September 22, 2009
Contact: Lisa Davol, Turners Falls RiverCulture Coordinator

riverculture@montague-ma.gov 413.230.9910

Woven River -- Public Art Installation in Turners Falls by artist Sebastian Gutwein/Presented by the Turners Falls RiverCulture Project

Unveiling October 3rd at the Turners Falls Open Studios and Downtown Walking Tour

Last year, Turners Falls resident Dianne Ellis expressed a need for the community to reclaim a special, hidden and neglected part of the Turners Falls landscape - the "boardwalks." These walkways or pathways have, for over a century, served residents a quiet and majestic walk through the woods on their way downtown from the "hill" section of the village to work in the mills, attend Sunday services, go shopping or simply to get downtown without having to encounter traffic. Downtown children also use the walks to make their way up to school each day.

Ellis expressed concern that the paths have become littered, overgrown and unsafe so she approached RiverCulture to brainstorm about some solutions. "This challenge was a great fit for our project" says RiverCulture Coordinator Lisa Davol. "We are interested in addressing issues in our community through creative artistic means." RiverCulture decided to put out a call for proposals for a public art installation along the pathway said Davol. "Public art often solves problems through public engagement and a non-traditional aesthetic approach to sense of place. The process often builds relationships, consensus, and reaches a diverse audience in the community, not to mention encourages a stewardship of the surrounding area." After reviewing numerous proposals from several New England states, Sebastian Gutwein from Greenfield was chosen to install his vision - Woven River.

Woven River is installed on a walkway starting where 7th Street turns into Hill Street at the base of the hill connecting the downtown to the upper part of the village, ending on High Street at Avenue B. The installation will remain until it disintegrates. A special unveiling includes a tour of the work with Sebastian Gutwein on October 3rd from 1-3 PM during Arts & Leaves Open Studio and Downtown Walking Tour.

The Woven River project exposes some of the history of Turners Falls and the constant reincorporation of the past into the present through a series of five installations connected by an undulating woven wall of branches. Stenciled on the sidewalk is a poem, by Maria Williams-Russell, tying the installation together. Each part of the installation points to a hope and a lesson from Turners Falls' history useful in creating a vibrant future for the village. Woven River looks at the history of Turners Falls as it revolves around the Connecticut River. No river, no town. As the Connecticut runs and is wearing through the rock beneath it, it is in a sense wearing through the past exposing it to the fresh light of today. At the same time, the river is carrying these bits along with it, until it slows down and deposits its load. In the Connecticut River's case, this release was the bottom of Lake Hitchcock. That lake became our fertile river valley. The installation allows us to visually gather elements of Turners Falls' past and carry it along to lay the fertile foundations of Turners Falls' future.

About the artist:
Sebastian Gutwein is an artist, craftsman and ecological designer who cultivates a deep fascination with the poetics and politics of space and place. He is a founding partner of the Regenerative Design Group in Greenfield MA.

About the Poet
Maria Williams-Russell is a writer who sometimes thinks of herself as a lost bird whose feathers don't match the feathers of the other birds where she has landed. Adopted by a Lithuanian mother and a Mayflower descendant father, she is not quite sure what it means when people ask her for directions in Spanish or marvel at her olive skin. Her poetry seems to revolve, in various ways, around this idea of displacement, of where and what is home. Maria received her MFA in poetry from Goddard College and her poems have been published in The Bellevue Literary Review, Chronogram, Sous Rature and other small journals. She writes from her home in Greenfield, MA.

Sebastian Gutwein can be contacted baswein@gmail and 774-4589.

View map of installation site here.