FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Montgomery County Planner Featured in Buffalo History Museum's Erie Canal Exhibit

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Montgomery County Planner Featured in Buffalo History Museum's Erie Canal Exhibit

Montgomery County Planner Featured in Buffalo History Museum's Erie Canal Exhibit

FULTONVILLE, N.Y. - One county employee has made a small part of history by being featured in an exhibition at the Buffalo History Museum. The piece depicts the Erie Canal, its history, and the people who shaped it.

Alex Kuttesch, a senior planner at the Montgomery County Business Development Center, was interviewed for the exhibit "Terrakwa: Where Memory, Place, and Water Meet" by collaborative artists Paul Bartow and Richard Metzgar. Kuttesch was asked to participate after connecting with Bartow at a New York State Canal Conference in 2021.

"He found out that I am a planning professional in a county that has a long stretch of the Erie Canal, so I was a good candidate for an interview," Kuttesch said.

Kuttesch has always lived near the Erie Canal. He grew up in Buffalo, attended college in Syracuse, now works in Montgomery County, and resides in Schenectady, N.Y.

The exhibit, which is on display until January 2026, was created using interviews, maps, and research to show how people and nature interact with the canal today.

According to the exhibit description on the Buffalo History Museum website:

"Terrakwa shares stories from people who live, work, and spend their time along the Erie Canal. These personal stories help us understand the many roles the canal plays as a workplace, a spot for recreation, and as a natural habitat. The artists also included unique drawings made by trees along the canal. These drawings were created naturally over time by weather and wind, showing how nature and humans, both shape the environment."

"The experience was interesting. I have been interviewed before, but I have never been asked to draw and graphically represent my answers. I am not a good artist, but with some text and some arrows I made it work," Kuttesch said.

Bartow + Metzgar use a special kind of mapping called diagrammatic mapping, which combines drawings and words to record interviews. Kuttesch was asked to create an "Interview Map," where he wrote down words and images while being asked questions related to the canal. Each map is different and helps illustrate that there is not just one story that can describe the canal today - it's many different stories, with multiple points of view, coming together to show an ever-changing picture of the canal.

"It's kind of has helped to create everywhere I have lived," Kuttesch said. "I am proud to be a Buffalonian and an Upstate New Yorker, and the canal is what connected all of it."

The museum describes the exhibition as a way to celebrate the Erie Canal's bicentennial and its importance both in the past and today. Visitors are invited to think about how the canal continues to affect people and the environment - and how it might change in the future.

You can learn more at buffalohistory.org.

"This exhibit is a reminder that the canal is more than just an old shipping lane," Kuttesch said. "People work and live along it, bike and walk along it - there are great communities for people and great environmental resources. I think it is just a good reminder not to take it for granted."

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