One of the most unique endeavors we’ve encountered conjoins fishing, conceptual art, Southeast Texas anthropology and coastal cuisine in an intriguing cultural gumbo known as Shrimp Boat Projects. Via this unorthodox but innovative undertaking, Galveston Bay’s rich shrimping tradition is explored first-hand by artists, activists and founders Eric Leshinsky and Zach Moser, who improbably launched their undertaking — billed as an investigation of the labor of a landscape — in collaboration with the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts at the University of Houston. Starting with an idea in the summer of 2010, the intrepid duo has progressed from countless man-hours restoring a faded fishing vessel (the rechristened Discovery) through the end of their first shrimping season in 2011. Now year two approaches, and the catalysts — Moser, who also co-founded the highly touted, CAMH-exhibited Workshop Houston on the Project Row Houses campus, and Leshinsky, whose firm GRAPH speaks to his interest in environmental research and design and his masters in architecture — are trawling once again the waters of Galveston Bay, seeking artists, writers and environmentalists to volunteer to work the nets and document one of the legendary industries that defines the Texas Gulf coast. The crew is also seeking customers to buy their catch when it comes to town. For the full saga (which is way more than a mere fish tale) of the Discovery, visit shrimpboatprojects.org. To participate in this summer’s season (June 15 – September 15), e-mail eric@shrimpboatprojects.org by May 15. For details about placing a seafood order, e-mail info@shrimpboatprojects.org.
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Zach Moser
Fishing Vessel Discovery