Video: Jenn Booher's Artist-in-Residency Helps Her Walk Entire Mount Desert Island Coastline

Duration:

2 minutes, 20 seconds

Jenn Booher is in the midst of a multi-year, multimedia project to chronicle every step of her "Coast Walk," a quest to experience the entire coastline of Mount Desert Island, including vast portions of Acadia National Park. By summer 2018, she estimated she had covered about 20 miles of what will be a 120-mile journey.

Jenn Booher is in the midst of a multi-year, multimedia project to chronicle every step of her "Coast Walk," a quest to experience the entire coastline of Mount Desert Island, including vast portions of Acadia National Park. By summer 2018, she estimated she had covered about 20 miles of what will be a 120-mile journey.

During her treks, she photographs wildlife, plant life, geology. And she also gathers (temporarily) trash, seaweed, shells, and found objects to photograph back in her studio. "Although I don't pick up pebbles in the park, ever," she laughs. "I put it all back. The garbage goes in the garbage. Everything else goes back on the shore."

Booher contacted the park early in the project to seek advice and sort out formal permissions. The park's support eventually culminated with her appointment as an artist-in-residence, which she says comes in handy sometimes as she negotiates access to private property around the island. "It will take me 10 different landowners to get a mile in some areas. So it's such a relief, it's just like this serious relief to hit the park, and be like, okay, this is public. I can just go there whenever I want. No permission needed. No caretakers. Off I go. The public access that the park provides is just an amazing resource."

(Video by Emma Forthofer, Friends of Acadia)