Two projects with connections to the Rural Rivers Project have received funding as part of the Arts Integration Initiative by the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College. Aletha Spang (Dartmouth College, Department of Geography) received funding for a community quilting project which will visualize social elements of flood response in the Black River Watershed. Hayden Miller (Dartmouth College ‘25) received funding to create a high-resolution map of the White River to provide insight into the impacts of the 2023 floods. Abstracts for their projects are included below, and information on all the grant recipients can be found on the Hopkins Center website.
Quilting for Resilience: Stitching Together Stories of Mutual Aid from Vermont’s Floods – Aletha Spang, Dr. Sarah Kelly, and Dr. Charis Boke
In the aftermath of Vermont’s 2023 floods, residents took recovery efforts into their own hands. This project seeks to support community resilience by combining participatory art and mapping. Through a series of collaborative quilting events, we will engage community members in the Black River Watershed in visualizing social relationships and mutual aid efforts that were vital for flood recovery. The quilt map pieces will be sewn together in a collaborative event at Dartmouth, allowing members of the college to learn from local knowledge and build community. The quilt map will be displayed in the impacted communities and Dartmouth’s campus, allowing information about the flood to be shared and preserved. This work will reveal the social and spatial patterns of disaster response in rural areas, helping to inform future mitigation efforts and strengthen community networks.
Visualizing Vermont Flooding: Mapping the White River with Drone Media – Hayden Miller ’25
Extreme flooding has become increasingly prominent in Vermont, affecting the state both socially and ecologically. To understand the impacts of flooding and to share the ecological beauty of Vermont’s rivers, I will create the first ultra high-resolution map of the entire 56 miles of the White River. Through an interactive ArcGIS Storymap, a multimedia display, and a collection of high-resolution photographs, this project will provide important insight into Vermont’s unprecedented flooding from a new, aerial perspective.