Aug. 2-Sept. 8, 2019
Downtown Footbridge
Meet the Artist Reception: Friday, Aug. 2, CA&C Depot, South Main Street (additional details forthcoming)

What Is It?

Wade [Music for River and people] is an interactive music installation composed in real time by the flowing river and the movement of people. It is an invitatio for people to step into and create a musical experience with our natural surroundings. Wade premiered in Nashville in April 2018 and received a “Best In Nashville” award from the Nashville Scene.

About Wade [Mount Vernon]

For the Mount Vernon, Ohio, installation, three rivers are used to create the music. The Kokosing River sings the soprano notes, the Walhonding River creates the mid line, and the Muskingum River provides the bass. Using these three rivers, the piece traces the flow of water for its start near Mount Vernon to its confluence with the mighty Ohio River near Marietta. Through the month of August, Wade [Music for River and People] will rise and fall along with the rivers that feed the Ohio Valley.

For an example of the music you may hear, visit Doenges’ Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/aaronhokedoenges/.

Rivers + You = Music

Real Time data about the Kokosing, the Walhonding, and the Muskingum Rivers’ depth and flow is pulled from the United States Geological Survey website and is transformed into changing pitches and dynamics of the piece. As the rivers’ depths rise and fall, the notes also rise and fall. As the rivers flow faster or slower, the volume of the piece grows louder or softer.

At the same time, new musical elements are added and existing ones are modulated as people move over the bridge, throughout the installation space. Motion sensors pic up your movement and us it to change the notes of the piece. The more movement there is, the more dramatic the change. The audience is immersed in, and changes, the sonic flow of the rivers around them.

Who is the artist?

Aaron Hoke DoengesAaron Hoke Doenges is a sound artist and composer living in Nashville, Tenn. Originally from Mount Vernon, Doenges spent his childhood riding the Kokosing Gap Trail and catching crawfish in Delano Run. He graduated from Mount Vernon High School (1998) and Mount Vernon Nazarene University (2003) before moving to Nashville to study music composition at Belmont University (2009).

For more information, visit www.aaronhokedoenges.com or follow @aaronhokedoenges on Facebook or Instagram.

Brown Bag Concert Series

“Ohio’s Historic Haunts: Researching the Origins of Ohio’s Ghost Stories and Legends,” presented by author James A. Willis

Many locations in Ohio, including some that are historically significant, have developed a reputation for being haunted or had a strange legend associated with it. While it might be almost impossible to prove the validity of the paranormal tales that surround them, one thing is clear: these stories help to keep history alive. But the questions remain: How did these stories get started? More important, are any of them tied directly to actual historic events? And do any facts support the strange and ghostly lore?

Rather than rely on second-and third-person accounts, author and paranormal researcher James A. Willis has spent the better part of two decades sitting down with owners, employees, and patrons of Ohio locations that are said to have strange and spooky tales attached to them. By compiling literally hundreds of hours’ worth of one-on-one interviews, along with thousands of pages of historical research, Willis was able to piece together unique histories for each location, including eyewitness accounts from people who believed they experienced paranormal activity.

But Willis is never content to stop with first-person accounts or even historical research. He also visits each and every location he’s researching, often with high-tech “ghost-hunting” equipment, and spends hours at each location, attempting to collect empirical data to see if he could experience a paranormal encounter himself.

What were the results of all this research and site visits? This special presentation will reveal all! So come along on a journey with Willis as he travels to the crossroads where history and folklore collide, and visit the fascinating Ohio locations where the past comes alive—in more ways than one!

This free event kicks off the The Cleo Redd Fisher Museum’s Fall & Spring Speaker Series, and is generously sponsored by Landoll’s Mohican Castle. For more information, visit www.crfmuseum.com or contact the museum at 419 994-4050.

James A. Willis is the author of numerous books including Weird Ohio, Central Ohio Legends and Lore, Ohio’s Historic Haunts, and The Big Book of Ohio Ghost Stories.