23 September 2016

Adjutant by Kim Beck

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Often the annual Three Rivers Arts Festival ends up leaving a new piece of public art in the city. In past years several sculptures have become permanent parts of the city scape. In 2015, with help from volunteers attending the festivities, a new mural was added next to Point State Park.

The canvas for this mural extends over 800 feet, running along the Heritage Trail between Point State Park and the convention center. Under the Fort Duquesne Bridge, a coating of grey paint provided the background for the paint by numbers project. Artist Kim Beck stenciled the design onto the wall and labeled the areas with codes for black, white and shades of grey to be filled in by the volunteers.

The silhouettes were inspired by a journal entry of Henry David Thoreau: There they stood in the midst of the open river on this shallow and weedy bar in the sun the leisurely sentries lazily pluming themselves as if the day were too long for them. They gave a new character to the stream. Adjutant they were to my idea of the river, these two winged men.

The mural is supposed to be temporary, but we haven’t found anything saying just how temporary. Riverlife is trying to finish their plan to develop and beautify our shores. They’ve accomplished a lot so far, but this spot is one that they’re still working on.

Some photos of the finished mural:

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