WATER CONNECTIONS: STUDENT ARTIST STATEMENTS
ANTH/ENVS 320: Waterworlds | Fall 2026
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Shaelyn | Fox River
For my water connection, I created a small watercolor painting that depicts a crossover of a memory and a current hobby of mine. Watercolor was used because I feel as if it depicts how both memory and water are non-static and always changing. The body of water depicted in the painting is the Fox River, which is a body of water I have always lived around. The picture shows a past experience of my grandfather and I fishing from the river, examining the largemouth bass we had just caught. At the same time, a great blue heron stands nearby, depicting my current interests and ties to the river (birding). The heron also depicts a sense of independence, opposite of the memory.
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Azaan | Kishwaukee River
I created a digital collage expressing the connection I made with the Kishwaukee river as an international student here at NIU. Being an international student I did not grow around the Dekalb area so I did not have a childhood connection to the river. I made a connection with the river when I moved here. In the beginning it was just a water body flowing through which I used to admire while walking on campus. When I took this course it helped me understand how a water body can be part of someone’s experience of a place and culture.
I chose this digital artwork because I wanted to combine various ideas I had about the river and put it all in one place. This artwork represents a person sitting by the river which represent me looking towards the NIU campus and developing a relationship with the place. There is a section In the collage where I have written down the things I have learned because of this course. I have mentioned things like history because I learned about why NIU was built on the Kishwaukee river. I have also mentioned contamination and problems by which I meant the problem with water quality because of the road salt. There is also a section on my art which shows the past of the Kishwaukee river. The fishing symbol also shows I have seen people interact with the river. There are also the words past, present and future that describe how a river can be part of a changing community.
The main idea of the artwork is that how this river was not used to be a major part of my life but after taking this course my perspective have changed about this certain water body and I have started observing things differently.
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Tessa
The approach I used was making a photo collage as it is a form of media I often like to create. I also chose this because it can show many moments at once and captures the good feelings I have related to the river. All the pictures are of the Fox River at different times including dying it for St. Patrick’s Day, hanging out with family and friends, fishing, and kayaking. These are just some of the activities I enjoy in and around the Fox, along with sitting on a bench near the water and enjoying the beauty of nature. The symbolism used comes from the text over the photos “Meeting point for life”. I put that as throughout my entire life going to the river has always been something we do. The river is something that always brings us together and I think it will continue to do so in the future, if not literally it will in memory.
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Zac | Family, sailing, and lakes
This art depicts my father and I steering his dinghy on the lake he lives on. This artwork is based on a picture one of his neighbors took when we went out on my birthday in 2024. In the sky, the constellation Gemini is depicted, as my father and I were both born under that sign. I also chose to include a short phrase in Latin below the vessel, which reads “Qualis pater, talis filius.”, which means “Like father, like son.” in English.
I chose to create this piece since it is my most prominent water connection. Since a young age, my dad and I have bonded through bodies of water, at either my grandpa’s house on Lake Conesus in New York, or my dad’s lake house here in Illinois. Therefore, these two bodies of water have served as not only a hydrological feature, but also a way to become closer to my family and strengthen my paternal ties. This is also why I chose to include mine and my dad’s zodiac sign and the quote at the bottom, to show that connection in relation to the lake.
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Sky | Calumet-Saganashkee Channel
What lies beyond the path overtaken by greenery had remained a mystery to me for years. Being a child with wide-eyed wonder, I would occasionally wander around this location whenever I went to go play outdoors. What was past the chains and fences, I’d ask, and why wasn’t I allowed to go down there? I eventually learned it is the Calumet-Saganashkee Channel, spanning across a portion of Chicagoland. This particular depiction and drawing of the actual path in my neighborhood (to the Cal-Sag) reflects my curiosity desperately reaching for an answer. Arrows that my mind had created, only manifested to pull me in further. A singular, lone thought so powerful to be surrounded by nothing else (depicted by the darkly shaded-in area). A blue chain to represent what I now know exists a short walk away from this entrance, as I've inherently associated the color blue with water. A once mysterious destination highlighted in a rectangular halo-yellow. The chain was the physical disconnect between myself and this lean body of water. However, a standing barrier did not block my longing for an answer, and eventually, knowledge of the name for what it is- The Calumet Saganashkee Channel.
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Dylan | Illinois River
The water body that came to mind for me was the Illinois river because I grew up on that river, boating, swimming, fishing, but it also has connections to the groundwater that we use to fuel our ways of life and the houses. I have a lot of enjoyable memories involving the river, one being the parks along the river that I played at as a kid, and the irrigation and the farms around my hometown also have a lot of memories through my life. I also remember seeing barges shipping along the Illinois river and the Mississippi and thought about how much has moved and traveled throughout my life. A major part of the river along Havana Il, is the redneck fishing tournament, a large tournament where a majority of the town fish and attempt to catch the most and largest fish. I grew up watching boats and fisherman going up and down the river. Another memory I have is boat parades, people decorate their boats and parade along the water for kids before the fireworks across the water. I chose to make a digital explanation because most of my connections are from when I was a kid and wanted that to be reflected in the art form. All of the items shown in the art piece reflect major parts of the lives lived along the Illinois river in Havana Illinois and most for the people who live along the river don't even think about the underlying use of water in their lives.
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Carter | Boone Creek
Here lies a small section of Boone Creek. The beautiful view was paved with the work of dozens of people over the course of at least a year. I thought it would be best to take a picture as both a sign of progress and what work is still to be done. In Illinois you see a bunch of honey suckle and buckthorn, and that is very much the case with Boone Creek. Boone Creek also has the added “perk” of being home to a lot of aggressive vines that choke out the surrounding trees. My friends, who I would call a defining part of my life over the past two years, have made many trips to Boone Creek to work with the site stewards to cut down the surrounding brush. One of these occasions involved my friends “world famous” hummus getting advertised in the monthly email the stewards send to advertise the event and has since become a long running joke with our friend group. I have such fond memories of tearing down the invasive species with my friends and moving brush, and the water is a nice reflection of the progress we have made. You can see the water from the top of the hill (not pictured), and the walk down is now filled tie new wildlife after the honey suckle was removed.
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Olivia | Michigan lakefront chalet | Markers on paper
Nostalgic and comforting, a Michigan lakefront chalet is where I found myself most summers as a child, where all I'd need in my suitcase was a bathing suit and a set of drawing markers to keep me occupied for the entire trip.
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Destiny | Dela
Water is more than just something that exists simply in nature. Water is free and boundless, its light yet heavy, and it's constantly changing yet stays true to itself. To me, water is, "Dela". Dela represents peace and being a part of something bigger than yourself. "Dela" is how I felt when I first laid eyes on the Rocky Mountains in Estes Park. The snow on the mountains, the river connecting to the lake, the groundwater moving beneath my feet and the birds fleeing from the mountains...all made me feel free while standing still. Through my painting I wanted to capture that peaceful and serene emotional connection and show how water can hold beauty and power.
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Abby | Blame the Geese 2026 | Oil Pastel
Where I grew up was called Lake in the Hills. Aptly named, our town surrounded the lake. As a child we would go swim in the lake. Also, in the lake was a large geese population. The population was so expansive that the floor of the lake was soft and when I asked my mom why it was soft, she told me it was goose poop. As a young child, this disgusted me that I was stepping in goose poop. People in my life talked about the lake and how it was overrun by geese and how they ran the pond and how there was goose poop everywhere, making the lake disgusting.
Later in life I went back to the lake. People were right, the lake was disgusting. But what was so gross was not the goose poop that was everywhere, it was all the waste people left. Anything from beer cans to leftover food containers floated at the edges of the lake and sat on the grass. I learned that it wasn't the geese that made the lake so disgusting, it was us.
Secondary word: This was a long-term connection I had to the lake as I saw it as a child and how my opinion of it changed when I grew older. I did not know enough about environmental studies to see how the water health changed but from face-value, the lake looked different and more polluted when I grew older. I realized that we as people will blame other sources for the damaging of our water when really, we all probably contributed to the lake I grew up near being polluted. That was a hard truth for people accept, it's a lot easier to blame the geese.
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Natural Flow
Eric | Natural Flow | Audio recording
For this project, I decided to focus on the small, but important, body of water that has been part of my life the most. That body of water is the Klein Creek, specifically the portion that runs through Carol Stream. I have lived in Carol Stream since I was three years old and I have experienced several changes to the creek in the past twenty years, especially the channeling of the stream by people to help prevent floods. However, in this attempt to control the flow of the water, almost all of the trees and vegetation along the portion of the creek that runs through Carol Stream’s largest park, Armstrong Park, have been removed and the shores of the creek have been lined with stone. While this is effective at achieving their goals, it is a much more sterile environment than what I remember growing up.
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Anyae | Lake Michigan | Video
I have always felt connected, but afraid of water. Specifically Lake Michigan since this was always the nearest body of water to me. One of my biggest fears is drowning. I have always known logically that water is vital to our very existence as humans and felt connected to it that way; but even to this day I can't go further than calf length in Lake Michigan or any other body of water. I decided to edit some videos of when the waves of Lake Michigan were really high because I remember this happening and all the people who were injured or pulled into the lake from being too close to the lake front and it reinforcing my aversion to Lake Michigan and basically all bodies of water I'm unable to stand up in. I used "An Open Door" by Soft Kill as the music because I felt the intro of the song aligned well to the uneasy feeling I get around the lake.
