A River Runs Through Us

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The spring course “A River Runs Through Us” explores the natural environment of New Jersey’s Millstone River through art, ecology and culture. On April 9, students paddled from the base of the bridge that carries U.S. Route 1 over the Millstone into the undeveloped swamp forests and marshes that line the upper river. Photo by Morgan Kelly, Princeton Environmental Institute

Jeff Whetstone, a professor of visual arts in the Lewis Center for the Arts and Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI) associated faculty, wanted the course to instill an appreciation for the local environment by having students engage with the river as well as the people and landscapes surrounding it. “It changed my whole idea of how to teach a class,” Whetstone said. Photo by Morgan Kelly, Princeton Environmental Institute

Senior Remi Shaull-Thompson crawls inside an abandoned beaver lodge along the Millstone. “I found the experience both humbling and unnerving. The protection of the lodge implied the threat of danger outside, and when you’re inside you feel small,” Shaull-Thompson said. Photo byMorgan Kelly, Princeton Environmental Institute

Sophomores Lindsay Emi (left) and Zoie Nieto (right) trudge across the low-lying peninsula at the confluence of the Millstone River and Bear Brook. The course used experiences in the Millstone’s environment to demonstrate the subjugation and resilience of nature.

Students came across a nest of Canada goose eggs during the April 9 canoe trip. Photo byMorgan Kelly, Princeton Environmental Institute

Maria Fleury, a first-year student from Rio de Janeiro, observes a snake — one of several encounters with wildlife the students experienced along the Millstone’s riverbank. “I feel like every interaction with nature is a multidimensional puzzle,” she said. Photo by Morgan Kelly, Princeton Environmental Institute

Co-instructor Nomi Stone, a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer in anthropology, proposed the course as a way of having students explore the world by animating local spaces through personal experiences and topographies. “I was interested in their engagement philosophically with the river,” Stone said. “What is this body of water that winds through this place and has a complicated relationship with it?” Photo by Morgan Kelly, Princeton Environmental Institute

Sophomore Amy Amatya created an 8-foot-tall humanoid deer from a discarded mirror as part of the May 15 exhibition in which students expressed themes they took from the class through artwork. Photo by Morgan Kelly, Princeton Environmental Institute

Shaull-Thompson and Emi help build the frame of the lodge the class constructed in the CoLab. Photo by Jaclyn Sweet

Students in the course help build the frame of a beaver lodge in the CoLab at the Lewis Arts complex. Photo by Jaclyn Sweet

In March, students from the class constructed a model beaver lodge in the Lewis Arts complex CoLab. Sophomore Christopher Wilson (far left, standing) wrote of the experience in his class journal, “As we gathered our materials for the build, I was thinking about my connection with the Millstone on a personal level.” Photo by Jaclyn Sweet

The completed beaver lodge in the CoLab at the Lewis Arts complex. Photo by Jaclyn Sweet