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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The group is participating in the Red Bull Flugtag, an event inviting local barnstormers to show off their homemade flying machines. Teams build single-pilot gliders and run their creations off the end of a ramp, hoping they’ll glide for a few moments before splashing down into the Ohio River.

UofL’s entry, dubbed “Angry Louie” by designer and pilot Brittany Jarrell, is a PVC-and-plastic effigy of the school’s mascot. Weighing 75 pounds and measuring 25 feet long, the craft is about the weight of a standard hang glider but boasts a greater wing area.

“We’re going to have a lot of fun, that’s what I think is going to happen,” said team member Joshua Scudder. “As far as [the craft’s] performance, it’s hard to say.”

Angry Louie may have an edge on the competing gliders, most of which were designed for aesthetics rather than aerodynamics. His designers pooled the years of mechanical know-how that they’d accumulated in their classes and took cues from nature, using PVC pipe to mimic the hollow bones of birds.

“It took a while to really finalize the design,” said team member Russell Whittaker. “Probably what took the longest was trying to decide what would be the most aerodynamic and make the most sense out of all the ideas.”

But the build represents more than just an opportunity to test their engineering prowess; it’s a chance to come together as friends and classmates to have a good time.

“We’ve been going to school together for three years now, so mostly we know each other,” said team member David Campbell. “It’s been fun working with them, and I think that’s been the best part.”

Angry Louie makes his maiden voyage at the Flugtag on Aug. 27 at Waterfront Park. Gates open at 11 a.m. and admission is free to the general public.

Watch Speed students describe the design process for “Angry Louie” in the video below: 

Is it a biome? A threat? A provider of livelihoods?

For students participating in “36 Miles: Revealing the Ohio,” a collaborative, creative research project, the river is all of these things and more.

Gresham, Smith and Partners’ Urban Design and Landscape Architecture Studio hosted “36 Miles” in partnership with UofL’s Hite Art Institute and the University of Kentucky Department Of Landscape Architecture.  

The purpose of the project is to bridge art and design education, increase environmental awareness and connect people with Louisville’s hallmark waterway.

“The goal is to reconnect the general public with the history and culture of the river by telling its story in an approachable, highly visual way,” said Louis R. Johnson, project manager with Gresham, Smith and Partners. “The team will reveal important moments in Louisville’s River History and special places unknown to many residents.”

The project resulted in an exhibition at the newly opened , 1538 Lytle St., through May 13. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

Nine students from Hite’s advanced photography class, taught by associate professor Mary Carothers, participated in the project and have pieces on display.

“My artwork examines the river as the backbone of Louisville,” said Hite student Kelsi Wermuth. “Its vital existence is the reason human beings settled in the area. Just as the spine is the main neurological delivery system in our bodies, more cargo is delivered through the Ohio River than any other water system in our nation. This photographic sculpture references the life this geographical feature gives humanity.”

Two Hite students have fathers who are both river boat captains, which inspired their pieces.

Chelsea Wolfe used texts and pictures of her father’s location on his boat’s route with coordinates to compile a large-scale photo map of his trip.

Kathryn Harrington worked with her father to choose their favorite images from his trips to create an archive of what the river means to him as a captain: a livelihood, way of life and home away from home.

Carothers, , said she was impressed with what the students accomplished through the project, and hopes to continue the work in the future.

“I’d love to design a class around it,” she said.