers during the canal’s construction and to those who fought for women’s rights starting from the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. Koppel’s work focused on researching historic canal images and then photographing the same locations now, reflecting on how the landscape and built environment have changed near the canal. Riedlinger concentrated her residency work on the spiritual history of the western New York landscape, known as the Burned Over District, where the dramatic reshaping of the landscape by the Erie Canal signaled a new era of religious strangeness, philosophical experimentation, and political reinvention whose currents still flow strongly just under the surface of present-day American culture.
As part of the exhibition, the public is welcome to attend a gallery talk and reception with the artists on Saturday, February 15, 2025, at 1:00 pm at the Everson, 401 Harrison Street, Syracuse, NY 13202. The event is free for Everson Museum of Art and Erie Canal Museum members and is included with general museum admission for all others. For more information, please visit the Everson Museum of Art online.
Erie Canal Museum Executive Director Natalie Stetson said, “We are delighted to collaborate with the New York State Canal Corporation and the Everson Museum of Art to present the 2024 Erie Canal Artists-in-Residence exhibition, ‘At Water’s Edge: Reflections on 200 Years of the Erie Canal,’ featuring the evocative works of Alon Koppel, Judit German-Heins, and Clara Riedlinger. In this year of the Erie Canal Bicentennial, we are excited to showcase their projects, inviting the public to engage with and reflect on this pivotal chapter of American history in new and meaningful ways.”
The Everson Museum of Art Director of Curatorial Affairs Steffi Chappell said, “We are thrilled to present this exhibition in partnership with the New York State Canal Corporation and the Erie Canal Museum. As we celebrate the bicentennial of the canal’s completion, Judit, Alon, and Clara’s photographs remind us that the Erie Canal is a vibrant and important part of our daily lives.”
In addition to the exhibit, the Canal Corporation and Erie Canal Museum are proud to announce this year’s 2025 Artists-in-Residence Kari Varner and Sarah Cameron Sunde. Kari Varner, a photographer and educator, will spend the year investigating three canal ecological sites, harvesting plants and incorporating them into her photographic process. Sarah Cameron Sunde, an interdisciplinary artist, will also work with three sites or communities along the canal to both physically connect with the canal and explore its ecology.
The public is welcome to attend a virtual conversation with the new 2025 artists and the 2024 Artists-in-Residence on Wednesday, February 12, 2025, at 6:00 pm. Registration is available here.
Now in its third year, the Erie Canal Artist-in-Residence program was created through a partnership between the New York State Canal Corporation and the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse. The Canal Corporation and the Erie Canal Museum have previously partnered on a two-year Erie Canal Fellowship to tell a more inclusive history of the canal, and on a series of tours of iconic canal infrastructure.
