Marie Lorenz hosted a lecture on Monday for students interested in art and her projects.
Lorenz told students about her ongoing project in New York City that takes place on the Manhattan harbor.
“I take people out on a boat in the Manhattan harbor for these projects,” Lorenz said. “We let the tidal waves around the Manhattan Island guide the boat.”
Lorenz said she took a canoeing trip around Manhattan Island with a friend in a boat she made with fiberglass.
“An eight-hour trip for a regular kayaker took my friend and I three days,” Lorenz said. “We took camping gear and made lots of stops. We even went to a bar one of the nights.”
Lorenz said she had to learn about boat routes and movements to launch her new project called the “Tide and Current Taxi,” which would focus on the city rather than herself.
“I learned the ferry routes and ways to build better boats to help with the project,” Lorenz said. “I started using fiberglass to make the boats light but more durable.”
Art senior Benjamin Wu said Lorenz inspires him to pursue his own artistic ideas.
“I am a fantasy designer and painter, and I create my own artistic ideas,” Wu said. “Seeing how Marie pursued and executed her project inspires me to do the same with mine.”
UT alumnus Cameron Coffman said Lorenz’s perseverance and patience with her project has a lot to do with the project’s success.
“It is unusual to see artists stay as persistent as Lorenz with their projects,” Coffman said. “Art can be frustrating, and it is hard at times for artists to stick with a project.”
Lorenz said an important part of her project is strangers’ willingness to participate.
“About a third of the people that are involved in my project find me online,” Lorenz said. “Seeing strangers want to participate in my project helps ensure me that I am going about the project the right way.”
Coffman said it would be interesting to see a project like this done locally.
“Being from Austin, I think this would be a really cool project to have done here on one of the Austin lakes,” Coffman said.
