Braided Water: Interlacing Routes in Deep Time and Space
An art installation by Susan Knight

September 14 – November 17

An art installation unlike any seen at Stuhr Museum before, this exhibit will feature an immersive art experience by Susan Knight. Knight will employ her innovative paper cutting techniques to create works specifically for the space within the Stuhr Building that explore the natural history of the Platte River region in which Stuhr Museum is located. This work is a collaboration between Knight and Nate Eidem, PhD and lecturer of Geography at the University of Nebraska – Kearney, who is providing the research on the Platte River.

The Platte River is an uncommon, braided river network composed of ever-changing channels that originates in the Rocky Mountains and runs through Nebraska until it reaches the Missouri River. These shifting channels have a metaphoric meaning within this installation for the way the natural world and the human world behave and are inseparably interlaced together in community. Knight’s artwork brings together the archetypal lines of hydrology with bird migration routes, Pawnee settlements, major pioneer trails, and the transcontinental railroad. The installation visualizes these lines of geology and history synthesizing to evolve into connective bands bound with human identity that undergird past and present day residents along the Platte River and its tributaries.

This exhibit will be open to the public from September 14 – November 17 and included with regular daily admission fees.

Upcoming Exhibits