Three weeks ago, I published the first in a series of daily website blog-posts, of writings and artworks that celebrate personal mobility, in pursuit of mindful engagements with history, nature and the environment. In relation to a finished painting or essay, this process is no less a work of art than is the tree to the fruit it bears. Shared as messages of hope and solidarity, these posts will appear every day, until these dark days are behind us.

Exploring the banks of the Schuylkill River in 2018, between the mouth of Wissahickon Creek and Fairmount Water-Works I filled a sketchbook with paintings. Later that year, a suite of prints drawn from this journal would become the centerpiece of an installation at Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia. A month after the show opened, a fine-press suite of seven archival pigment prints drawn from the series was published in a limited-edition of fifty copies by Needlewatcher Editions. These were acquired b a number of distinguished local institutions including Free Library of Philadelphia, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Independence Seaport Museum, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and Temple University’s Paley Library. The remainder weer acquired by a number of private individuals, including some notable members of the rowing community.

Double Upstream from COLUMBIA RAILROAD BRIDGE. Schuylkill River Sketchbook. Sunday, April 22. 2018

Crossing the Schuylkill where the river turns sharply from southwest to southeast is the Columbia Railroad Bridge, constructed in 1920. The concrete-arch structure replaced an 1866 railroad-bridge built on the site of a covered bridge constructed in 1834.

Granville Perkins (1830-1895) View of the Schuylkill River from Belmont, from Picturesque America. 1870. The 1866 bridge can be seen in the lower left

For joggers, cyclists, and pedestrians, Columbia Bridge marks a halfway point between the Philadelphia Museum of Art and East Falls. Just north of the bridge sits a partially covered grandstand built so viewers could watch the frequent regattas organized by the Schuylkill Navy, legendary meets with names like the Stotesbury Cup, Dad Vale and Head of the Schuylkill. Competitive amateur rowing was not in its early days reserved for privileged elites, despite being portrayed in that light by popular media. On the contrary. Founded in 1856, Undine barge club was named for the central character in an 1814 book by Friedrich Heinrich Karl, Baron Motte-Fouque about a legendary water-nymph, drawn by love into the world of humans. Members included Civil War hero and architect Frank Furness, who designed Undine’s upriver clubhouse, Castle Ringstetten and painter Thomas Eakins. The sport today caters to athletes of diverse backgrounds and ethnicity, from scions of ancient families to immigrants. Bank presidents might find themselves on the water with bricklayers.

John B. Kelley Sr. by Harry Rosin (1897-1973)
At the northern end of the grandstand a bronze sculpture honors the son of an Irish immigrant. John Brendan Kelly Sr.(1889-1960), who was barred from competing in the 1920 Henley Regatta. Having worked for his father as a bricklayer, Kelly was disqualified for possessing an unfair physical advantage over respectable gentlemen who had never done a day’s work in their lives. Kelly was vindicated later that year by winning gold at the Olympic games in Antwerp. Kelly’s son continued the family tradition of rowing and philanthropy, while his daughter became a noted actress and later, Princess of Monaco.

Double Upstream from Columbia Bridge. Color intaglio print with mixed media. Printed by master printer C.R. Ettinger, Philadelphia.
Rising behind the tree line, on the west side of the river is the dome of Memorial Hall. Built to serve as the art-gallery for the 1876 Centennial Exposition. it now houses the Please Touch Museum today.

With Undine artist-in-residence Joseph Sweeney, at Castle Ringstetten on October 26, 2018. Listen to my interview with Joe Sweeney, conducted at Undne Barge Club, as part of the Schuylkill River Netcast, created for the installation On the Water, The Schuylkill River at Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia.

(A preview of SKETCHBOOK TRAVELER by James L. McElhinney (c) 2020. Schiffer Publishing).

Copyright James Lancel McElhinney (c) 2020 Texts and images may be reproduced (with proper citation) by permission of the author. To enquire, send a request to editions@needlewatcher.com