The River

Artist John August Swanson (1938 - 2021)

Date1987

MediumSerigraph, 33 color printings

Dimensions30 x 10 in. (76.2 x 25.4 cm)
Framed (Frame is gold, wired, glazed): 38 3/4 x 18 1/4 x 1 1/2 in. (98.4 x 46.4 x 3.8 cm)

ClassificationsPrintmaking

Credit LineGift of Diane Kenney '64 and DarEll Weist

Object number2026.068

DescriptionArtist's Statement:Communities are formed around rivers. Farmers irrigate their crops; shepherds bring their flocks to drink; people wash their bodies and their clothes as they collect clean drinking water; children play and swim.

The River reminds me of our need to keep growing in understanding and compassion for all people, and to see our common source. It supplies the water of life to all of us as it winds along its course. Each person shares in the river’s blessing.

My mother was raised in the isolated Sierra Nevada Mountains of Mexico. On the feast of Saint John the Baptist, her family would go to the river to have a picnic and bathe in the water. In India each year, millions of Hindus bathe in the Ganges River in a ritual of spiritual cleansing. Some of our rituals look ordinary and some are special celebrations, but each is integral to who we are, and they connect us to our ancestors and descendants.

https://johnaugustswanson.com/catalog/the-river-2018/

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