This is a resource for participants in the Healy/Phillips/Gwathney Walt 200 Whitman Festival project. Presented in descending order.
February 13, 2019: More pipes being cut, more video being mapped, inspiring conversations about the poem and stage action with Jim.
January 6, 2019: Lots of effort going on in studio. Pipes being cut, video being mapped, screens being tested outdoors,
and the poem being rehearsed.
December 1, 2018: Structures being modified and notated, video and sound being made, and Jim came by to rehearse. Very intense and productive.
October 17, 2018: Well… Bruce B's insight that no "passengers for hire" freed us from massive amounts of regulations was amazingly helpful. On 10/15, the USCG agreed. Whew! In other happenings, today we picked up the 3 used marine stairs from Rhoads Marine. Helpful fellows got them on Bill Curran's truck and we sweated bridge heights back to the studio. And helpful fellows helped us get them off and into the studio space. Beautiful no?
October 11, 2018: Lots of phone and shoe leather… We've consulted with Ryan Morris, lead designer at PinPoint Lighting. We've consulted with marine electrician Peter Slootmaker. We met with Dean Dukakis, a principal at Keast & Hood, structural engineers, who advised us on the design and construction of our 4 structures. He approved, saying they were strong and safe. We consulted with naval architect Bruce Blancke about USCG regulations. He pointed out that since we are not charging anyone money to get on the barge, many of the problematic regulations are no longer relevant. We talked with Lt.JG Ryan Thomas at USCG who said it does indeed change things, and he'll get back to us.
We've built and tested all 4 structures.
September 21, 2018: C&J continue getting materials together for review by the US Coast Guard. JOG has finished memorizing the poem. We have talked with a structural engineer, a naval architect and the actual owner of "our" barge, Cappy Loveland. He enjoyed our project idea! Importantly, the barge was inspected by ABS this week. The unknown tech specs from the USCG are troubling. Many hours were spent building one of the structures (A) as we learned about different ways to make strong structures that are also visually interesting. There were high points and some low moments. Here is a high point: Jim getting a feel for structure "A."
September 5, 2018: C&J have been busy making models and getting materials together for review by the US Coast Guard. JOG is almost at the end of memorization of the text. We have appointments with an esteemed naval architect, 2 media production companies, and marine electricians. Below are some photos of a preliminary scale model and a few drawings.
August 14, 2018: Carolyn and John met with Bob Orbaugh, project manager at Rhoads Shipping, who said he'd be glad to work with us. We are planning on using 3 of his old stair-platforms. He wants 2-3 week notice to pull them out for us.
July 19, 2018: Jim, Carolyn and John visited River Services to measure and become more familiar with "our" barge, Loveland 1301. We agreed it was terrific. Spent the rest of the day discussing concepts and ideas about the performance and it's physical environment.
July 11, 2018: Scott Cointot, Carolyn and John met with LTJR Ryan Thomas along with LT Brian Andrews at Coast Guard HQ. They went over many regulations and tech talk that Scott handled well. Looks like a go, but with some safety tweaks.
July 2, 2018: Scott Cointot at River Services showed J&C barge Loveland 1301. Official # 912544, ABS +A1 Barge oceans, built 1987, 130’ x 35’ x 9’ Carolyn agreed this would work. Many problems with Coast Guard approval solved with this barge.
May 31, 2018: On Whitman's 199th birthday, the Pew Foundation agreed to fund the Festival including our art work.