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February 28 – April 12, 2025
Opening Reception: Friday, February 28, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
In-person Artist Talk: Friday, March 28, 6:30 PM
The painted scrolls that comprise The Tale of Lost Waters form a narrative that documents a global geological disaster and emphasizes the sacredness of the Earth’s vital resources. Like the scrolls created thousands of years ago as revered stories or records of historical events, The Tale of Lost Waters tells the story of the 53% of our lakes and inland seas that existed for millions of years but are now only a fraction of their original size. Climate change and extraction are the primary causes of this environmental disaster.
For centuries, landscape paintings have depicted beautiful scenes of specific places – sometimes majestic, sometimes intimate. In the same vein, The Tale of Lost Waters reveals what is now the ironic beauty of our damaged contemporary landscapes. Highly textured and saturated with rich colors like the deserts, mountains and forests they portray, the images evoke the grandeur, history and devastation of the Earth’s waters.
Susan Hoffman Fishman
Instagram: @susanhoffmanfishman
Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions
2025 Five Points Gallery, Torrington, CT, The Tale of Lost Waters
2024 Stand4 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, In the End a Devastating Beauty. (Two-person Collaboration)
2021 Five Points Gallery, Torrington, CT, In the Beginning There Was Only Water
2019 University of Connecticut, Stamford, CT, Mid-Summer Day’s Dream (Two Person Collaboration
2017 Charter Oak Cultural Center, Hartford, CT Open House: Hartford: An Interactive Installation on the Universal Meaning of Home and The Tragedy of Homelessness (Two Person Collaboration)
2014 Chase Gallery, West Hartford, CT, Retrospective of Holocaust Paintings: 1985 – 1995
2012 Allegra LaViola Gallery, NYC, Nocturnal Wave, (Two-person Collaborative Installation)
1995 Watson Gallery, Wheaton College, Norton MA, Waiting: Paintings by Susan Hoffman Fishman,
1992 Aetna Institute Gallery, Hartford, CT, Waiting Rooms,
1987 The Newspace Gallery, Manchester College, Manchester, CT
1985 Atria Gallery, Hartford, CT
1984 John Cusano Gallery, South Norwalk, CT
1983 Farmington Valley Arts Center, Avon, CT, Plumbing and Veneers
Group Exhibitions
2025 Pelham Art Center, Artists Think About Water, Pelham, New York.
Silvermine Gallery, New Canaan, CT
2024 Yale University Institute of Sacred Music, Biophilia: In Excelsis, New Haven, CT Peace Boat, Biophilia: In Excelsis, NYC
Climate Imaginarium, Biophilia: In Excelsis, Governor’s Island, NYC
Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT, Exquisite River
Silvermine Gallery, Metamorphosis: The Changing Landscape, New Canaan, CT
Higgins Art Gallery, Regenerating Earth, West Barnstable, MA
2022 New York Hall of Science, Landscapes of Material and Mind, an exhibition of
SciArt Initiative, Queens, NY.
Ceres Gallery, MAYDAY! EAARTH, NYC
The Nurture Nature Center, Climate Conversations: All We Can Save, Easton, PA
Target Gallery, Torpedo Factory Arts Center, Turning Tides, Alexandria, VA
Janice Charach Gallery, Climate Conversations: All We Can Save, Bloomfield Hills, MI
What’s Next For Earth, What is Resilience? (Virtual)
2021 22-North Gallery, Climate Conversations: All We Can Save, Ypsilanti, MI
Ecoartspace, Embodied Forests, (Virtual)
Think About Water Artists Collective, Think About Water (Virtual)
Artists Literacies Institute, The Artists’ Grief Deck (Virtual)
2020 Ethan Cohen KUBE Gallery, Darkest Before Dawn: Art in a Time of Uncertainty, Beacon, NY
Google Arts and Culture, The United Nations and F-99, Global Conversations (Virtual)
Garner Art Center, Garnerville, NY, RESILIENCE 2020 (Virtual)
Five Point Gallery, “Small Works,” Torrington, CT,
2019 Climate Museum, NYC, Pathway to Climate Instagram Exhibition (Virtual)
2018 Ann Street Gallery, Anthropocene, Newburgh, NY
2017 William Benton Museum of Art, Unfiltered: An Exhibition About Water, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
2016 International Institute of Contemporary Art and Theory, Mangalia, Romania;
Site: Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY;
Fotofoto Gallery, Huntington, NY
Hillyer Art Space, Washington, DC
2015 Manny Cantor Center, NYC
2013 A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2010 Fernando Luis Alvarez Gallery, Stamford, CT
1998 100 Pearl Street Gallery, Hartford, CT
1995 William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
100 Pearl Street Gallery, Hartford, CT
1993 Washington Art Gallery, Washington Depot, CT
1990 Museum of American Political Life, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT
Austin Arts Center, Trinity College, Hartford, CT
Connecticut Gallery, Marlborough, CT
1989 Showcase Gallery, Connecticut Commission on the Arts, Hartford, CT
1988 The Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA
Aetna Institute Gallery, Hartford, CT
Bromfield Gallery, Boston, MA
1987 Alternative Museum, NYC, Curator: Lowery Sims (MOMA)
Bromfield Gallery, Boston, MA
Showcase Gallery, Connecticut Commission on the Arts, Hartford, CT
1986 Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT
Erector Square Gallery, New Haven, CT
Joseloff Gallery, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT
1985 Pump House Gallery, Hartford, CT
Collaborative Installations
2024 Flood 2.0, a multi-disciplinary installation produced by Water Women, a collaboration of Susan Hoffman Fishman, Krisanne Baker and Leslie Sobel, which focuses on water and climate change at Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT
2023 Flood 2.0, at Five Points Gallery, Torrington, CT
2017 The Wave: A Participatory Installation on the Nature of Water, created by Susan Hoffman Fishman and Elena Kalman at the William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
2016 HOME: A Participatory Installation on the Universal Meaning of Home and The Tragedy of Homelessness at:Stamford Government Center, Stamford, CT.
The Wave at: Yale University, New Haven, CT; and CT State Capitol, Hartford, CT
2015 Open House: A Site-specific Installation at: Governor’s Island, New York, NY;
The Wave at: Governor’s Island, NYC; Manny Cantor Center, NYC; and
Chase Gallery, West Hartford, CT
2014 The Wave at: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT; and
Ferguson, New Haven, New London and Willimantic CT Public Libraries
2013 The Wave at: New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT; and
National Aquarium, Baltimore MD; Van Cortland Manor, Croton-on-Hudson, NY
2012 Nocturnal Wave: A Site-Specific Art Installation at:
Allegra LaViola Gallery, NYC
The Wave at: Connecticut Office of the Arts, HOT School Institute, Hartford, CT;
EnvisionfestHartford, Hartford, CT; and Gaffney Elementary School, New Britain, CT
2011 The Wave at: Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA; Rose Kennedy Greenway
Boston, MA; and Worthington Hooker School, New Haven, CT
Grants/Residencies/Awards
2024 Connecticut Office of the Arts, Artists Respond Grant to support community-based projects that respond to current issues.
The Crit Lab Fellowship
2023 Invitational Artist Residency, Swimming Hole Foundation, for the 3-person collective, Water Women, Bearsville, NY
13 images from the series In the Beginning There Was Only Water (2019 – 2020) published in the Netherlands in a book by the group, Writers for Justice (Schrijvers voor Gerechtigheid) on climate justice and climate change.
2022 Artist Residency, Five Point Center for the Arts for the 3-person collective, Water Women, Torrington, CT
2021 Artist Residency, Planet Labs, Inc., independent provider of global daily satellite data, San Francisco, CA
2020 Artist Residency, Cel de Nord (Virtual) Oristà, Barcelona, Spain
2018 Invoking the Pause Grant: Supporting Climate Change Trailblazers retreat for a collaborative team to develop meaningful responses to climate change. Collaborative team: Core Team Writers for Artists and Climate Change
2016 Vision Award, Charter Oak Cultural Center, Hartford, CT
2015 City of Stamford, CT: Community Arts Partnership Program Grant Award
Artist Residency, Art Kibbutz, Governor’s Island, NYC
2014 Awesome Foundation Connecticut Grant Award
Draftsmen’s Congress Mini-Residency, New Museum, NYC and Art Kibbutz
2013 Connecticut Office of the Arts, 2014 Arts Catalyze Placemaking Grant Award;
2012 2012 Curatorial Installation Award: Allegra LaViola Gallery, NYC
1995 Artist Residency, Commendation and Assistance Award, Contemporary Art Center, North Adams, MA.
1986 Connecticut Commission on the Arts Individual Artist’s Grant
1984 Aetna Life & Casualty Insurance Company Purchase Award
Media
Tangible Territory, Time as River by Rosalyn Driscoll, September, 2024, Issue 7.
New Haven Independent, Artists Stare Into the Sun by Brian Slattery, May 16, 2024
New Haven Independent, Artists Open Path to Grappling with Climate Change by Brian Slattery, April 2, 2024
Climate You Embracing the Earth, Reflecting the Science by Abby Luby, April 9, 2024
The Arts Paper, Water is in the Air by Kapp Singer, May 10, 2024
Art Spiel, In the End a Devastating Beauty at Stand4 Gallery, February 8, 2024
Burning Worlds: Climate Change in Art & Literature, a publication of the Chicago Review of Books, Interview with Susan Hoffman Fishman, March 30, 2023
National Catholic Reporter, An NYC Exhibit Shows the Beauty and Blight of Earth’s Climate Today, Dec. 22, 2022
Art Spiel, Residency at Five Points: Flood 2.0, October 21, 2022
Washington Post, Looming Impacts of Climate Change Close to Home, September 1, 2022
Art Spiel, “Climate Conversations at Easton PA’s Nurture Nature Center,” April 6, 2022.
New Art Examiner, “Environmentally Speaking at the Janice Charach Gallery,” by K.A. Letts, February/March, 2022.
Artists and Climate Change, In the Beginning There Was Only Water, by Joan Sullivan, Nov. 22, 2021; Republished in Art Spiel, December 4, 2021.
What in God’s Name Podcast: “Fire and Ice: Impossible Unions in Fighting Climate Change” (Dec. 2021)
Sci/Art Magazine, “The Culture of Contamination,” December, 2020
The Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts, An Interview with Artist and Writer Susan Hoffman Fishman, January, 2019
Podcast: The Holistic Nature of Us: Meet Susan Hoffman Fishman, July, 2019
The Art of Sustainability, The World of Water, June 21, 2019
Burning Worlds: Climate Change in Art and Literature, December, 2018, Interview with Artist and Writer Susan Hoffman Fishman
H2O For Life, October, 2018, Women in STEAM: Susan Hoffman Fishman
The Hartford Courant, August 28, 2017, ‘Unfiltered: An Exhibition About Water’ At Benton In Storrs
The Stamford Advocate, Feb. 12, 2017, “Public Art Can Transform Who We Are and How We Live,”
The Hartford Courant, Dec. 27, 2016, “The Heartbreaking Reality of Homelessness On Display at Charter Oak
The Hartford Courant, September 26, 2012, The Wave Rolls In: Focusing on Water, Interactive Project Installed for EnvisionFest.
The Hartford Advocate, January 25, 1996, Two Artists and a Test of Faith
The Hartford Courant, March 7, 1993, p. G1, Visions of Violence in Waiting
The Hartford Advocate, Nov. 26, 1992, Getting an Eyeful: Cunard and Fishman at the Aetna Gallery
Art New England, May, 1988, Aetna Institute Gallery/Hartford: Works by Susan
Hoffman Fishman, Francine Gintoff and Nancy Iddings
The New York Times, Feb. 28, 1988, p. CN 31, Women Focus on Social Themes
The Hartford Courant, April 12, 1987, p. G8, Fishman Taps Terror: Sheeler’s Many Facets
The Hartford Courant, Jan. 25, 1987, Arts Commission Shows Work of 18 Artists Who Received Grants
The New York Times, Feb. 22, 1987, Winners Work in Hartford
Manchester Herald, April 2, 1987, P. 11, Hartford Artist Confronts Weighty Issues
Art New England, Dec./Jan. 1986/1987, Erector Square Gallery/New Haven: Connecticut Circumscribed
The Hartford Courant, Jan. 26, 1986, Exhibition at Real Art Ways is Showcase for 9 Painters
Art New England, March, 1986, Real Art Ways/Hartford: Nine Connecticut Painters
The Hartford Courant, May 12, 1985, Fishman and Kalan at Atria
Art New England, Vol. 5, No. 8, July/August, 1984, A Thousand Words Gallery, South Norwalk, CT, Ben Mahmoud; Susan Hoffman Fishman
The Hartford Advocate, Jan. 19, 1983, Plumbing and Veneers: Of Prisons Physical and Psychological
Art New England, Vol. 4, No. 3, Feb. 1983, Farmington Valley Art Center/Avon: Susan Hoffman Fishman
Farmington Valley Herald, Jan. 13, 1983, p. 7A, Plumbing and Veneers
The Hartford Courant, January 16, 1983, Charcoals Explore a Bizarre House
Arts Writing
2024 “Imagining Water: Myth, Ritual and a Changing Planet,” Image Journal, Issue #120, March, 2024.
2017 – 2022 Monthly series, including 50+ articles, entitled, “Imagining Water” for the international blog, Artists and Climate Change
Ongoing Numerous articles in Art Spiel
2020 “On Inundation: Art and Climate Change in the Pacific.” Ecoartspace, February, 2020
Commissions
2021 HOME Permanent Installation at Pacific House, Inc., Stamford, CT.
2017 The Wave Permanent Installation, William Benton Museum of Art, University of CT, Storrs, CT
2014 The Wave Permanent Installation, Carnegie Management, 40 N 4th Street, Brooklyn, NY
Collections
William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
Aetna Life & Casualty Insurance Company, Hartford, CT
MidState Medical Center, Meriden, CT
Carnegie Management, Brooklyn, NY
Memberships and Collaboratives
Founder, Water Women three person artist collaborative
Ecoartspace: Global artists addressing environmental issues
Think About Water: 30 international artists who have chosen water as their subject matter
i3C: multi-disciplinary artists engaged with the topic of climate change
Education
B.A. in Fine Arts, Trinity College, Hartford, CT
M.A. Ed., Hartford Art School, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT
