Testing the water temperature
“A Living River” is the result of a project that I did with funding from the MN States Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant in 2013-2014 and with help from Wilderness Inquiry and the National Parks Service which manages the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. The project was a collaboration with students from Folwell School and Upper Mississippi Academy who were all investigating the health of the Mississippi River in their science classes. Wilderness Inquiry took these students on a citizen science expedition on the Mississippi River in large voyager canoes.
I created a narrative reflection for them to do after their trip that became the imagery that I printed onto porcelain canoes. The photographic documentation came from several trips I made with the students and the installation is the result of our collaboration. The audio samples are excerpts from interviews I did with the students - both during and after their voyages.
