The Medium IS the message: The Boat

Here we are at what has become one of the most popular community bulletin boards in the low country. The roads into other neighborhoods are often posted with a host of all sorts of signs and placards staked, stapled or stuck in places of public view. It all kind of runs together with a mundane sameness.

Visitors to Folly Beach, however, are greeted by messages painted on a BOAT. Over a period of several years this boat has sustained countless coats of paint and is probably the best preserved watercraft in the universe. If the Titanic had had that much paint on its hull, the iceberg might not have punctured it.

The idea is that one paints a background presumably using a roller then writes their message in a contrasting color with a small brush. The next customer paints over the previous message and so on and on. There seems no set rule as to how long each message is allowed to stand, but logically its tenure depends upon the urgency of the next messenger.

Once we pulled up next to the boat we noticed that creativity is not limited to the boat, but is shared with the pavement as can be seen above. We can't be certain whether artistic talents are larger than the boat alone or if they just brought a little too much paint. The medium is often the message in this case.

We kept the motor running in order that we might get out of the way of the next message painter lest that Windveil Blue finish get painted over with a fish fry proclamation.

It looks like fun, but we'll just stick to this blog for posting our messages.