'oh, the water' is a 6 minute video collaboration with artist Valerie Sullivan Fuchs and musician/songwriter Abigail Washburn. 'oh, the water' was originally commissioned by the Maker's Mark Distillery in Loretto, KY for the 'Mark of Great Art Exhibition' a juried show of Kentucky artists which traveled to Madrid, Spain and Seattle, Washington. Ben Sollee introduced Abigail and Valerie after Abigail had seen the 'boys don't cry' video.

'oh, the water', explores the influence landscape and its processes have on what people produce in a specific place. Industry can also influence and create identity for the people who live in a specific landscape. The video was recorded at the Maker's Mark Distillery lake in Loretto, KY. The spring-fed lake is where the distillery gathers and stores its water before it is used in Maker's Mark bourbon. The distillery industry came to Kentucky because of the iron free water created by the landscape.

This piece features 'Captain' written by Abigail Washburn and performed by Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet (Ben Sollee, Bela Fleck and Casey Dreissen).

'oh, the water' was selected for the H2O: Film on Water 2009 exhibition in Bellows Falls, Vermont.
This summer (2011) 'oh, the water' was selected to be included in a traveling exhibition of USA art in Sweden through artwithoutwalls.org but this may be postponed.

Special thanks to Gill Holland for use of his HD camera and to Ben Sollee for introducing Abigail to Valerie.