Steven Appleton and Catherine Gudis are some of Next Up's most active participants when it comes to physically being in the LA River. Appleton co-founded LA River Kayak Safari, which has lead over 6000 people on kayaking tours down the river. He's also a public artist, and has made work that engages with the river for more than 15 years—his "50 Clean Bottles of LA River Water" used a bespoke water wheel to pump the river's water into bottles, and clean it to potable levels.
Gudis, while her core role is directing UC Riverside's Public History Program, also co-founded Project 51's 'Play the LA River'—a game that invited Angelenos to explore different areas along the river's entire 51-mile stretch. While over 80% of the river is paved, there are stretches of soft-bottom, green wetlands that host their own diverse, unique ecology.
Paul spoke with Appleton and Gudis for Next Up about reframing Angelenos' expectations of the river by helping them get their feet wet.
Listen to Archinect Sessions Mini-Session #3 of 'Next Up: The LA River' with Steven Appleton and Catherine Gudis:
About Next Up: The LA River
When Frank Gehry's office was first attached to the L.A. River's master plan and redevelopment, the river began attracting fresh attention over a project that had already been evolving for decades. This October, in an attempt to do justice to the river's complexity and history (and the accompanying urbanist discourse), Archinect hosted 'Next Up: The LA River'—a live podcasting interview series with an array of architects, planners, artists, and journalists with varying perspectives on the subject.
We're now eager to share those conversations with everyone as eight Mini-Sessions, released as part of our Archinect Sessions podcast. Myself, Paul Petrunia and Nicholas Korody moderated the conversations, which took place at the Los Angeles Architecture + Design Museum on October 29, 2016. While we reached out to them, unfortunately no representatives from Gehry's office were able to take part.
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Cathy Gudis is awesome.
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