Alice Wilson doesn't normally get to go kayaking.
Wilson, a Milwaukee-based artist, spends most summers touring as a living statue with a festival schedule so demanding she can rarely enjoy the outdoors. This year, the pandemic nixed all those bookings, plus her engagements as an art model.
"I'm usually traveling all around the country, and 2020 has pretty much been canceled in that regard," she said.
In all, she lost 90% of her regular income, and she's still waiting on the unemployment checks.
But in her newfound free time, Wilson's developed a project she hopes will benefit both herself and the public. She's raising money to clean up trash she finds in the Milwaukee River, near Jones Island and on other waterways throughout the state.
To get by, Wilson said, she's taken assorted odd jobs: mask-stitching, packaging soaps for a friend's shop, cleaning at a church. Most of the hours are off-peak, though, so she finds herself exploring nature in hiking boots or a kayak.
"One thing I noticed being out on the river was all this trash," she said, "because the river skimmer can't get all of it."
Wilson said she admires the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District's debris skimmer — christened the Lynyrd Skymmr in a cheeky nod to the band — and collects the small bits of garbage it misses. Making Leave No Trace her cardinal principle, she strives, she said, never to return to shore empty-handed.
But struck by the sheer number of plastic bottles and other objects (multiple hypodermic needles, for instance) she encountered on her leisure trips, she wondered whether she could make a little money and help clean the river at the same time.
On July 12, Wilson set up a GoFundMe titled "Help Clean Our Waterways." In an initial posting, she describes the rationale behind the project and sets a $3,000 goal, which, if met, would enable her to pay herself $15 hourly to clean part-time through Oct. 26.
The campaign has raised $505 from 19 contributors so far. Wilson, who's made multiple outings already, said she's thankful for her donors and for the Milwaukee Kayak Company, whose owner cut the cost of Wilson's rentals when she learned of the project.
Wilson said she's taken friends out on several of her trips so far and hopes to be able to pay other underemployed artists in addition to herself.
"It's creating nothing that's going to make anybody rich, but a little bit of work for people that have lost work," she said.
Contact Margot Armbruster at MArmbruster@gannett.com.
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Local artist, unemployed in the pandemic, is cleaning Milwaukee's waterways - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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