Lauren Rosenthal McManus’s watershed maps re-frame the boundaries that define community. Combining research-driven activism with material essentialism, her river-centric maps emphasize the innate beauty and universal importance of freshwater systems. Rosenthal McManus’s work is held in several institutional collections, including the Nurture Nature Center, the Charlotte Museum of History, and the Bank of America Collection. She holds a BFA from Washington University in St. Louis and an MFA from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where she was an urban livability fellow.

I will be creating maps of the Schuylkill River watershed using natural materials found along the Schuylkill River Banks Trail. All interested visitors will be invited to participate in this collaborative eco-mapping project.  

Using simple processes* that can be successfully executed by participants of almost any age group and skill level, the local watershed will serve not only as subject matter, but also as a springboard for conversation about boundaries, notions of home, and definitions of community. 

*Frottage: use locally sourced natural pigment crayons to create rubbings that represent the wide variety of both natural and man-made textures found along the Schuylkill River corridor 

*Wax resist: transform rocks and soil into watercolor paint and apply it over rubbings to create a dynamic surface texture  

*Botanical contact print: use leaves, grass, flower petals, berries, etc. to create a visual catalog of the Spring flora along the Schuylkill RiverBanks Trail 

All of the work produced during the event will be collaged into large-scale maps of the Schuylkill River and its tributaries - a patchwork imbued with the colors of the earth and its flora, textures of the City where the Schuylkill meets the Delaware, and the story of a community connected by its responsibility to care for the River's waters.