Drawing on the River

In this artwork, green panels represent the Ipswich River, its headwaters and tributaries. The blue panels represent the rising and receding tides of the Atlantic Ocean. Between them a lighter browner area representing the exposed riverbed below the Ipswich Mills Dam which is revealed when the river runs dry due to overdrawing and droughts like the one we were experiencing in the summers of 2021 and 2022.

The primary metaphor in this artwork is intention.

If a functioning watershed can be said to have “intentions”, those might be to sustain many forms of life. A municipal water system might “intend” to serve human needs including irrigation, sewer systems, drinking water, drainage and transportation.

We explored the intersection of these desires, through color, mark, and typography.

Extending this metaphor, we considered the intentions of individual actors in the watershed. A spawning alewife intends to leave the ocean and journey into the fresh river water. A dam might intend to contain and force the water through a faster channel. The dam also has unintended consequences, it prevents the spawning alewife from migrating upriver. It slows the water and alters its temperature.

These intentions are out of balance when one system impedes the desires of the other. When a river frequently dries up due to overdrawing the water, the unintended consequences impact all of the stakeholders.

The life-sustaining natural system, and the system that serves human intentions depend upon our good stewardship so that both may flourish.