Hera Gallery Presents: See the Saugatucket: The River and Us
Curated by Friends of the Saugatucket in Collaboration with Hera Gallery and Educational Foundation
We live around the Saugatucket River, yet sometimes we don’t see it. This exhibition intends to help us see the river with new eyes and to remind us of the life-giving role the river plays in our lives now, in our past, and in our future. It also suggests what you can do to protect and preserve the river, and why that’s important. We hope you will find yourself in the materials on display — your school or your street on a map… your next volunteer effort… your fondness for fishing… your favorite bird or native plant… your ancestor in an old photo… your passion for fresh water chemistry… your spiritual, cultural bond with water. Explore the river as a living, breathing body, a passage through time and a lifeline for our community. Bring your curiosity and enhance your imagination.The exhibition came about through a grassroots effort on the part of lots of people with different interests in and connections to the river and its surrounds.
The Friends of the Saugatucket will be hosting weekly guest speakers every Thursday at 7pm during Wakefield RiverFire Nights at Hera:
Thursday August 4th: Rich Younken presents : Saugatucket Park - designed by one of the most famous design firms in the US - who knew?
Thursday August 11th: URI Professor of Landscape and Architecture William Green presents: Inspiration: How Student Design Work can Lead to Changes in the Landscape
Thursday August 18th: David Greg, from RI Natural History Survey, will talk about mammals of the Saugatucket River watershed and how they reflect the importance of the river as a wildlife corridor running through town and also connecting to larger preserved areas nearby
Wakefield Elementary School’s Rendition of the Creatures of Saugatucket River
Two Ways of Seeing the Saugatucket
Drone Footage by Elise Torello
Red Ball by Amanda S. Bingham
Footage by Friends of the Saugatucket River
List of Contributors: Elise Torello, Bill McCusker, and Evan Travis of Friends of the Saugatucket, Lorèn Spears (Narragansett citizen and Executive Director of the Tomaquag Museum), Paul Jordan and Maria Mack of the Planning Board, Elizabeth Herron and Lorraine Joubert of URI Watershed Watch, Alicia Schaffner of the Salt Ponds Coalition, Will Green (Professor URI) and his 444 Landscape Architecture senior design studios, South Kingstown Public Library/PeaceDale, Richard Youngken of the Historic District Commission, Erica Luke of the South County History Center, Randy Collins and Debra Howard of BETA Group Inc., David Gregg of the RI Natural History Survey, FabNewport, Frances Topping (naturalist and artist) Marjorie Vorhaben (photographer), Amanda Swain Bingham (photographer), Holly Harrington and her students at Curtis Corner Middle School, Rebekah Blakeney and her 4th grade class at Wakefield Elementary School, Don Richardson (architect), Susan Marcus of the Economic Development Committee, and Hera Gallery / Hera Educational Foundation.