H20: Film on Water

From the water problem to water as metaphor. Our story begins in a former woolen mill on the banks of the Sugar River in Newport, NH. To get there, I drove past The Dollar Store and strip malls, the spray-painted signs advertising cord wood and coal, and onto South Main Street, where space for rent signs fade in store front windows.

Newport is one of the American towns where Sturm, Ruger and Co. has been manufacturing guns since 1949. Firearms magnate William Ruger, Jr., meticulously restored the old mill to house his extensive collection of antique cars. Bill Ruger then turned over an entire floor - 20,000 square feet – of the mill bulding to H20: Film on Water. It’s a collection of films, video, photographs and contemporary installations linked to the Connecticut River waterways.

The Newport Mill is the main exhibition space. I visited the grand brick building on a sparkling fall afternoon. The windows were blackened. Muffled sounds of buoy bells, sparse lighting, and the movement of projected films created a sense of dark immersion.

Cynthia Reeves runs the contemporary art gallery Cynthia Reeves in New York City, and Spheris Gallery in Hanover. A decade ago, she started Great River Arts based in Bellows Falls, Vt. To mark its ten-year anniversary, Cynthia opened up a juried competition centered on water. Her team pared more than 200 submissions down to 75 works of video, photography and site-specific works to create H20: Film on Water.

There’s a great variety of work. One film evokes Hurricane Katrina, another, the effect of oil on water. Some are direct, others more subtle. On Saturday, the top three juried H20: Film on Water videos will be awarded at the mill in Newport. The exhibition, and Saturday’s awards event are free and open to the public.

Boston Globe: Shimmering downriver: Exhibition’s four venues celebrate sight, sound of water

Keene State College's Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery is also hosting an exhibition on water titled Downstream: Current Works on Water By Six Artists.