Cambridge and its Watershed

water shed photo
Michele Turre
Walter J. Sullivan Water Purification Facility

Title: Cambridge and its Watershed
Date: 1983
Materials: Acrylic on Masonite
Dimensions: 8' x 16'
Location: 250 Fresh Pond Parkway, 2nd Floor

In a wedding of graphics and fine art, Michele Turre has created a map of the city's reservoir system to scale. Consisting of an aerial view of Cambridge and its environs', from the Mystic River to Walden Pond, the map shows the entire reservoir system and associated watershed. Using topographical maps and high altitude infrared photographs from NASA as source material, she added, in painstaking detail, all of the streets and buildings in Cambridge, as well as the streams and lakes which form the city's water system. The mural's dominant colors are green, blue, and tan, with two stark lines, one red and one blue, which represent the water supply conduits. The areas within the borders of the watershed are painted in higher contrast and with more saturated color than the surrounding areas, which are more loosely painted in softer colors.

Turre studied at Sonoma State University and at the University of Iowa. She has exhibited widely in Massachusetts, Iowa, Ohio, Wisconsin, New York, and Connecticut.

Funded in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Arts Lottery, a program of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, as administered by the Cambridge Arts Council.