American Banksy
April 29, 2017 5:40 PM Subscribe
Artist Rides Rivers in a Homemade Shantyboat to Learn About the People Who Live on the Banks. Wes Modes, an artist and lecturing professor at UC Santa Cruz and a crew full of creative mates built a shanty boat out of found materials and trash and rode down both the Mississippi River and the Tennessee River over the course of the past two summers. The collective purpose of these journeys is to learn about the people who live on and around the banks and the about the ecology of the rivers. These collected stories are part of the larger multimedia project entitled “A Secret History of American River People“. (it's okay to read the comments on this link folks as it mostly pertains to Water Law.)
Modes is raising funds for a planned trip down the Sacramento River during Summer 2017.
The project has traveled over 1000 miles in a shantyboat on the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers and conducted over 85 oral history interviews spanning 100 hours of video in the last three years. This summer, he will be floating 500 miles on California’s Sacramento River through the Central Valley.
Possible meetup?
Modes is raising funds for a planned trip down the Sacramento River during Summer 2017.
The project has traveled over 1000 miles in a shantyboat on the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers and conducted over 85 oral history interviews spanning 100 hours of video in the last three years. This summer, he will be floating 500 miles on California’s Sacramento River through the Central Valley.
Possible meetup?
They are great. Modes brought the boat to FIGMENT Oakland in 2014
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 6:37 PM on April 29, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 6:37 PM on April 29, 2017 [1 favorite]
As one UCSC alum to another: How very Santa Cruz!
posted by dfm500 at 7:45 PM on April 29, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by dfm500 at 7:45 PM on April 29, 2017 [3 favorites]
100% Slug
posted by soakimbo at 8:26 PM on April 29, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by soakimbo at 8:26 PM on April 29, 2017 [3 favorites]
They are great. Modes brought the boat to FIGMENT Oakland in 2014
OMG. I'm happily reading along about this project and totally not twigging to the fact that I've stood inside this boat until you said this.
posted by feckless at 8:46 PM on April 29, 2017 [1 favorite]
OMG. I'm happily reading along about this project and totally not twigging to the fact that I've stood inside this boat until you said this.
posted by feckless at 8:46 PM on April 29, 2017 [1 favorite]
O, I’ve wasted my life.
posted by Going To Maine at 9:59 PM on April 29, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Going To Maine at 9:59 PM on April 29, 2017 [1 favorite]
And down the hole I go...
Also, Doris Turner is a delight.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 10:46 PM on April 29, 2017
Also, Doris Turner is a delight.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 10:46 PM on April 29, 2017
Related: "Riverworld: the Vanished World of Illinois Riverfolk." from the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery.
posted by wormwood23 at 7:49 AM on April 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by wormwood23 at 7:49 AM on April 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
Modes cites Anna and Harlan Hubbard as an inspiration
Odd to see no mention of Hubbard in Modes' explanation of his project.
For those not familiar, Hubbard was also an artist who built a shantyboat to ride America's rivers. He rode the Ohio and Mississippi from Kentucky down to the Louisiana bayous, and wrote a truly lovely book about the people and lifestyles he encountered along the way.
In the 1940s.
posted by dersins at 9:07 AM on April 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
Odd to see no mention of Hubbard in Modes' explanation of his project.
For those not familiar, Hubbard was also an artist who built a shantyboat to ride America's rivers. He rode the Ohio and Mississippi from Kentucky down to the Louisiana bayous, and wrote a truly lovely book about the people and lifestyles he encountered along the way.
In the 1940s.
posted by dersins at 9:07 AM on April 30, 2017 [3 favorites]
dersins, it's strange he didn't include them in the website but Modes talks about the Hubbards a lot in the AMAs I linked to.
There's an affected bro-y tone to his responses but like I say, anyone who reveres the Hubbards is okay with me.
posted by ZaphodB at 11:43 AM on April 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
There's an affected bro-y tone to his responses but like I say, anyone who reveres the Hubbards is okay with me.
posted by ZaphodB at 11:43 AM on April 30, 2017 [2 favorites]
Similar thing happened about 10 years ago. Must be crazy to live on the banks of the Mississippi and see kids with garbage boats floating by every decade.
posted by iamck at 1:10 PM on April 30, 2017
posted by iamck at 1:10 PM on April 30, 2017
Kirsten Dirksen interviewed him for her youtube channel: https://youtu.be/OttgPFvGQYI
posted by Zpt2718 at 6:56 PM on April 30, 2017
posted by Zpt2718 at 6:56 PM on April 30, 2017
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It's a really interesting project. Modes cites Anna and Harlan Hubbard as an inspiration, and anyone who appreciates them and their adventures is a-okay in my book.
posted by ZaphodB at 6:13 PM on April 29, 2017 [2 favorites]