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Shopping Centers Today -> May 2003
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ART HISTORY
Mural at Iowa mall recalls Lewis and Clark expedition through Siouxland area
BY DONNA MITCHELL
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| At press time mall officials were in the process of putting 38 paintings above storefronts in Southern Hills Mall, Sioux City, Iowa. The Lewis and Clark expedition passed through the area 200 years ago. |
Americans across the country are celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition this year, and Southern Hills Mall, Sioux City, Iowa, is among them. The mall is unveiling a mural this spring that depicts several important encounters and events the explorers faced, some of which occurred close by.
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The Lewis and Clark expedition passed through what would become Sioux City to explore the territory west of the then-boundaries of the United States. Recognizing its proximity to this landmark event in the country’s history, Southern Hills Mall commissioned 38 paintings in all. When put end to end, they stretch 296 feet, says Jenny Braga, a spokeswoman for The Macerich Co., which owns the 800,000-square-foot, single-level mall. The pictures are being placed above the storefronts of the mall’s in-line tenants.
The project, titled “Lewis & Clark: An American Adventure,” is one of the largest original collections of Lewis and Clark artwork to date, Braga says.
“We needed to do something ourselves to strengthen the Siouxland area as a tourist destination,” said Kristen Walter, CMD, the mall’s marketing manager. Siouxland is a 40-mile area that takes in parts of Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. The expedition stopped in the Sioux City area twice — in 1804 on the way out west, and again on its way back in 1806.
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| Sgt. Charles Floyd, the only expedition member to die during the trip, is buried about a mile and a half away from the shopping center. |
The art illustrates some of the more dramatic aspects of the Lewis and Clark expedition, which President Thomas Jefferson ordered to learn whether a network of rivers existed through the then-uncharted western territories as a link to the Pacific Ocean. At the time, the United States extended from the Atlantic Ocean in the East to the Mississippi River in the West, and from the Great Lakes in the North nearly to the Gulf of Mexico in the South (an area roughly 1,000 miles by 1,000 miles). Led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the 33-man team, called the Corps of Volunteers for North Western Discovery, set out from Washington, D.C., in 1803. They came through the Siouxland area about a year later. That’s when Sergeant Charles Floyd died, the only member of the expedition to perish during the trip, a result of what historians now suspect was hepatitis. His memorial is about a mile and a half away from the shopping center, at the spot where he died.
Split Rock Studios, St. Paul, Minn., a firm that designs and creates cultural and natural history exhibits, produced all of the paintings for Southern Hills Mall. Relying on historians’ interpretations of the Lewis and Clark journals, the artists also depicted the expedition’s encounters with American Indian tribes — some friendly, some hostile — and the discoveries of such landmarks as Beacon Rock, an 850-foot-high volcanic formation in Washington state.
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| The paintings depict a variety of events, some festive, some darker. |
Along with the art, Southern Hills Mall is installing eight freestanding panels with dates and brief narratives of the various scenes. Some include a quote from the Lewis and Clark journals, said Richard Nelson, an exhibit developer for Split Rock Studios. Mall officials expect to publish a 38-page companion booklet this summer in English and Spanish, Walter said.
All told, the paintings and freestanding panels cost about $158,000, said Nelson. The importance of the Lewis and Clark expedition to the area’s history justifies the investment, Walter said. “That is one big venture that we are a part of.”
Mall officials are also sponsoring a Lewis and Clark girls’ high school basketball tournament and reenactments of a few of the expedition’s more pleasant events. Guaranteing that the exhibition will leave a mark, in March the National Park Service designated Southern Hills Mall a national trail site. The mall will also open a visitor center and a children’s play area themed on the expedition.
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