"Everything the eye can see,” a poetic definition of landscape, defines the territory for this project for Elkhorn City, a town of 800 people in the east Kentucky Mountains. Between Land and Water takes place in a landscape surveyed when standing on the south beach of the Russell Fork River in the center of Elkhorn City. It focuses on townspeople’s personal experience of their land—as a site of heritage and as a generator of regional wealth—and their river— as an indicator of ecological health and as a moving force that connects them, upstream and down, with the rest of the country.

Conceived by the Elkhorn City Heritage Council, this public art project sits between a need for collective stewardship of the region’s natural resources and a dream of a tourist economy that preserves the natural environment

Extending over several years and site visits by artists and students from as far away as Japan, this project includes finding funding, designing plans, and implementing a public artwork with local residents based on their direction.

Suzanne Lacy, Susan Steinman, Yutaka Kobayashi, The Elkhorn City Heritage Council, and The American Festival Project at Appalshop (Eastern Kentucky, 2001-ongoing)