The longest river on the East Coast has steered off its course to reach a new locale: the Palmer Museum of Art.
The exhibition Selling the Susquehanna, a collection of Pennsylvania prints highlighting the historic Susquehanna River, officially opens today and will keep flowing until Dec. 21.
The 34 featured Pennsylvania prints are from a book the museum acquired in 1986 from the Tavern Restaurant, 220 E. College Ave., according to a Palmer Museum of Art press release. Two books containing prints are also on display.
Leo Mazow, the museum's curator of American art and curator of this exhibition, was "very interested in how this river finds its way into some of the best known 19th century American landscape paintings," he said.
The river played an essential role in American business and moneymaking interests during that time, he added.
The 444-mile river is North America's longest, commercially non-navigable river, according to the Susquehanna River Basin Commission Web site.
Both students from local towns and many from outside Pennsylvania will feel a connection to these prints because the river runs through many different areas, Mazow said.
The Susquehanna River Basin drains 27,510 square miles, covering half of Pennsylvania's land area and parts of New York and Maryland, according to the Susquehanna River Basin Commission Web site.
The prints will have sentimental and historical value to people from Pennsylvania, said Dana Kletchka, curator of education for the Palmer Museum of Art.
"The prints are very accessible and interesting and they're really informational," Kletchka said.
She added there are many things to be learned about these little towns people probably did not know before.
"It's been a while since we've exhibited any large grouping of our Pennsylvania prints," Mazow said. "It's just something that we at the museum are very proud of. These are wonderful prints that really reward first, second and third glances."
Mazow will give gallery talks at 12:10 p.m. Friday and at 12:10 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7.
