The Water Where We Live
A House Unbuilt/ Victoria Bradford Styrbicki
Collaborating Partner:
Brown's Creek Watershed District, 12 participating artists
Artist:
Victoria Bradford Styrbicki
Time & Place:
2025, Stillwater, MN
Project Description:
The Brown's Creek Watershed District collaborated with Victoria Bradford Styrbicki at A House Unbuilt on an art exhibition featuring the unique organisms in the watershed district.
Guided by watershed biologists, twelve artists were invited to reveal the unseen lives of threatened and endangered species within our stream systems—translating those fragile ecologies into painting, fiber, sculpture, and other unexpected forms. A water tasting bar accompanied the exhibition, reconnecting public awareness to the water that moves through our homes and bodies every day. Developed during a moment of shifting federal protections for wetlands, the project raises visibility around clean water and asks visitors to consider their role in sustaining it. The Water Where We Live has been shared with audiences at A House Unbuilt’s Art & Water Space, through ArtReach’s Mobile Art Gallery (Walker Art Center, Franconia Sculpture Park, The Acreage, and others), The Lakes in Stillwater, and at the Washington County Heritage Center (2026).
Participating artists:
Deanna Grigus, Jennifer Osborne Anderson, Mimi Exon, Theresa Harsma, Amy Walsh, Robin Stumbo, Amy R. Clark, Jenny Elaine, Jill Waterhouse, Megan Miller, Brighton McCormick, Wóokiye Wíŋ
Note: Water Bar was a project of Works Progress/ Shanai Matteson originally. It’s still traveling around as part of other events without them.
Goals or Outcomes Achieved:
Educating the community about the unique species found in the watershed through visual means.
What did you learn? Artistically? Administratively? About the community?
It was very cool to work with a variety of artists using different mediums and see how everything was pulled together into an exciting art exhibit featuring the Brown's Creek Watershed District
Links
https://bcwd.org/the-water-where-we-live/
https://ahouseunbuilt.com/portfolio/water-where-we-live/
Quote from the project:
"It's not just something that is my project, it is actually our project." -- Victoria Bradford Styrbicki
Photo Credit: Hannah Peterson
Photo credit: A House Unbuilt
Theresa Harsma works titled "Cecropia Silk Moth Studies: Egg, Caterpillar, Cocoon, Moth"
Jill Waterhouse work, "Fade/Flourish: The Choice is Y/ours." [DETAIL]
