ST. LOUIS PUBLIC SCULPTURE - LEWIS AND CLARK

 

A sculpture by Harry Weber, whose work is all around here, called The Captains' Return. It depicts Meriwether Lewis and William Clark returning here in 1806 after their two-year so-called voyage of discovery, all the way up the Missouri River and then into Oregon. A bit about the work (with a really terrible photo) at https://www.nps.gov/places/the-captains-return.htm.  The statue used to be a bit upriver and lower down on the levee, where it would sometimes be inundated (https://tinyurl.com/y6mww2js). The explorers probably would not want to come through today's icy Mississippi.                  

ALL FLIGHTS CANCELED

This is just behind the view in yesterday’s picture. The river is high for this time of year. A heliport on a barge sits in the Mississippi. You can take a sightseeing flight around the Arch and the city. The helicopter must have fled to safety before the big storms blew through, which you can now see moving out. No more flights today.                        

SO HOT IT BUCKLED THE PAVEMENT

Everyone here knows that the eastern half of the U.S. has been in the oven for the last week. It has buckled the pavement is some places. This is the street under the Arch along the Mississippi, which was perfectly flat. The city has patched the biggest gaps. It would look more dramatic with sharper shadows but some big thunderstorms just rolled through, dramatically dropping the temperature.                        

SITE VISIT

 

Our favorite free-form creative festival, Artica, takes place in early October, but it’s time for people who would like to participate to submit proposals. It takes place in an empty square block near the river. There was an opportunity last weekend for people to check out the space.                  

LACLEDE POWER COMPANY

Turning the lens a little farther to the right from yesterday’s view. This is the back of an old steam-powered electric plant. It is well-described by St. Louis historian, preservationist and photographer, Chris Naffziger: Just north of the Ashley Street is the old Laclede Power Station, which along Lewis Street takes on the form of a massive Italian Renaissance loggia, complete with giant, arched portals. But instead of being filled with famous sculpture like the Loggia dei Lancei in Florence, this building housed rows of boilers, now long gone. The power plant, made of red brick and terracotta, also sported five iron smokestacks. On the river side, a giant white glazed brick sign advertises the power plant’s name.                     

ARS GRATIA ARTIS

A wider view of the installation near the Mississippi by the late local artist and general strange person, Bob Cassilly, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Cassilly. All concrete and steel, much painted through the years. Cassilly is best known as the founder, along with his former wife, of our amazing City Museum, https://citymuseum.org/ . Factoid about Cassilly: he and his first wife were honeymooning in Rome when a mentally ill man attacked Michelangelo’s Pieta. Cassilly was the first to act and subdue the assailant.                  

SNAKE IN THE GRASS

Out-there sculpture in an old industrial area of the riverfront. There is a lot more of this construction than fits in the frame and a lot more to the back story than I can tell here. Probably more images to come.                   

SHIPWRECK

A strange sculpture in a lonely spot near the Mississippi. It looks like the skeleton of of a wrecked boat, partly stuck in the earth. I did not see a plaque of sign describing it. The shape is unusual. Except for small personal craft, river boats tend to be rectangular and flat bottomed. Maybe it is a post-apocalyptic gesture.

This post is up late because of a new, annoying problem with Photoshop. I edit pictures as PSDs and then save as a JPG. All of a sudden, save as jpeg is not an option. I can’t find any online help and ended up using a third party website to make the conversion. Anyone know what’s going on?                     

THIS IS THE ONE CINDERELLA NEEDS

 

A couple of days ago I ran a picture of a carriage similar to this, but forlorn-looking and parked in a run-down industrial area. I remarked that it would never get Cinderella to the ball. This one will. It is parked at the bottom of the steps leading down from the Arch to the promenade along the Mississippi, waiting for business. Or a princess.             

DOPE CITY

Full disclosure: I’m an old fogey. I don’t pretend to understand all the language of the young. Nevertheless, my understanding is that “dope” is a positive term these days. Thus, Dope City, referring to our town, may be a compliment. Yet the figure between the dollar and cent signs looks like a medication capsule. The red tagging characters under the top of the Arch spell STL (not that outsiders would know), and the red numerals to the right, 314, are the main local telephone code.           

RUINS

 

South of the Arch, between the Mississippi and an elevated highway. Derelict commercial buildings that serve little purpose other than to support mobile phone antennas. A plan is being floated to turn this area and adjacent land into a multi-purpose office-commercial-residential district. I wish the developers good luck.               

ARTICA!

October in St. Louis brings the return of Artica, https://articastl.com/, one of my favorite local events. Hap Phillips, with his late wife, Nita Turnage, got this going I don't know how many years ago. He is our guiding star. Anyone who wants to create art of any kind is welcome. Everyone who wants to come is welcome. It's free, funded by contributions and grants. One of the policies is that no money changes hands. (BYOB and BYOF.) There is so much to see and hear and do. Check back for more.            

WE MAKE OUR OWN

No imports here. Nothing but the finest American locally made St. Louis, Missouri, swill. Although in this case it's probably just for storm water runoff (not that there's been much lately). Noticed on the street above the levee and below the Arch.           

NOT THE LOCAL SPACEPORT

Gotta get back to normal stuff. When I took this picture my loose associations made me think of a rocket gantry but it's just some kind of industrial structure along the riverfront. That diagonal piece on the left is a type used to get material on and off of barges. Which would be great, except the Mississippi is running dry, sort of and at most places the barges can't get close enough to shore. I hope to get some pictures of that.

A bit of the Paint Louis section of the floodwall is at the lower left.            

I'M MELTING...

Snow doesn't usually last that long around here. Warm temperatures and blue skies create a stream along the riverfront, reflecting a railroad bridge and the graffiti section of the Mississippi flood wall.                

DID SHE SAY YES?

This picture was taken from the top of the steps that lead down from the base of the Arch to the Mississippi. Carefully check the bottom horizontal layer of snow. Looks like a proposal to me. I hope it doesn't portend an icy relationship. Well, there is a saying: cold hands, warm heart.

Note that almost all the ice has disappeared from the river in a day or two. It's supposed to be a few degrees above freezing and rainy today so all of this will turn to slop. Can spring be far behind? (Hint: Yes, it can.)          

WONDER WALL

 

Back in the recent archives. Another shot from the river tour boat, looking southwest into downtown. The colorful wall in the foreground is the vacant Cotton Belt Railroad warehouse (where I guess they piled up - cotton?). The Artica festival I feature every fall takes place in front of and beside it. The painting was done by my friends Hap Phillips and his late wife, Nita Turnage. It makes the riverfront glow.             

THURSDAY ARCH SERIES

Taken at the end of our ride with Ellie on one of the Mississippi River tour boats. The two that are usually around are called the Tom Sawyer and the Becky Thacher. We were pulling up to the dock. The helicopter the kid and I rode on last month made a perfectly timed appearance.      

WE CAN ONLY HOPE

But, given the history of our species, I'm not particularly sanguine. As they say on American television, stay tuned for further details.                     

EVERYONE HAS THEIR PRICE

Gentle reader, please interpret for yourself. That's the Paint Louis section of the flood wall along the Mississippi on the right and a railroad bridge across the river behind. My guess is that it's someone's nom de graffiti. However, it also reminds me of Two Buck Chuck, the nickname of super cheap wine sold across America under the Charles Shaw label at Trader Joe's food stores. I understand that with inflation, it's now $3.79 a bottle. Cheers!