Marie Lorenz, whose work is featured in UT’s Visual Arts Center exhibition “How to Grow the Cowpea: Survival Strategies from the U.S. South,” led a boat tour across the Colorado River on Monday. The exhibit features her manmade boat dangling in the air and a 10-minute video chronicling the former artist-in-residence’s history with the Colorado River. The tour comes eight years after Planet Texas 2050, a creative initiative founded by UT, commissioned Graybelt. The project involved Lorenz navigating the river in the boat she designed, but the pandemic stifled her plans. Before the event, The Daily Texan spoke with Lorenz about what makes the recent boat tour different from previous journeys.
The Daily Texan: Because you started Graybelt pre-pandemic, how has your relationship with the Colorado River evolved, and what does returning to it now mean to you?
Marie Lorenz: There’s been a lot of changes. I feel like in Austin… some of these areas have been developed. There’s certainly a lot more stress on the water. All the things that they anticipated about Austin’s population growth and … challenges to the water system are really pertinent now, and so I think it’s interesting to come back when we’re sort of further along in this process, when some of the development projects have come to fruition.
DT: How does inviting an audience on the tour with you instead of just navigating the waters alone change your experience?
ML: Well, I’ll find out. It’s really exciting to think about … When I do the project in New York, having an audience kind of always makes sure that my perception of it is sort of fresh. It’s much more interesting as a project to see other people’s perception of it rather than continuing to see my perception of it.
DT: In terms of [Monday]’s tour, what are you most excited for?
ML: I’m really excited to be back there. … The weather just got so beautiful, I’m really looking forward to seeing the water. You know, it’s been years since I’ve been in that area, and so it’s just really exciting. It’ll be exciting to be out there and just sort of have nothing to do for hours except explore and talk to people about the river and … see this landscape.
DT: What are you hoping your audience takes away from the event?
ML: I hope that they get curious about continuing. I mean, my biggest hope is that somebody would … want to continue their relationship with [the Colorado River]. (They) would want to go out again, want to continue exploring. A lot of the people going are artists, … or people that have something to do with the VAC. And so, I hope that they continue that relationship with it, and … it would be amazing if it spawned more projects about the Colorado.
