Rising Waters was painted permanently on the pilings at Community Boating Center in New Bedford in the summer of 2024. The bottom gallery shows process photos. The painting was complicated by standing on floating docks, rising and falling with the tides, wind, and waves. Except during a 3 hour window around high tide, most of the lines were out of reach, even though we used more moderate predictive models than usual. The project has never felt more palpable than at this site.

You can see some of the CBC sailing fleet on the dock. Thanks to CBC staff and volunteers, and the generosity of their community, we were able to paint the lines using boat bottom paint which should last a long time, even in this salty environment. We used patterns to set the lines at the same spacing and widths. The height overall was a bit tricky as we were standing on docks that continuously changed height.

Community Boating Center's mission is to teach positive life values to youth through boating. With New Bedford’s past, present, and future tied to the waterfront, it is crucial to use the city’s number one asset to engage and inspire area youth. The goal is for CBC to be a leader in the Greater New Bedford Youth Development Community. CBC connects thousands of greater New Bedford youth, ages 5 to 24, to the water through a wide range of year round programs, providing youth development, education, mentorship and access to a network of community partners.

At the end are some beautiful photographs by Rose Scherlis of the Marine Commerce Terminal, Port of New Bedford, MA, where wind turbines are being staged, assembled, and shipped. In the background of some photos you can see a visual narrative of New Bedford’s industrial history, with old textile mills and the future- wind turbines.