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Lee Tracy |
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ENTRY 8
River Seine
Location Paris, France
Date November 2005
Participant(s) Branislav and Mirjana Ugrinov
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ENTRY 9
River Frazer River
Location British Columbia, Canada
Date Fall 2005
Participant(s) Karina Bergmans and Geraline Jordan
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ENTRY 10
River Vrbas River
Location Banja Luka, Bosnia
Date Summer 2006
Participant(s) Snjezana
Excerpt from correspondence
In the package is a personal note signed "lots of love!" from Snjezana, written in her language. Snjezana means Snow White. (Also, photos of here taken with the newly found pyramids.)
It was a clear Sunday in Bosnia as I dipped the white cloth into the River. I felt my hands getting wet and the water was ice cold. I had to take care of my balance as I squat beside the swift water, and had to take care not to get my feet wet. I had to take care I smiled, had to take care the wind doesn't blow off my adored Indian shawl into the rushing River. And I had to take care...then I thought of the WORLD RIVERS idea and of all the good people who had or would join together in order to make a DIFFERENCE. And how it mattered, it mattered to me so much that I had to be one of them. Suddenly, I started hearing the River. The flow of my beloved native Vrbas River was the Flow of Life Itself, and the shiny green noise it was spreading. My heart receives the secret and sacred message of the old Sage called the River and expanding...getting bigger and bigger until I finally felt all was One and I was one with everything. I was One with the lively babbling River, with the snow-covered tops of the Banja Luka hills, one with the first spring grass and flowers, with the sparkling stones at the River bottom, one with the sun rays bathing in the water; I was one with my expanding heart, I was thoughtless but yet alert, and one with my boyfriend and the camera; One with Lee, who I had never seen but knew had initiated the WORLD RIVERS; One with Milijana, a dear friend who got me interested; One with water, air, fire and earth - I was One with All and that All was Love that the River was awakening me to. My hands were not cold any more, my squatting balance came to me naturally, and I somehow felt wonderful warmth around my heart. And that is how I knew: WORLD RIVERS was going to make a change, it was CAPABLE of making a difference, for it connects River to a River, Heart to Heart, Cloth to Cloth, Smile to Smile - all around the world. It can weave the Curtain of Love to envelop all nature-caring hearts and send Love and Healing Energy to all our Rivers, the beloved restless children of our from exploitation tired mother Earth. The flash of the camera brought me back to reality...or did it just steel the Reality of Oneness of Life from me? Until the smiling River once again decides to take me along on its Journey...Love to you, people and Rivers of the World. Lots of love, Snjezana
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ENTRY 11
River Maroochy River
Location Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia
Date February 2006
Participant(s) Julie and Lani Smerdon
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ENTRY 12
River Mackenzie River
Location Inuvik, Canada
Date June 2006
Participant(s) Paul Fortin
Excerpt from correspondence
I have recently returned from the Banff residency and am slowly starting to move forward creativly now that I am home. The fabric arrived safely and I have started to work my way through different ideas. The river is currently an ice road to Tuktoyuktuk and the weather has been cold and rather grey. I will keep you posted on events surrounding the river, fabric and creative happenings. The river is the east channel of the Mackenzie River. Inuvik is situated right on the eastern edge of the Mackenzie delta. The river splits into three main channels West, Main and East but it is really all the same river. The delta itself is made up of hundreds of thousands of smaller channels, lakes, ponds, rivers, oxbo lakes and muskeg as the rivers fan out and make their way to the icy Beaufort Sea. It is quite impressive rom the air. It is currently -24F here and the river is frozen and ploughed into a road that winds its way to the community of Tuktoyuktuk. The wind is blowing quite strong making it feel much colder. The big river is a muddy one and the fabric is not so white anymore. It should be a nice addition to the project. The Mackenzie finally broke a week after I returned so I was finally able to get the fabric in the river.
Paul Fortin
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ENTRY 13
River Yodogawa River
Location Osaka, Japan
Date August 2006
Participant(s) Mengdi Li
Excerpt from correspondence
I choose Yodogawa River because it 's the largest river in the city I live and I crossed the river everyday when I went to school. I was happy to participate in this project. I like that it 's a collaboration with people around the world who I 've never met. and by participating in the project brought me a common sense with the others. I think it 's interesting that water affects our lives in a similar way even when we come from different cultures.
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ENTRY 14
River Hunhe River
Location Shenyang, China
Date August 2006
Participant(s) Sun Rui
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ENTRY 15
River Mississipppi River
Location Grand Rapids, MN, USA
Date August 2006
Participant(s) Carol, Brooke and Magdalena Dierkhising
Excerpt from correspondence
Things just stood still
we shared this moment
Connecting community
with this art project,
all rivers and the natural world
Grandmother, mother, daughter
like the river
we carry, cleanse, provide
a journey
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ENTRY 16
River Volga River
Location Shestakovo, Russia
Date August 2006
Participant(s) Gennady Troshkov, Marina Maslova, Andrei Andreshnikov, Mel Theobald, Robert Weitz
Excerpt from correspondence
One of several small villages which once lined the perimeter of the Uglichskoya Sea, Shestakovo was a waystation with a tavern on the road to the cabled barge connecting it to Kalyazin, an ancient Orthodox monestary on the opposite bank of the Volga River. In 1939, Stalin presided over the opening of a Uglichski Power Station and Lock which broadened the sea by raising its water level and creating the Uglich Reservoir. This forced the residents of Shestakovo to raze their homes and relocate them on higher ground. With the opening of the dam, the massive flow of the Volga River provided the region with one of Russia's earliest hydroelectric turbo generators
Today, the remnants of several dozen 200 year old log construction homes have been abandoned by their ancestral families and are gradually being renovated as "dachas" and second homes by Moscow artists. Located about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Moscow, the Volga is a vast open waterway with barges, freighters and tourist liners breaking the otherwise tranquil landscape.
The Volga is the longest river in Europe, 2,293 miles in length, it has over 200 tributaries comprised of 151,000 rivers and streams. Originating in the Valday Hills region northwest of Moscow, the Volga empties into the Caspian Sea.
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ENTRY 17
River Kashinka River
Location Kashin, Russia
Date August 2006
Participant(s) Gennady Troshkov, Mel Theobald, Robert Weitz
Excerpt from correspondence
Kashin, located about 180 kilometers north of Moscow, is one of the oldest cities in Russia. Never has the word "heart of the city" had more meaning because the center of Kashin is uniquely heart-shaped as a result of the oxbow formed by the Kashinka River which defines its contour. The river is a visual wonder because of its vegetative density of grasses, reeds, algae, lillypads and sloping embankments. The length of the Kashinka is 128 Kilometers feeding into the Volga River near the Uglich Reservoir.
In 1319 this principality of the Rostov family was traded to the principality of Tver. Kashin was gifted to various family members and traded numerous times until 1591when Tsar Feodor Ivanovich appointed a governor from the Moscow State to control it.
One popular legend suggests that Kashin was prohibited from engaging in warfare by a woman on the Rostov family who was one of the first Russian women to be sainted. Whether true or not, there is a serenity to this town which is intricately embraced by the winding flow of this gentle and beautiful river.
World Rivers Note: On August 17, 2006, using a locally produced remnant of lace purchased in the Kashin market, Gennady Troshkov walked across a bridge and down the embankment of the Kashinka River to a favorite fishing spot. On a small patch of gravel he was enveloped by the vegetation and luscious green landscape. Voluptuous white clouds filling the sky were reflected in the mirror surfaced water. In a great unification, Troshkov, a graceful and gentile artist, began a series of movements in which the fabric was integrated with the water and the landscape. In the distance the dome of an Orthodox church was inverted on the opposite shoreline. It was a perfect day in a perfect place.
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ENTRY 18
River Motoyasu, Kamo, and Sumida Rivers
Location Hirooshima, Kyoto, Tokyo Japan
Date August 2006
Participant(s) Paul Fortin
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ENTRY 19
River Cache River
Location Woodstock, Illinois
Date August 2006
Participant(s) Kevin Veara, Diane Deleonardo, casey, Leigh Deleonardo, Haley Deleonardo Walker
Excerpts from correspondence
We are enjoying this gorgeous spring but are worried because of this gorgeous spring!
We?counted 26 frogs today in our little faux pond that came with our house.? I generally want to fill it in because it is so ugly, but then the frogs emerge I love their strange?shrill?sounds and the biology lesson they provide for Haley.? In another month or so it will be slimey with eggs and that's so cool too. The frogs mysteriously disappear but leave behind snotty ropes filled with thousands of eggs.
Our river is the Cache River near Heron swamp.? An absolutely fabulous place. That same day we saw broken snake eggs near the edge of the river and several hatched snakes, a huge snake skin hanging from a branch and a huge water moccasin slithering in a nearby creek. Kevin is amazing to go hiking with because he can see things that are behind leaves and 50 feet away. He blows me away!? Whenever?we take a hike with Kevin?we order up what we would like to see and he almost always delivers.?Uncanny. In the river he found a treasure trove of crawdads and empty shells. We rubbed the shells on the fabric but I don't think you can tell.?We also saw wild turkeys and a beaver damn.? So thank you for giving us a reason to go. Actually we go there all the time, but it was great to have such a good purpose.
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ENTRY 20
River Lake Manasarovar. It is said that the lake's overflowing waters form the Holy River Ganges.
Location west Tibet
Date August 2006
Participant(s) Johanna Williams
Excerpts from correspondence
September 2006 after returning to Beijing, divide remaining fabric into 3 equal parts send part I to Lee Tracy's studio in Chicago (include photo report and legend) give part II to Mohan (add gifts from pilgrimage) keep part III (use as painting silk) Completing the Circle donate artwork resulting from part III, or its proceeds, to a nonprofit organization or charity.
Dear Yogi Mohan:
Please consider doing your most beautiful Sun Saluations all over the length of this silk...In August, I will carry this fabric to Tibet with me through the Himalayas up to the roof of the world...where the whole earth rises to form a temple and the sky is filled with prayer flags and mantras. There I will float the fabric in Lake Manasarovar as part of a global art project. Your prayers to the Lord of Sun will merge with the waters...the winds...the clouds..the powerful atmosphere right around sacred Mount Kailash and gently spread from there throughout the world.
Namaste!
Xiexie!
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ENTRY 27
River Reuss River
Location Lucerne, Switzerland
Date March 2007
Participant(s) Craig Delery and Regina Maniaci
Excerpt from correspondence
The area where we were was where the river meets the lake . . . it was absolutely breath taking . . . it was impossible to get a bad photo of the landscape . . . the swans and ducks love attention . .the swans always threw their wings in this pose like they knew they were being photographed . .we fed them for hours on those stairs! And amazing duck varieties!. . . and of course . . . even in Lucerne . . .STARBUCKS! A very relaxing and serene day that started out with the children walking on the pedway with their teacher singing a …so beautiful. . . Craig and I watched them from our window.
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ENTRY 28
River Bosie River
Location Bosie, Idaho
Date October 2006
Participant(s) Katherine Jones, Glenn Oakley, Don Gura and Vida Lietuvninkas
Excerpt from correspondence
Idaho has many rivers in its vast wilderness - and flowing right through downtown Boise. These photos were taken very near the downtown area. My awareness of rivers changed when I moved from Chicago to Boise. In Chicago, it hardly seemed "natural".
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ENTRY 29
River Rio Tlalnepantla
Location Mexico
Date August 2006
Participant(s) Lois Long, Julianne Ingles, Miguel Angel Salcedo Peiniger
Excerpt from correspondence
The Rio Tlalnepantla (whose name comes from Nahuatl, the Aztec language, means "in the middle of the earth" from tlalli, earth, and nepantla, in the middle), is the river we are bringing to the world?s attention. It is a small but historically significant river, that forms as many small creeks (the largest of which is the San José arroyo or creek) collecting water from the forested mountains lining the northwest edge of Mexico City merge into a mountain valley that is now the Madin Dam. The Tlalnepantla river has historically channeled clean mountain water into the city.
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ENTRY 30
River Babol Rud
Location Babolsar, Iran
Date April 2007
Participant(s) Soraya Pourtabib
Excerpts from correspondence
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ENTRY 31
River Khosk Rud
Location Shiraz, Iran
Date May 2007
Participant(s) Soraya Pourtabib
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ENTRY 32
River Kalmius River
Location Donetsk, Ukraine
Date June 2007
Participant(s) Minister Patrick Campbell
Excerpt from correspondence
The Kalmius flows through the city of Mariupol. The Kalmius flows into the Sea of Azov near the Azovstal steel manufacturing combine. Kalmius was apparently also the name of a 16th Century Cossack fortress.
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ENTRY 33
River Rock River
Location Oregon, Illinios
Date August 2007
Participant(s) Cathi Bouzide, Doug Wean, Betty and Richard Adams and community friends
Excerpt from correspondence
Thanks so much! All of the sites look incredible. The white is stunning. What an amazing project. Did you ever think...I am thrilled to have been part of the World Rivers Project; the speaking of it; the assembly of white things from people's homes; the preparation; the act of the cloth in the river and the drying of the fabric were all a big part of my residency that week. Many are aware of the agricultural run off into the rivers, lakes, and ponds of our world. When I visit Oregon (four years this year) there are many difficult topics touched on lightly through discussion in addition to the art we make. Facilitating a World Rivers experience in a largely agricultural region was brave for me. The images I shared of the experience speak to the unsaid words and connections that World Rivers brought for me and the people of Oregon, IL. Thanks for that Lee. .
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ENTRY 34
River Rio Celeste
Location Rio Celeste, Costa Rica
Date August 2007
Participant(s) Spacialle Novak
Excerpt from correspondence
Rio Celeste is in Northern Costa Rica. The Light Blue River, waterfalls and natural hot springs are in the Tenorio Volcano National Park and rain forrest. The unique phenomenon of clear water turning blue is a volcanic chemical reaction.
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ENTRY 35
River Eagle River
Location Gypsum, Colorade
Date September 2007
Participant(s) Michelle Lake
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ENTRY 36
River La Gravona
Location Corsica, France
Date September 2007
Participant(s) Jac and Michelle Korte Leccia
Excerpt from correspondence
We chose a patch of white cloth from the attic of Jac's family's home in Corsica and brought it with us to a Vision Quest where it was placed upon altar for days purified and charged energetically. Before we began the dipping ritual a prayer was said as we held the fabric between our hearts. Since we had decided we wanted this tissue to travel down the river I began by letting it go in a moving current above a small cascade. A minute or two passed before Jac collected it from a pool beneath the fall. Watching the white cloth flow in the river was a powerful reminder of waters sacred teachings. Jac says Merci to Tracy for her work and intentions backing this project. Thank you for bringing us closer to our brothers and sisters through an act of conscious grace! We are both very touched and grateful to be a part of this movement.
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ENTRY 37
River Wonalancet
Location Wonalancet, New Hampshire
Date October 2007
Participant(s) Diana Beliard and Diann Smith
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ENTRY 38
River Vuoksi
Location Imatra, Finland
Date July 2007
Participant(s) Tuomas Korkalo, Ninni Sintonen, and Jeff Huebner
Excerpt from correspondence
The Vuoksi is Finland's most voluminous river, and for centuries its Imatrankoski, or Imatra Rapids, were the country's most spectacular natural attraction and tourist destination. They are mentioned in the Kalevala, the Finnish national folk epic, as the North's mightiest waterfall. In 1650, in the first historical and geographical study of Finland (then part of Sweden), professor Michael Wexionius wrote: "The roar is so deafening...Rocks tremble under one's feet and trees shake on the riverbanks. Watching the fast-flowing water makes the spectator feel faint."
During the late 18th and 19th centuries (when Finland was a Grand Duchy of Russia), Imatra was a fashionable playground for Russians. Members of the imperial family like Catherine the Great, the intelligentsia, and later the middle class regularly traveled by carriage, train, and boat to the once-remote site, located in Karelia in southeastern Finland by the Russian border, a mere 100 miles from St. Petersburg. At the turn of the last century, some 20 hotels and inns sprang up in Imatra, which saw up to 14 trains a day from the imperial capital. The "fantastic, terrifying, and beautiful" rapids (in the words of one visitor) became a symbol for wild, primitive, and mythical Finland (a place where the forest gods still lurk just beneath the modernist surface), although by 1893 a bridge had been built across the falls and colored floodlights illuminated the foaming surge. There was nothing else like it in Europe.
Throughout the 1890s during the period of "Karelianism," artists, writers, and scholars celebrated the region as the last remaining center of an authentic "Finnish" folk culture - a place where national identity emerged through art, myth, nature, and landscape. Among these figures was the great Finnish National Romantic painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela, who captured the rapids in a dozen paintings in different light and seasonal conditions (the most iconic, called Imatra in Winter, hangs prominently in the Ateneum, the Finnish National Art Gallery in Helsinki). For Gallen-Kallela and other artists of the Finnish Golden Age, the Imatra Rapids represented not just unharnessed power and beauty; they were also allegories of Finland's desire for freedom. Their images helped to forge a liberation movement.
Finland declared independence in 1917. The young nation needed energy. By 1929, the state dammed the Imatra Rapids and built what is still the country's largest hydropower plant. The "downtown" of Imatra -- an oddly sprawling, 120-square-mile town of 32,000, built from a general plan by famed architect Alvar Aalto in the late 1940s -- is still dominated by a deep, dry, rocky gorge, steps away from a pedestrian mall. But every night at 7 pm during the summer, and at other special times, hundreds of people line up on the bridge and along the riverbanks in Crown Park to watch as the dam unleashes raging torrents of water during a 20-minute "Rapids Show." It is accompanied by the stirring music of Jean Sibelius - "Finlandia," "Karelia Suite" - playing over a public address system. While it may be a wondrously kitschy nationalist spectacle, it also illustrates that in Finland art is as much of nature as it is as nature, and nature despoiled. (While scenic, Imatra is notorious for its pulp factories and industrial pollution.)
I immersed a locally store-bought cotton fabric with Imatra-based artists (and partners) Tuomas Korkalo and Ninni Sintonen about a half-mile downstream from the dam, near where the diverted channel meets the main course of the River Vuoksi again. It was a rainy night, the rocks in the river were slippery, and we initially found ourselves near a sewage pipe. But Tuomas and Ninni, who help manage the Oranki Environmental Art Park in western Lapland, were good sports. They were dressed up for a night out at the 100-year-old Buttenhoff restaurant, a Karelian classic--we had beer and coffee--and they really had no idea what I was getting them into.
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ENTRY 39
River Mississippi
Location Crescent City of New Orleans, Louisiana
Date February 2008
Participant(s) Suzanne Talbot Isaacs, Judith Talbot Heumann*, Mary Jane Talbot LeRouge, Constance Talbot Compagno, Kathleen Talbot Lore, Marlen Talbot Erwin.
*The stick was named for Judith Talbot Heumann who was at the time at M.D.Anderson with her husband who was being diagnosed while we were dipping the cloth.
Excerpt from correspondence
Mississippi River at the Crescent City of New Orleans, Louisiana on February 2, 2008 at 12:34 p.m. this cloth was dipped in the Mississippi River on the east bank, at a site five leagues upriver from New Orleans in Kenner, LA. On February 3, it was dipped again about two leagues downriver from the French Quarter on the west bank in Algiers, across the river from the Chalmette Battlefield where the British were defeated by troops led by Andrew Jackson during the Battle of New Orleans, the last battle of the War of 1812.
The poem below was written by our maternal grandmother at the turn of the 20th century. She was a remarkable woman who did not let her blindness, which resulted from an accident at the age of three, stop her from doing a great many things.
Who Owns the River?
The river belongs to the nation.
The levee, they say, to the state.
The government runs navigation.
The commonwealth, though, pays the freight.
Now here is the problem that's heavy --
Which is the right or the wrong?
When the water runs over the levee,
To whom does the river belong?
It's the government's river in summer
When the stage of the water is low.
But in spring when it gets on a hummer
And starts o'r the levee to flow,
When the river gets suddenly dippy,
The state must dig down in its tlll
And push back the old Mississippi,
Away from the farm and the hill.
I know very little of lawing.
I've made little study of courts.
I've done little giving and hawing
Through verdicts, opinions, reports;
Why need there be anything more said
When the river starts levees to climb?
If the government owns the aforesaid
It must own it all of the time.
-- Mary Irene Duplan Haden Murray
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ENTRY 40
River Missouri
Location Omaha, Nebraska
Date July 2008
Participant(s) Susan Knight and Deborah Murphy
Excerpt from correspondence
A perfect Nebraska spring day - 70 degrees, blue skies partially obscured by light cloud cover. Susan Knight and I headed down to Dodge Park on the Missouri River, north of downtown Omaha to dip a piece of 100% cotton fabric, measuring 36" x 18", into the "Muddy Mo". Nebraska and Iowa had experienced some horrific weather the previous week, which included tornados, hail, torrential rain and flash flooding. I knew the river was running fast and high after a visit to the park two weeks earlier, but didn't know the dock area had been flooded. City crews were cleaning up the deluge of dried mud which was caked on the parking lot, sidewalks and river bank. Susan and I walked down to a dock that paralleled the river, we put the fabric into the Missouri. We watched it flow as we held it in the strong current . . . a current which didn't allow the fabric to float flat. The force of moving water scrunched it to a piece measuring a few inches in width. The fabric did pick up the characteristic muddiness of the river, but no other stains were discernible to the eye. We were both surprised that we didn't see more floating debris, as in the way of huge branches or trees, due to flooding upstream. No sand bars were visible - no wildlife sighted. -- Deborah Murphy.
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ENTRY 41
River Mississippi River
Location St. Louis, Missouri
Date June 2008
Participant(s) Kathleen Tracy, Billie Simpson, Carole Foekhrobe, and Marilyn Catalpa.
Excerpt from correspondence
The St. Louis bridge, a massive structure, was completed in 1874 at a cost of over $10,000,000. It consists of three spans, the center one being 520 feet long, and the other two 500 feet each. The piers upon which these spans rest are built of limestone carried down to bed rock. The main passage for the accommodation of pedestrians is 54 feet wide, and below this are two lines of rails. The merchant's bridge, 3 miles N., was completed in 1890 at a cost of $3,000,000. The latter is used exclusively for railroad traffic.
Eads, James Buchanan (1820-1887), a celebrated American engineer. He was born at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, May 23, 1820. He died at Nassau, Bahama Islands, March 8, 1887. Perhaps no other American engineer has been connected with more notable enterprises. In young manhood he won a reputation by devising some barges for raising sunken steamers. In 1861, at the call of the Federal government, he constructed eight ironclad steamers inside of one hundred days. He also built other gunboats and mortar boats, all of use in opening up the Mississippi and its tributaries. In 1867-74 he built the famous Eads Bridge across the Mississippi at St. Louis. It is a mammoth steel arch structure of three spans, resting on stone pillars sent down to bed rock far below the bottom of a treacherous river. It cost $6,500,000. The last great work with which he was connected was the improvement of the mouth of the Mississippi. He designed the system of willow mattresses and stonework by which the water was confined to a narrow passage through which it scoured a deep channel.
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ENTRY 42
River Wos River
Location Ubud, Bali
Date May 2008
Participant(s)Valerie Baciek
Excerpt from correspondence
Nyuh Kuning village
The Nyuhkuning village is a community of artisans and craft makers especially known for their paintings and woodcarvings. The Wos River is a special place for the community to gather. This is where they come to bath both body and spirit, wash clothing, gathering drinking water and rest the mind.
I chose this river because of the link between the community and the artistic spirit. Ubud is known for it?s many artisans including fine woodcarvers, painters, silversmiths, furniture makers and it?s many textile creations. Everyone, and I mean every single person is truly an artist. There is a definite presence that co-exists between the Balinese people, their art and the Divine. The Divine is celebrated at every moment because the Balinese people understand the link between body and soul. Water is a very important element to this co-existence, as it is ever present. The rice fields depend on it, as does the forest. Water is used during important temple ceremonies to cleanse the spirit. And more importantly, many of the temples are located on or near water.
Lee, I believe that World Rivers is a very important project. I am so happy that the Balinese spirit can be apart of this. Terima kasih.
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ENTRY 43
River Kempenfelt Bay
Location Barrie, Ontario, Canada
Date August 2008
Participant(s) Janet Goldblatt Holmes, Robert Holmes
Excerpt from correspondence
The body of water which I chose for this project, is Kempenfelt Bay, part of Lake Simcoe, situated in Southern Ontario. This is where we have a cottage, which we use throughout the year. We are 2nd generation, and my daughter and son, 3rd. I have been coming here since I was a young child, and my children, like me, have done the same. Process:I placed a piece of an old bedding sheet into the water and watched the end fold, sinking, and continuing to fold in slow motion until settling on the rocks. Reaching to pick up the material, I realized the importance of the area; the steps leading into the shallow water on our rocky shoreline. While drying on our waterfront, more became clear. This was where I spent countless hours with my daughter and son, when they were young, and learning to swim. This is where, as they got older, they would tentatively enter the cool waters of Kempenfelt Bay in the early summer, until the lake warmed up and they would run off the end of the dock, squealing as they cannon-balled into the lake. We have spent hours, year after year sitting, cuddling, talking, arguing, crying and laughing. Family and friends gather to watch the water, and the sun's glimmering light dancing on the surface, especially late afternoon into early evening. Kempenfelt Bay is where my heart and soul reside, even when I am away from the water's edge. Water Is: Healing, clearing, cleansing, clean; Spring-fed mountain stream; soothing, renewing; stress slips away; Ache dissipates; Refreshing calming, centering blue green,; clear sounds; Lapping serene; Read sleep, drift off breathe; Water is life energy
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ENTRY 44
River Kaldakvisk
Location Mosfellssveit, Iceland
Date July 2008
Participant(s) Anna Joelsdottir
Excerpt from correspondence
Hi Lee,
Returned form Iceland last night. I will bring the fabric by soon. I found a peace of an old sheet of mine and tore off a piece where my initials still are! Found it in my mother's storage. She never throws out anything. This little river Kaldakvisl runs right by the old house I grew up in and my mother still lives in.This was my play grounhd growing up.
Take care, Hi to Joel
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ENTRY 45
River Moscow
Location Moscow, Russia
Date August 2008
Participant(s) Artist Alexandra Semenova and photographer Mel Theobald
Excerpt from correspondence
In 2006 Gennady Troshkov, a painter/sculptor in Moscow, suggested the idea of using a continuous string of pillowcases to act like floating balloons in the Moscow River. Without the aid of an inner lining, he wondered whether they would retain a 3-D shape or sink. Alexandra (Sasha) Semenova, a recent art school graduate, decided to give it a try. On a typically overcast day, Mel Theobald located an ideal cite on the Moscow River directly across from the Kremlin. In this place they were able to descend the embankment and begin their new addition to the World Rivers Project. The broad expanse of the river is trafficked by a heavy flow of sightseeing boats, barges, and other assorted ships.
First a single pillowcase was tied to a hemp chord and thrown into the water like a fish line. Then Sasha began cutting holes at the corners of the remaining cases and stringing them together. Almost kite-like, this string of fabric was flung into the water. After several tries in which the cases simply absorbed the water and began slowly submerging, Mel held open their slit sides forming a pocket of air which allowed them to float. Unfortunately, there was not enough current to carry them away from the landing. Still, there was some success in the playfulness of these dancing fabrics against the yellowing transparency of the almost black water.
As Sasha finished wringing the water from the pillowcases, a quiet wake approached our space as a result of two large ships passing in tandem. Without warning the wave slammed the embankment wall, rebounding onto Sasha and washing away the pillowcases. Four were retrieved, but one disappeared and sank into the depths of the river. Having completed our task we gathered our white treasures and walked for several kilometers in an effort to dry Sasha's clothing while contemplating the fate of the one that got away.
In Moscow the river is a rolling series of snaking curves which dictate the irregular pattern of streets and bridges. Along its banks are stone walls which control erosion and flooding within the metropolitan areas. Except at Gorky Park the urban Moscow River is relatively inaccessible and is used as a commercial pipeline. The river is 312 miles long with 5 tributaries feeding into the Oka and Volga Rivers. In 1937 the Moscow Canal was built to connect the river to the Upper Volga, allowing for dams and commercial shipping. Within the City of Moscow the river has 49 bridges and provides drinking water.
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ENTRY 46
River Kelani
Location Columbo, Sri Lanka
Date August 2008
Participant(s) Chaminda Gamage, Aksah Gamage
Excerpt from correspondence
Coming Soon.
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ENTRY 47
River Levitsa
Location Seviievo, Bulgaria
Date August 2008
Participant(s) Stanka Tsonkova
Excerpt from correspondence
The river name is LEVITSA - it is a very small feeder infuses into VIDIMA river and then to ROSITSA river,then YANTRA river fills into the DANUBE - the biggest river crossed Europe running to Black Sea. You see it has a long, long story...The nearest town is SEVLIEVO but it goes through north Bulgaria...
Project still in progress.
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ENTRY 48
River Rhine
Location Buehl, Germany
Date September 2008
Participant(s) Heather Hartwood
Excerpt from correspondence
I liked making a physical connection to my river...I think we often forget how important our waters are for us. We turn on a facet to retrive the water we use and our travels are by car and train and plane and rarely by water anymore...but participating in this project made be remember how important the Rhine is to Germany.
The Rhine was a major trade and travel route in centuries past. As you travel up the Autobahn that runs parallel to our bit of the Rhine on one side and the Black Forest hills on the other, you notice a lot - A LOT - of ruined castles on the hills that look down on the river. This means that this was a major source of power for those controlling the traffic on the river for a long time.
Not just for trade and travel, but the Rhine has been the center of political disputes as well. For centuries France and Germany has bickered over the true border between their lands...the Germans claimed the French Vosges mountains should be the border between the countries and France claimed the Rhine is the natural dividing line. As a result the French Alsace region just on the other side of the Rhine has gone back and forth between being German and French resulting in a unique joining of culture.
The Rhine is mighty, powerful, beautiful and immensly influential in the history of this part of the world. It's amazing to think how water not only gives us life but also forms our lives and cultures and histories!
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ENTRY 49
River Firth of Thames
Location Thames (originally Tikapa), New Zealand
Date February 2009
Participant(s) Tim Anderson
Excerpt from correspondence
The Firth of Thames is a large bay located in the north of the North Island of New Zealand. It is the firth of the rivers Waihou and Piako
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ENTRY 50
River Verde
Location Cottonwood, Arizona
Date May 2009
Participant(s) June Felicia Bennett Atelier and Vernon L. Towle, Ph.D.
Excerpt from correspondence
The Verde River spot was near Cottonwood, AZ next to the Tuzigoot Indian Reservation Ruins.
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ENTRY 51
River Eel
Location Humboldt Redwoods, CA
Date July 2009
Participant(s) June Felicia Bennett Atelier and Vernon L. Towle, Ph.D.
Excerpt from correspondence
On arriving, I headed south through the Garden Club of America Grove until I hit the river, then walked across (on the bottom, not the top). The water was as deep as it was at the beginning of June, but the current wasn’t nearly as strong. The water came up right to my crotch as it did then, but back then I could hardly step without fear that the current would knock me down. Today was a stroll.Then the cloth had to go in the river. I’m no good with cloth. I’ve been taught how to wear a Tibetan silk “zen” many times, and still can’t get the folds right. Just as well for the world: that way I can never wear a lama’s robes either and play the full role of charlatan.@dirkjohnson dirk-johnson.com
