Ida Abelman, Street Patterns, 1937. Lithograph on paper, 15 3.4 x 11 1/2 inches.
Timed to coincide with the bicentennial of the Erie Canal’s completion, Water, Grain, Steel brings together works from UB Art Galleries Collection alongside those by regional artists to explore the Canal’s enduring impact on Buffalo and the surrounding region. The exhibition reflects on the Canal not only as an engine of commerce and industry, but also as a site of labor, land displacement, environmental consequence, and cultural memory.
Spanning historic and contemporary perspectives, the exhibition includes work that examines the Canal’s role in shaping Buffalo’s steel and grain industries; the environmental health of Lake Erie and connected waterways; and land and water rights viewed through Indigenous lenses. WPA-era prints and early twentieth-century landscapes sit in conversation with contemporary works that reframe this legacy for the present day. Featured artists include Charles Burchfield, Mildred C. Green, and Martha Visser’t Hooft, alongside Jay Carrier, Tim Frerichs, and Milton Rogovin, among others.
Water, Grain, Steel invites visitors to consider the complex and evolving functions of the Erie Canal—past, present, and future.
Loans for the exhibition are generously provided by Meibohm Fine Arts, the Burchfield Penney Art Center, and Black Rock Arts. Many of the works from the UB Art Galleries Collection were donated by, and are cared for with support from, the Harry G. Meyer and the Howard L. Meyer Trust.