The yearlong, communitywide celebration called has more than a dozen UofL participants aboard its Sept. 22 “A Belleload of Knowledge” cruise. Scholars, musicians and artists will speak at various stations and also roam around on the Belle of Louisville’s three decks to share their distinctive takes on Louisville’s vital waterway and learn one-on-one from others.

“A Belleload of Knowledge” serves multiple purposes, according to Afloat organizers Peter Morrin and John Begley, retired UofL fine arts faculty members and community arts executives.

“It is intended to bring together people from a wide range of disciplines – especially those who do not normally interact – and give them an opportunity to have informal conversations,” Morrin said. “It is also intended to give members of the general public access to activists, scholars and experts of all kinds who are dedicated to making a difference in the greatest historic, cultural and natural resource.”

Belleload organizers were inspired by an 1824-25 Ohio River keelboat journey known as the Boatload of Knowledge; that voyage of leading Philadelphia artists, writers and scientists floated from Pittsburgh to New Harmony, Indiana.

This month, when the Louisville landmark steamboat pulls away from the dock, 401 W. River Road, at 5 p.m. Sunday, on deck will be more than 50 scientists, artists, advocates, historians, educators, writers, preservationists, engineers and performers from all over town – along with people curious to learn more from them about the mighty Ohio.

 “UofL’s leadership is evident in the number and range of participants with affiliation to the university,” Morrin said.

Afloat

Several UofL faculty members, including some of the Belleload participants, have spoken at other events marking , which “is intended to call attention to the beauty of the Ohio River, the needs of the river and its unmet potential,” Begley said.

UofL Belleload attendees and their areas of expertise include:

• Frank Kelderman, English, Native American studies;
• John Hale, liberal studies, archaeology;
• Linda Fuselier, biology, river fish;
• Tamara Sluss, urban and public affairs/sustainability, large river ecology;
• Russ Barnett, sustainability, Salt River Watershed Watch;
• Alan Golding, English, Transcendentalists and environment;
• John Gibson, philosophy, Emerson’s impact on U.S. environmentalism;
• Rachel Singel, fine arts, printmaking and Ohio River book project;
• Mary Carothers, fine arts, environmental art and photography;
• Mary Brydon-Miller, educational leadership, evaluation and organizational development, environmental education;
• Margaret Carreiro, biology emeritus, ecology;
• Jack Ashworth, music emeritus, music;
• Patricia Sarley and Alexandra Hardy, sustainability graduate students.

The university’s Commonwealth Center for the Humanities and Society and UofL’s sustainability program join several museums, library and other organizations in participating; Louisville Visual Art is the sponsor.

To attend, . Boarding starts at 4:30 p.m.

Check out all the Afloat events at .

Photo of the Belle of Louisville

Peter Morrin and John Begley, retired UofL fine arts faculty members and community arts executives, organized the yearlong celebration of the Ohio’s impact on nature, art, history, literature, economy, culture and more, especially in Louisville and southern Indiana. They started with one exhibit because they were fascinated by underappreciated Kentucky artist, writer and environmentalist Harlan Hubbard’s watercolors but then expanded their efforts to “explore the river that fascinated him all his life,” Begley said.

“As we talked with other community groups and individuals, we found all were bound to the river in one or another way, many in multiple ways,” he added.

Several museums, galleries and academic institutions are participating, and UofL faculty and staff members have volunteered to draw from their wide-ranging specialties to lecture at various venues.

“The faculty expertise at UofL has been a real boon to Afloat and really appreciated by all the institutional hosts,” said Begley, also former director of UofL’s Hite Art Institute galleries.

“It provides an opportunity to showcase our excellent faculty and the relevance of their research to the community,” said John Gibson, director of UofL’s Commonwealth Center for the Humanities and Society. “’Afloat’ is the brainchild of Peter Morrin and John Begley, and CCHS is delighted to partner with them on this exciting initiative.”

“So far we have placed our professors at the Frazier History Museum, Historic Locust Grove, Farmington Historic Plantation, LFPL-Main Library, Falls of the Ohio State Park, with plans to arrange more faculty talks in the months to come,” Gibson said.

Here’s the current lineup of participating College of Arts and Sciences speakers, topics and venues:

• June 13 – “Work Along the River Jordan: African American River Labor in the Ohio River Valley and the Development of Black America,” David Anderson, English associate professor, 6:30 p.m., Farmington Historic Home, 3033 Bardstown Road.
• June 29 and July 16 – “The Fish in the Ohio,” Linda Fuselier, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and biology associate professor. The June talk will begin at 3 p.m. at the Falls of the Ohio State Park, 201 W. Riverside Drive in Clarksville, Indiana, and the July one will start at noon at the Carnegie Center for Art and History, 201 E. Spring St. in New Albany, Indiana.
• Aug. 25 – “Emerson, Thoreau and the River in American Art,” John Gibson, philosophy professor and CCHS director, and Alan Golding, English professor, 2 p.m., Frazier History Museum, 829 W. Main St.
• Oct. 24 – “River Stories: Mother Love on Slavery’s Border,” Susan Ryan, English professor, 6:30 p.m. at the Louisville Free Public Library’s Main Library, 301 York St.
• Nov. 6 – “Traversing Indian Diplomacy on the Ohio River,” Frank Kelderman, English assistant professor, 1:15 p.m., Locust Grove, 561 Blankenbaker Lane.

Also, during the spring semester, UofL archivist and historian Tom Owen and English faculty member Sarah Strickley participated in an April 2 panel on “The Great Flood of 1937” at the Frazier History Museum.��

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