Cincinnati Gateway
By Andrew Leicester
Cincinnati Gateway is the official entrance to Sawyer Point’s Bicentennial Commons. Commissioned to celebrate the city’s 200th birthday, the environmental sculpture honors the history and beauty of the Ohio River and the City of Cincinnati. Gateway contains many references to Cincinnati’s past including prehistoric mounds and historic steamboats.
This exciting monument features many artistic elements including flood columns, a golden ark and tall stacks. The whimsical winged pigs atop four steamboat stacks recall a time when Cincinnati was nicknamed “Porkopolis.” A plaque outside the entrance details the sculpture.
Cincinnatus
By Eleftherios and Mercene Karkadoulias
Cincinnatus is the legendary Roman military leader from the 4th century B.C. His statue, located in Sawyer Point’s Bicentennial Commons, shows him giving up the fasces, the bundle of rods in his right hand that is a symbol of leadership, to return to his life as a farmer.
The Cincinnatus Association, which commissioned the work, was founded just after the American Revolution by a group of military officers. One of its members, Governor Arthur St. Clair, gave Cincinnati its name.
Law and Society
By Barna von Sartory
Law and Society is located within CRC’s Sawyer Point and Bicentennial Commons. The sculpture uses the basic building blocks of architecture to create a ceremonial gateway.
The combination of polished stainless steel and Indiana limestone symbolizes the balance between nature (rock) and technology (steel) and the mutually supportive relationship between our laws and social structure.
Water’s Edge
By Claire Darley and Rebecca Seeman
Water’s Edge is a work of environmental art which consists of painted steel panels with laser cut designs based on the imagery of simplified plant forms. The artwork is incorporated into fencing at the Dunham Recreation Complex’s Otto Armleder Memorial Regional Aquatic Center.
Westward
By David von Schlegell
Westward’s design suggests a plow or sail representing the pioneering spirit of westward expansion in America and the dynamic role Cincinnati played in that movement. The sculpture, commissioned by private funds, honors the civic accomplishments of the Hauck family and marks a location near the landing of Cincinnati’s first Anglo-European settlers.
Whistle Grove
By Christopher Janney
Whistle Grove is a series of 24 metal smokestacks showcasing the importance of steam in the early days of riverboat travel. When experiencing Whistle Grove, visitors feel the relevance that riverboats played in the early history of Cincinnati.
Steam is released from each of the stainless steel smokestacks when visitors walk past several computer-synchronized motion sensors installed in each column. Different sounds are triggered by passing the various columns. Calliope music plays, a steamboat whistles and voices of river veterans talk about the rigors of life on the Ohio.
