Providence Canals

March 5, 1993

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Between 1991 and 1995 I kept building different boats in the canals in Providence.


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At one point, I had three boats and a raft, all hidden under a bridge downtown. It was like a clubhouse, and a few of my friends knew how to climb down there and pull the boats down on ropes use them in the canals.

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Here is Joe Davis and Rob Coggeshall out in one of the boats – a rowboat made from wood that I found in a construction site and sealed with roofing tar.

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Cornelia McSheehy was my Printmaking teacher at Rhode Island School of Design.

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She was a big supporter of the boat projects in the canals.

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I was also using the boats in installations with large prints.

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And trying to make sense of my interest in boatmaking combined with printmaking.

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I also staged performances in the canals.

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Years after I had moved away from Providence, I brought back a boat that I had made from sewn together planks of wood, to shoot this video.

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They navigated the Providence River (the Woonasquatucket) from Olneyville to the shopping mall.

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And the boat sank as they rowed.

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