Between 1991 and 1995 I kept building different boats in the canals in Providence.
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.
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.
Cornelia McSheehy was my Printmaking teacher at Rhode Island School of Design.
She was a big supporter of the boat projects in the canals.
I was also using the boats in installations with large prints.
And trying to make sense of my interest in boatmaking combined with printmaking.
I also staged performances in the canals.
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.
They navigated the Providence River (the Woonasquatucket) from Olneyville to the shopping mall.
And the boat sank as they rowed.
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