I found out a few days ago that I am a Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant Recipient. Thanks to the Williamsburg Cultural council for recommending me. I am eager to get started on the project!
I am calling the project Floatsam Weirs. Weirs are woven structures in rivers or estuaries that direct fish into places where they can be harvested. These weirs on land would move through the site along the existing informal path and would be segmented to allow passage of wildlife and heavy volumes of water. Materials would be sticks, and other plant material carried down river and deposited by floods arranged into a woven fence using saplings as structural support. No materials would be brought into the site, or removed and the ground would not be disturbed. No materials would be used to hold the weir together. Over time, the weirs would degrade, and the site would return to its previous appearance.
I hope that Flotsam Weirs will help to bring a renewed consciousness to the people and visitors of Williamsburg, MA about the Mill river as a beautiful and wild asset at the center of Williamsburg and Haydenville. Through a lecture at the town library and the art installation, people can see the power of hydrology, the resilience of ecology and the beauty of this river at the heart of thier town. In this spot, there is evidence of flooding, with the remnants of flotsam (debris from floods) stranded by high water. There is also the foundation of the old bridge, as well as the large channel walls to contain the flow of the river upstream from the immediate site. In the spring, native ephemeral plants like Solomon’s seal and Dutchmen’s breeches populate the site, and along the banks are prints of river otter, raccoon and deer. I am looking forward to contributing to the story of this richly layered place.
