The River Spectacular: Light, Sound, Color & Craft on the San Antonio River

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Description

Eight artists in 2008 created a variety of twelve public art projects for the extended River Walk's first section, newly opened as the Urban Segment of the Museum Reach, winding through a declining neighborhood just north of downtown San Antonio. Works range from fiber optic cement to the sounds of birds calling to a school of plastic fish illuminated from within and hovering beneath an expressway bridge.
This coffee table book, published for the San Antonio River Foundation, which commissioned the artworks, features essays by Wendy Weil Atwell. Dramatic photographs by Mark Menjivar chronicle the works' creation, installation and final setting. Included with the book is an audio CD reproducing the sound accompanying one of the works, Sonic Passages, by San Francisco-based sound artist Bill Fontana.
Other works are by light artist Martrin Richman of London, sculptor Donald Liski of Philadelphia and, from San Antonio, Stuart Allen, who works with light and color; painter Mark Schlesinger; metal sculptor George Schroeder; multi-media artist Rolando Briseno; and faux bois sculptor Carlos Cortes.

Author Bio

Arts writer Wendy Weil Atwell chronicles the collection and describes the work of the artists. They include Martin Richman, a light artist based in London; Bill Fontana, a sound artist in San Francisco; Donald Lipski, a sculptor in Philadelphia; and four San Antonio-based artists, Stuart Allen, who works with light and color; painter Mark Schlesinger; metal sculptor George Schroeder; and Carlos Corts, a third-generation sculptor with unique expertise in faux bois. All were challenged by having to deal with narrow river banks and the crude undersides of bridges through once neglected neighborhoods now transformed by the project.