Comments on: City Garden in downtown St. Louis: transformative art

By: Bob Morrison

Bob Morrison — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:13:14 +0000

Erich,
I totally agree with your review of City Garden. It’s a gorgeous place for adults, kids and photographers. I’ve seen 3 other professional photographers there twice as well as a camera in every adults hands. I took some myself if you care to look on Facebook and search “danceshooter”. Your sister Kathy is an old friend and recommended your blog. If you check my facebook, check out my dance photos as well.
Bob

By: Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 02:53:55 +0000

Richard: You’ll find City Garden between 8th and 10th Streets along the north side of Market Street. I just heard some people asking when the restaurant would be opening, so I am assuming that it is not yet open. You’ll find many other restaurants open nearby, even if City Garden’s restaurant isn’t yet open. Welcome home from Afghanistan.

By: richard

richard — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 02:34:32 +0000

Does anyone know the cross streets of the park and if that restaurant opened up at the garden yet…I’m coming home for 2 weeks from Afghanistan and am taking the wife to st Louis for a week of dinner and parks and baseball and really want to stroll this park…appreciate a response

By: Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:30:39 +0000

Here’s a well-written description and analysis of City Garden by the Urbanophile:

First a few facts about the park. The cost was approximately $30 million, paid for by the Gateway Foundation. The landscape architect is Nelson Byrd Woltz from Charlottesville, Virginia. It’s 2.9 acres and spans about two city blocks. The park is unfenced and is designed to be entered or exited from almost any points.

http://theurbanophile.blogspot.com/2009/07/st-louis-city-garden-and-millennium.html

By: Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:30:24 +0000

TMOL: Your powerful excerpt from Ozymandias reminds me of Coldplay’s Vida la Vida. And, yes, the head sculpture fits both:

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy’s eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing:
“Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!”

By: Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:23:01 +0000

Hank: There’s a newish feature on Wordpress that allows you to publish an entire gallery. When you come back with a bunch of pics, you might not have to choose only your best few! So, yes, show us the sculpture of Melbourne.

BTW, I worked hard to get people in most of the photos, to give an idea of the proportions of the sculptures. The measuring-stick people dressed in blue are my daughters.

Another BTW. My favorite time to take photos is twilight, when I took all of these. The light is then at its most magical. But it’s also extremely easy to get a blurry photo, as you can see, and only some of them are intentionally blurry.

By: Hank

Hank — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:15:02 +0000

Beautiful work, nice pics too. It must be said that the giant bunnies are my favourites but I love the fountains too. Unfortunately it’s about 10 degrees celsius here and no weather for running about getting wet.

Your post reminds me in no small way of Melbourne actually; there are many and varied sculptural & architectural gems scattered around our fair city. I believe you may have inspired a similar post Erich! I should work on getting my arse fired from here so I can spend a couple of days tooling around on the bmx and snapping.

By: Mindy Carney

Mindy Carney — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:21:48 +0000

It is absolutely phenomenal! St. Louis did something right - really right this time. I visited there at lunchtime today, and the place was full of people - yet still plenty of room to stroll and space for the girls to run and play. Erich’s daughters showed my youngest all the best fountains in which to splash and act like children. A dear friend strolled over on his lunch break and I ran into a fellow parent from school who works downtown, a friend I hadn’t seen in years - and everyone was positively beaming. Kids being kids downtown is sort of new thing for our city, and even better were the grown-ups acting like kids, hopping rocks in the fountains, taking silly pictures with the one of the two pink flamingos strategically placed to be played with, and bouncing on the nine squares imbedded in the concrete that chime as you cross them. A good time was had by all - I’m so proud of it!

By: tmol

tmol — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:28:10 +0000

The first photo, of the bust on its side, reminds me of Ozymandias, which says more about “the meaning of life” than anything else I’ve read:

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away”.