A little collection of photos from our upcoming river reach expansion project here in San Antonio.  I was lucky to be able to go on the official tour with Ben a few weeks back and get a first-hand view of the unfinished project.  There has already been a lot of local press covering the new reach and a blog dedicated to it exclusively on Mysa.com, so we had been notably lax in trying to get our images up online.  We’ll start with the under bridge panel installation by Stuart Allen.  Built of tightly woven metal strips painted in various colors, these panels slightly shimmer and change colors as the viewer walks past them, or floats underneath them by river barge.

Stuart Allen River Expansion Project San Antonio Texas

Stuart Allen riverwalk panel project

Stuart Allen panel up close

Next we have the already up and running installation by British artist Martin Richman.  Martin has covered the underside of the Lexington St bridge with hundreds of refractive dichroic glass panels.  These twinkle and twirl in the wind  and are constantly being lit by special lights along the underside of the bridge itself.  They throw off a spectacular array of shifting colors, and are seen in these photos prior to a mesh cover being installed to protect them from would-be thieves.

Martin Richman seen during the day

Martin Richman river installation - Lexington St underpass

Martin Richman Lexington St bridge walkway

So, probably the biggest media splash made so far with this project has been Donald Lipskis school of sunfish, underneath I35 @ Camden st.  I managed to first catch the public art tour prior to their hanging, and have kept my eyes peeled on the highway ever since.  I’ve got a few photos here, some prior to them being lit, and some from the night of their official lighting.  I have yet to take a tripod and accurately capture them (ala the Mark Menjivar photo in this blog ) but I think you can get the idea.

The hanging of the Sunfish - Donald Lipski San Antonio River Expansion

I35 Sunfish installation prior to being lit

The first night of Donald Lipskis sunfish being lit from within

and of course I can’t end this without mentioning one of my favorite parts of the new river expansion, the Carlos Cortes river grotto.  Not officially part of the same project as the bridge works, Carlos is creating a very amazing little world for visitors to wander through when they make it as far as Camden street.  Filled with mystery faces, dripping shells, and secret spyholes, the grotto is defenitely fun for all ages.  Aside from its alarming proximity to the very unattractive bunker/headquarters of the SA Bike Patrol, I look forward to spending several hours their at least one evening this summer.

Carlos Cortes grotto head

Carlos Cortes grotto

Carlos Cortes river grotto

..and last but far from least and having nothing (purposefully) to do with art, we are gettin our very own river barge Lock. Check it out.

The San Antonio River Expansion Project Lock

The expansion project officially opens next month, there is a lot more work under(and on top of) those bridges not pictured here.