FOR MORE INFORMATION: Dee Dee Poteete Director of Communications deedeepoteete@visitsanantonio.com 210/207-6708

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jul 07, 2009

---

Newly Extended River Walk Debuts International Art Installations

The newly expanded River Walk is capturing international attention with public art installations created by artists from across the globe. These works are united in their unique designs which blend in seamlessly with the river and its surroundings.

What visitors can experience along the San Antonio River:

Shimmer Field, Martin Richman
Martin Richman of London, is internationally known for his colorful, glowing sculptures and installations. Shimmer Field located beneath the Lexington Street underpass is his U.S. debut. It is comprised of suspended elements strung beneath the bridge. Here, the breeze brings to life a dance of colored lights designed to awaken the senses and signify both entry to and exit from the River Walk’s new extension.

Stuart Allen
Local artist Stuart Allen’s work deals with fundamental elements of perception: light, time, gravity and space. His installations under the McCullough and Brooklyn Street underpasses present shifting blocks of color sampled from the sky, water, vegetation and land, which create a flickering, optical moment for visitors. Allen challenges the boundaries between art and architecture with suspended panels that heighten the perception of the space from both the river and the walkway.

Rolando Briseño
San Antonio native Rolando Briseño focuses on the artist’s view of San Antonio’s past, present and future as he enhances viewers’ experiences of the environment around them. Briseño’s railing structures at the McCullough, Brooklyn and Ninth Street underpasses shade pedestrians, encouraging them to linger and comfortably connect with the river.

Mark Schlesinger
New Yorker Mark Schlesinger created a completely new environment under the Ninth Street underpass using an existing concrete bridge as a canvas to encourage viewers to experiment with space and perception. He developed new compounds and paints for glow-in-the-dark colors, vibrant coatings, tactile textures and unique forms. Schlesinger utilizes the sun’s strength to keep this underpass luminous.

Sonic Passage, Bill Fontana
Bill Fontana from San Francisco is a pioneer in using the urban environment as a living source of music, creating sound sculptures to transform awareness of architectural spaces and visual stimulation. A composer and artist, Fontana sequenced speakers under the Jones Avenue bridge to emit a blend of recorded and live broadcasts gathered from multiple locations along the river. This urban symphony washes pedestrians and boat passengers in the subtle sounds of birds, water and metropolitan spaces.

George Schroeder
San Antonio metal artist George Schroeder transforms solid steel into fluid lines with the touch of a fine painter. With the Camden and Newell Street Bridge railings, Schroeder inset intricately forged steel sculptures of plants and animals, referencing native species into sturdy bridge handrails. The art nouveau rails on both Camden and Newell bridges bookend the final riverside Faux Bois installation of the new reach.

F.I.S.H., Donald Lipski
Renowned Philadelphia artist, Donald Lipski, brings brightness and levity to the Camden Street overpass with a surreal school of sunfish suspended above the river. The larger-than-life fiberglass sculptures (up to seven feet long) bring a magical palate to an ideal location near the San Antonio Museum of Art.

The Grotto, Carlos Cortés
Third generation Faux Bois concrete artisan, Carlos Cortés, anchors the River Walk art installations with “The Grotto.” A large, realistic tree/palapa structure with root-like benches at street level provides seating and shade for pedestrians before they embark on the banks of the river. Once there, a mythical concrete grotto, complete with stalactites and stalagmites, a waterfall and lush landscaping add a fairy-tale-like element to the already magical River Walk. This is Cortés’ largest installation to date.

For more information on San Antonio’s River Walk extension, explore www.visitsanantonio.com or call 800-ALAMO-07.

Information generously provided by the San Antonio River Foundation.