San Antonio River Foundation commemorates one year anniversary of Museum Reach with new book

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

To commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Museum Reach, the San Antonio River Foundation commissioned a book titled The River Spectacular: Light, Sound, Color & Craft on the San Antonio River to chronicle the design, construction and installation of eight public art pieces along the new 1.3 mile stretch of the San Antonio River Walk. The book was released on May 29, 2010.

The new book features dramatic color photographs exploring the array of painting, sculpture, sound and light along the 1.3 mile Urban Segment of the winding Museum Reach north of downtown. Media range from fiber optic cement to glimmering pieces of dichroic acrylic to the sounds of birds calling. The book was a collaboration of artistic talents that included author Wendy Weil Atwell, photographer Mark Menjivar, book contributor Andréa Caillouet, and publisher Lewis Fisher, who wrote the forward to the book.

Arts writer Wendy Atwell chronicles the collection and describes the work of the artists. They include Martin Richman, a light artist based in London; Bill Fontana, a San Francisco sound artist; Donald Lipski, a sculptor from Philadelphia; and four San Antonio artists--Stuart Allen, who works with light and color; painter Mark Schlesinger; metal sculptor George Schroeder; and Carlos Cortés, 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 neglected neighborhoods that are now being transformed by the project. The River Spectacular includes an audio CD of an original sound mix from Bill Fontana's Sonic Passage sound installation under Jones Avenue Bridge.

The book is 64 pages and features 66 color photographs. It retails for $38.95 and is available through Maverick Publishing Co. www.maverickpub.com or via phone (800-431-1579). It is also available at many San Antonio bookstores as well as Amazon.com.