THE CURRENT ANNOUNCES SOLO EXHIBITION BY ARTIST MARY MATTINGLY,
WATER WRITES THE GARDEN
The Exhibition of Photographs, Sculptures, and Poetry Traces Water’s Role as Timekeeper, Storyteller, and Living Archive
On View January 15 - April 10, 2026
Stowe, Vermont | The Current, a center for contemporary art with a mission to inspire civic engagement and broaden our understanding of the world through contemporary art, announces Water Writes the Garden, an exhibition by internationally recognized interdisciplinary artist Mary Mattingly, on view January 15–April 10, 2026. Renowned for large-scale public projects such as Swale, a floating food forest on New York’s waterways, and major exhibitions at institutions including the Brooklyn Museum and Storm King Art Center, Mattingly has emerged as a leading voice in contemporary eco-art. Water Writes the Garden represents a pivotal moment in her practice, bringing together photography, sculpture, and poetry to reimagine water as both timekeeper and storyteller.
“Mary Mattingly’s work transforms how we see and think about the systems that sustain life,” said Rachel Moore, Executive Director and Director of Exhibitions at The Current. “With Water Writes the Garden, she invites us to slow down and consider water not just as a resource, but as a storyteller, one that records histories and writes futures into the land itself. The exhibition reflects The Current’s commitment to presenting art that deepens our understanding of ecological interdependence and civic responsibility.”
“Water has so much to teach about movement and time. Following architect Dilip da Cunha who writes that ‘rivers are products of a particular moment in time, clarified by the hydrologic cycle’ I try to understand the temporality of place in this sense, as a moment in a moving system. I grew up where agricultural chemicals contaminated our drinking water; that early lesson impressed upon me how rare access to clean water is. I also saw it as a fundamental right that needed to be protected. Since 2009, in New York City, I’ve been co-creating public sculptural ecosystems that prioritize access to food, shelter, and water.”- Mary Mattingly
Drawing on her longstanding exploration of ecology and interdependence, Mattingly approaches water as an essential archive of histories and futures. The works on view are both intimate and expansive, offering poetic meditations on the ways water shapes lived experience and shared environments. Water Writes the Garden unites photographs, sculptures, and poetry around water’s role as a timekeeper and storyteller, considering how it shapes landscapes through cycles of formation and erosion. Gardens emerge in her work as cultivated yet fugitive, bearing witness to growth, loss, and renewal.
Mattingly’s own upbringing in an agricultural town near Springfield, Massachusetts, where the local drinking water was contaminated by agricultural chemicals, shaped her understanding of clean water as both increasingly rare and a fundamental right. This early experience deepened her resolve to protect water and informed her approach to ecological art. Since 2001, she has lived in New York City, creating sculptural ecosystems that prioritize access to food, shelter, and water, bringing these concerns into both public and gallery-based work.
Water Writes the Garden is part of The Current’s ongoing program of exhibitions and public initiatives designed to spark reflection, dialogue, and civic engagement around pressing social and environmental issues.
THE CURRENT
90 Pond Street
Stowe, Vermont 05672
Gallery Hours: 10am-5pm, Monday - Friday, Saturday 10am-3pm
+1 802 253 8358
