Erie Canal Project

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Dana’s Erie Canal drawings were exhibited in these museum sites:

Schenectady Historical Society’s Mabee Farms:  July 2017

Buffalo History Museum: September 2017

Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse, NY:  September 2017 - January 2018

Rochester Museum & Science Center: September 2017

Waterford Historical Museum and Cultural Center: November 2017

Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village: January 2018

“In 2016, my friend Hugh Pratt was discussing promoting his play “Clinton’s Ditch,” for the Erie Canal’s upcoming 200th anniversary. After hearing his enthusiasm, I went to the Buffalo History Museum and looked at photographs of the Erie Canal from the late 1800s and early 1900s. I fell in love with the architecture, the boats, and the shape of the canal in the old photographs. Using pencil, conte crayon, and charcoal, I started drawing from these images, as well as images from other history museums, and the more I drew the more I loved this era.  I researched the canal at the Rochester Museum and Science Center, the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse, the Schenectady County Historical Society, and the Waterford Historical Museum.

Creating a visual history of the period through art helped me learn a tremendous amount about how important the canal was in shaping life around it.  It is fascinating that so much history existed in Buffalo and along the route of the canal which then was simply buried as industrialization and modes of transportation changed. My drawings are a rediscovery of the past that I want to share with others.”

~Dana Hatchett