Art Exhibition

Water in Iowa: Voicing the Lexicon

We're proud to host, "Water in Iowa: Voicing the Lexicon,” an exhibition of 30 informational artworks that examine issues related to Iowa’s water quality created by students in the Bluestem Institute at Ames High School in partnership with Project Localize and the Lexicon of Sustainability. Students from the project will be on site to speak with attendees about their artwork, which will be on display in the Main Conference room throughout the day.

About the Project

In the fall and winter of 2015, students enrolled in the Bluestem Institute at Ames High School collaborated with Project Localize and the Lexicon of Water to create 30 informational artworks that examine issues related to Iowa's water quality. Photographer Douglas Gayeton, co-founder of Project Localize, traveled to Ames in September 2015 to guide students through the process of collecting and composing the images. Following that visit, students continued to collaborate with Gayeton in his California studio via Skype, receiving critical feedback regarding the composition and style of the images. The written content of each image was the product of numerous field studies and personal interviews with Iowa farmers, scientists and conservationists. Since the first exhibition at the Iowa Water Conference last March, the students' work has been shown to audiences across the state in 10 shows from Decorah to Des Moines.