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Kids' Clubhouse Newsletter: Fall 2003
Volume 3, Number 2
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The long-awaited public art installation of ceramic birds made by children and youth in the Kids' Clubhouse program took place in late August, and a festive dedication of the birds and their neighboring
creatures in the St. Louis floodwall sculpture is set for Saturday, Sept. 20.
The celebration will serve as a 10th anniversary observance for Kids' Clubhouse, marking a decade of bereavement counseling services to St. Louis-area children and youth.
Kids' Clubhouse Volunteers and Families Get Together at the Waterfront Sept. 20
The birds are the northernmost section of "Reflecting on a River," a 150-foot-long mural by St. Louis sculptor Catharine Magel. The mural's theme is Missouri wildlife and conservation.
Beginning at the southern end, just north of Laclede's Landing, the mural flows from panel to panel, depicting microscopic life, fish and reeds, nocturnal creatures, fossil-laden earth,
butterflies and finally the Kids' Clubhouse birds, which lift and soar skyward toward the north along the Mississippi riverbank.
Magel created the mural under commission from the nonprofit group Trailnet, which develops new bicycle paths and links them up with existing trails in the regional network called
Confluence Greenway. One of the Confluence Greenway bike paths follows the floodwall and the river to the Chain of Rocks Bridge and beyond.
Magel enlisted many people, young and old, in creating the mural. For Kids' Clubhouse, she provided silhouettes of flying birds in clay to youngsters in the organization's bereavement counseling groups and showed them how to add texture and decoration.
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Kids in both city school and evening groups fashioned wonderful birds of amazing variety
Working with these silhouettes, the kids in both city school and evening groups fashioned wonderful birds of amazing variety. They then embedded in the clay slips of paper bearing messages to loved ones who had died. When Magel kiln-fired the sculptures, the paper slips burned and released the words.
"The Kids' Clubhouse birds are probably the most powerful section of the mural," Magel said.
The disembodied messages and the soaring birds themselves certainly proved to be powerful symbols for the children and youth who created them, an assurance that though death has taken loved ones from them, those left behind can still pour out their hearts and find new expression for their loss.
Others helping create the mural included school children, residents of shelters and nursing homes, scouts, students from the Missouri School for the Blind, and Americorps volunteers from Grace Hill Community Services.
Magel first positioned all the birds in a sweeping flock that rises skyward, and then with her husband Vince mounted them on the wall using cement with an acrylic additive to make it more flexible in changing temperatures.
To visit the birds, follow Leonor K. Sullivan Drive north from Laclede's Landing. Sullivan Drive quickly becomes Lewis Boulevard. Continue north and turn right into a parking lot on the north side of the Laclede Power/Trigen Energy Corp. facility. Park near the river and follow the signs to the bicycle trail.
Read the Kids' Clubhouse Newsletter in PDF Format
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