Rivers to the Sea Exhibit Logo

Rivers to the Sea | 2020 Online Exhibit

Exhibit Coordinators: Wendy Chadbourne and Nanci Worthington

When man first started to colonize the world, one major determinant to where we established our communities was the presence of and access to water. If you look at any modern maps, you can’t help but notice that our major cities are in close proximity to water. This phenomenon is very much the same in the natural world. If you take a hike anywhere here in New England you will find an abundance of biodiversity near sources of water. 

The land is divided by rivers, streams, and creeks, each with its own watershed. A watershed is a land area that drains and channels precipitation back to the sea in a constant cycle. Each of these watersheds is unique – supporting a vast array of ecological systems. These ecological systems support a wide variety of biodiversity which changes as you travel from the upland headwaters of a river all the way to the termination into the sea.

All this biodiversity relies on the precious resource of clean water flowing past without obstructions. The watersheds provide critical life support to the animals and plants living in them, including drinking water, migration routes, nurseries, and irrigation for native plants which provide sources of food and shelter as well as prevent erosion of the land. It is a complex and interconnected web of communities upon which the actions of man can have serious and long-lasting impacts.

The members of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators New England Chapter are celebrating the biodiversity of watersheds in their chosen media, to help bring awareness to the fragile communities which rely on healthy watersheds all through New England. No matter how far you physically live from a body of water, you are having an impact on the watershed that drains into that body of water. The overall health of these fragile communities, and ultimately our own, relies on healthy watershed systems.

Please note you can click on the (Bio) link next to the artist’s name to view their bio page, clicking on the image itself will provide you with a larger view of it in Lightbox, and clicking on the “Click to read more” link will scroll out the complete write up for the illustration.

Thank you for taking the time to visit our online exhibit and be sure to share the link with your friends and family. Feel free to share this page on social media so other people may enjoy this exhibit.

EXHIBIT UPDATE!!! This exhibit will physically be on display from September 20, 2021 through January 6, 2022 at the RISCA Atrium Gallery located at One Capitol Hill, Providence, Rhode Island. Please take the time to visit the exhibit in person and enjoy these beautiful works of art.

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4 entries.
Lucy Gagliardo from Brooktondale,NY wrote on April 25, 2021 at 3:00 pm
Hello, New England Chapter! What a lovely exhibit! so happy our chapters had a joint zoom meeting today, which lead me here!
Mary Anne OMalley from Deephaven, MN wrote on February 10, 2021 at 12:17 pm
I just came across your online exhibit as I was checking the websites of the local chapters.
Thank you for making this exhibit accessible - it is wonderful to see the beautiful work of your member artists and it is so inspiring during these covid days. Thank you so much!
Nancy from Cape Cod wrote on December 19, 2020 at 4:09 pm
I am so impressed by the beautiful artwork by our incredible members! The written description is also very interesting (skunk cabbage creates its own heat?!). Such a shame we can’t have our in person show!
Thanks to all!
Wendy Chadbourne from Lakeville, MA wrote on September 7, 2020 at 12:03 pm
Checking to see that our guestbook is up and running smoothly. Feel free to post an entry if you wish.
Rivers to the Sea Exhibit Entry by Peggy Rambach

Artist: Peggy Rambach (Bio coming soon)
Title: Essex Marsh
Media: Gouache and Watercolor
Species of focus:
Marsh Goldenrod or Seaside Goldenrod
Solidago semperviren

Artists comments about their subject:
“Seaside Goldenrod is native to the Atlantic coast from Canada to Florida… Like other goldenrods, seaside goldenrod hosts a number of insect parasites that lay eggs in the plant’s living stems. As the stem dries in winter, it swells to encase the developing larvae in woody protection. This valuable food source is enormously attractive to overwintering insectivorous birds like downy woodpeckers, which can be observed far from their familiar woodland homes, hammering at the dried goldenrod stems and disturbing the peace behind the dunes, while foraging for a winter meal.”

From “Bloomer” Nov. 2016 New York Times by Dave Taft

Rivers to the Sea Exhibit Entry by Sau Mei Leung

Artist: Sau-Mei Leung (Bio coming soon)
Title: Baltimore Oriole and its hanging nest
Media: Watercolor
Species of focus:
Baltimore Oriole
Icterus galbula

Artists comments about their subject:

Baltimore Oriole can be found in stands of trees along the rivers and in backyards. My husband and I were very lucky to have a Baltimore Oriole in our backyard. Our house is located not far from the Nashua River. We often hear the Baltimore Oriole but rarely see it. But one day it landed on our deck and I was able to take a good look and a good photo. Our friends who live in Chelmsford, MA, also have a Baltimore Oriole in their yard. Every year, the Oriole builds a beautiful hanging woven, socked-like nest and incorporates the blue plastic fibers from a blue tarp our friends kept in their yard. The Baltimore oriole’s nest is built by the female only. It may take up to 15 days to build the nest. Baltimore orioles are important predators of insects, they are especially important in protecting forest trees from insect damage.

Rivers to the Sea Exhibit Entry by Albert Pointe

Artist: Albert Pointe (Bio coming soon)
Title: Cow Moose and Calf Exiting the Androscoggin River
Media: Scratchboard
Species of focus:
Moose
Alces alces

Artists comments about their subject:

Cow moose nurture their calves for close to a year, until the approaching birth of a new offspring. They often inhabit areas near wilderness waterways such as the Androscoggin River. They visit marshy wallows adjacent to roads for salt run-off, unavailable elsewhere. As herbivores, they often seek food such as underwater plants and algae. During winter they survive on foliage, bushes, twigs, and bark.

Click to read more

Rivers to the Sea exhibit entry by Melissa Guillet

Artist: Melissa Guillet (Bio)
Title: Zebra clubtail dragonfly
Media: Colored pencil
Species of focus:
Zebra clubtail dragonfly
Stylurus scudderi

Artists comments about their subject:

Clubtail dragonflies (Gomphids) get their name from the flared segments at the end of their abdomen, more noticeable in males. Another distinction is the set apart eyes in green, blue, or grey.  These 2 to 2.5-inch dragonflies also have striped bodies, helping with camouflage, and unspotted wings.

Click to read more

Rivers to the Sea exhibit entry by Frances Topping

Artist: Frances Topping (Bio)
Title: Come on in the water’s fine… or is it?
Media: Watercolor
Species of focus:
North American River Otter
Lontra canadensis

Artists comments about their subject:
River otters can be found in all the New England states, in most of the watersheds, riverine, marsh, lakes, swamps and coastal situations. These areas provide the water habitat they require for shelter and nursery with an underwater exit. Alternately they sometimes use other creatures’ dens or under rocks or even logs for their shelters.

Click to read more
Rivers to the Sea exhibit entry by Jeanette Compton

Artist: Jeanette Compton (Bio)
Title: Eastern Skunk Cabbage
Media: Pen and Ink
Species of focus:
Eastern skunk cabbage
Symplocarpus foetidus

Artists comments about their subject:
Eastern skunk cabbage grows in the wet swampy soil of woodlands, often along streams. Among the first plants to bloom in very early spring, the skunk cabbage is able to generate its own heat, allowing it to push through frozen ground and snow.

Click to read more

Rivers to the Sea Exhibit Entry by Jeanette Compton

Artist: Jeanette Compton (Bio)
Title: Bog Turtle
Media: Pen and Ink
Species of focus:
Bog Turtle
Glyptemys muhlenbergii

Artists comments about their subject:

One of North America’s smallest turtles, the bog turtle is federally listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. This is due to habitat loss and fragmentation, invasive species encroachment as well as the illegal pet trade, with habitat loss being the primary threat.

Click to read more

Rivers to the Sea Exhibit Entry by Albert Pointe

Artist: Albert Pointe (Bio coming soon)
Title: Pollution Intolerant River Organisms
Media: Ink on Matte Acetate & watercolor on illustration board
Species of focus:
Dobsonfly nymph, Stonefly & Alderfly larvae
Corydalus cornutus, Insecta plecoptera & Sialidae

Artists comments about their subject:

These pollution intolerant organisms are only found in well-oxygenated streams & rivers. They usually live in organic debris that collects on the bottom. When water becomes polluted by certain microorganisms, organic waste, or over abundant amounts of plant nutrients dobsonfly nymphs, stonefly & alderfly larvae die off.

Click to read more

Rivers to the Sea exhibit entry by Patricia Cassady

Artist: Patricia Cassady (Bio)
Title: Spring Peeper & Tussock Sedge
Media: Watercolor and ink
Species of focus:
Spring Peeper and Tussock Sedge
Pseudacris crucifer and Carex stricta

Artists comments about their subject:

These species are normally found in forest floodplain edges near the riverine system. Both the Spring Peeper and Tussock Sedge are especially found in vernal pool (temporarily flooded isolated wetland) areas. The Tussock Sedge is a wetland plant species that does well in the floodplain due to the high water table most of the year. The Spring Peeper does well at the forested floodplain edge because the vegetation provides shelter, they can find insects to eat during the night and they can lay their eggs in the vernal pool areas that are free of fish.

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Rivers to the Sea exhibit entry by Dorie Petrochko

Artist: Dorie Petrochko (Bio)
Title: Green Heron – Venice Rookery
Media: Oil painting
Species of focus:
Green Heron
Butorides virescens

Artists comments about their subject:

This species is found in quiet marshes and ponds throughout New England. I spotted this Green Heron while hiking on the Larkin Trail, which has a marsh, fed by the Jack’s Brook Watershed in Oxford, CT.

The Green Heron is quite secretive and camouflages well with wetland foliage. It feeds mostly on small fish and amphibians. It may be a food source for coyotes, and even some owls and hawks.

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Rivers to the Sea Exhibit Entry by Wendy Chadbourne

Artist: Wendy Chadbourne (Bio)
Title: Estuarine Community of the Diamondback Terrapin
Media: Colored pencil and PanPastel on drafting film
Species of focus:
Diamondback Terrapin
Malaclemys terrapin

Artists comments about their subject:

Diamondback terrapins are the only turtles in the United States that exclusively inhabit brackish environments such as estuaries, salt marshes, tidal creeks, coastal bays, and lagoons. They can be found all along the Eastern seaboard from Cape Cod all the way to Corpus Christi, Texas.

Brackish areas where fresh water from rivers and streams mixes with saltwater from the ocean are teeming with an abundance of animals which the terrapin prey on.  A wide variety of animals are on the terrapin’s menu – including periwinkles and other aquatic snails, fiddle crabs, blue crabs, blue mussels and ribbed mussels, clams, marine worms, aquatic insects, and small fish such as mummichogs.

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Rivers to the Sea Exhibit Entry by Carol Schwartz

Artist: Carol Schwartz (Bio coming soon)
Title: Foraging Terns
Media: Gouache
Species of focus:
Common Tern
Sterna hirundo

Artists comments about their subject:

In June and July Common Terns forage for small juvenile fish, including Herring (pictured in the illustration), White Hake, Sand Lance, and Butterfish, at the mouth of the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. They swoop and dive in noisy groups but can be seen alone, too. The river provides a more protected environment for juvenile fish to grow and a more concentrated area for the terns to find food for their chicks. The terns return with one fish at a time to their nesting colony on Seavey and White Islands in the Isles of Shoals. It takes them an hour in each direction to make the trip which they do many times a day.

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Rivers to the Sea exhibit entry by Nancy Minnigerode
Rivers to the Sea exhibit entry by Nancy Minnigerode

Artist: Nancy Minnigerode (Bio coming soon!)
Title: Muskrat
Media: Ink (upper) and watercolor (lower)
Species of focus:
Muskrat
Ondatra zibethicus

Artists comments about their subject:

I have become familiar with muskrats because I have been watching them for many years while walking around the cranberry bogs where I live. Many of the bogs have reverted to a wild condition and provide a perfect muskrat habitat: marshes, banks, and ditches. Muskrats are widely distributed throughout the wetlands of North America

Muskrats are semi-aquatic rodents that play a major role in determining wetland vegetation. They eat one-third of their weight every day; their favorite foods are the cattail and yellow water lily. They will also eat snails, mussels, salamanders, and other small aquatic animals.

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Rivers to the Sea exhibit entry by Mark Lefkowitz

Artist: Mark Lefkowitz (Bio)
Title: Vernal Awakening
Media: Digital painting
Species of focus:
Jefferson salamander
Ambystoma jeffersonianum

Artists comments about their subject:

Jefferson salamanders can be found throughout many riverine watershed areas in New England. Adult salamanders prefer spending much of the year in underground burrows: steep, rocky areas with cover. Their breeding sites are shallow, temporary woodland ponds (also known as vernal pools) with plenty of organic debris for attaching eggs. After the eggs hatch, the larvae remain in the pool until metamorphosis occurs.

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Rivers to the Sea exhibit entry by Nanci Worthington

Artist: Nanci Worthington (Bio coming soon!)
Title: Bryophytes
Media: Watercolor and colored pencil
Species of focus:
Mosses, Hornworts and Liverworts
Bryophytes

Artists comments about their subject:

Bryophytes are found everywhere, but the ones in this illustration are examples from the rich mesic forest seeps behind our house in the Berkshires. Seeps often indicate where watersheds start, fed by and feeding into tiny tributaries. This seep feeds into the Umpachene River, which feeds into the Konkapot River which feeds into the Housatonic River. None of these looks very impressive at first glance, but they play an extremely important role in water filtration. Water flows through the seeps, getting cleansed as it begins to soak up minerals needed for energy and nutrients amongst other things. These are provided by the leaf and deadwood fall, soil, fungi and other biota such as insects, animals, birds, amphibians and reptiles. Upland riverine communities like these are  pretty stable carbon sinks, reflecting a relatively clean, clear, highly oxygenated, non-polluted native systems.

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Rivers to the Sea Exhibit Entry by Albert Pointe

Artist: Albert Pointe (Bio coming soon)
Title: Moon Jelly Stranded on the Shore of the Barrington River
Media: Multimedia
Species of focus:
Moon Jelly
Aurelia aurita

Artists comments about their subject:

The Moon Jelly is composed of more than 90% water & therefore affected by pollution. It is often found in the brackish water where rivers meet the sea as well out in the ocean. Since it lacks self mobility it relies on changing currents to carry it through areas of zooplankton, its major food source.  Abundant numbers of Moon jellies indicate an excessive amount of nutrients in the water which causes algae blooms & a subsequent reduction of certain susceptible species.

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