Dan Bowen, seated, beautiful bench artist, along with Beautiful Bench Coordinator, left, Julie Bowen, Janine Bowen, and Board Member John Bishop, Atchison Art Association, near the “Clark and Lewis Bench” on Nov. 30 near Commercial Street and River Road.
Representation of the cannon firing a cannon ball as depicted on a side panel of the newly placed "Clark and Lewis" Beautiful Bench placed along Commercial Street and River Road.
Dan Bowen, seated, beautiful bench artist, along with Beautiful Bench Coordinator, left, Julie Bowen, Janine Bowen, and Board Member John Bishop, Atchison Art Association, near the “Clark and Lewis Bench” on Nov. 30 near Commercial Street and River Road.
Representation of the cannon firing a cannon ball as depicted on a side panel of the newly placed "Clark and Lewis" Beautiful Bench placed along Commercial Street and River Road.
Beautiful Bench number nine, “Clark and Lewis” was recently set along Commercial Street and River Road near Atchison Riverfront where it visually tells the tale of the first Fourth of July celebration in the American western frontier.
The artwork by Dan Bowen, a retired science professor at Benedictine College is crafted in tiles and is a rendition of a map of famed explorers, Meriwether Lewis, and William Clark and members of their Expedition journeyed in 1804 forth from the Mississippi River in Illinois proceeding along the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. A mass of blue glass tiles represents the Pacific Ocean along the opposite end of the bench.
Bowen was the center of the bench and is a representation of the Mandan Village along their journey.
It was Bowen’s research and work in the Benedictine Bottoms that he admitted sparked his interest in the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Seemingly it served as a source of inspiration for his artful bench.
The bench is located not too far from where the Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition indicate where Meriwether Lewis walked up to the top of a bluff and looked out over the landscape. Southbound a few blocks from the bench flows the stream explorers dubbed July 4, 1804, Creek and shot off a cannon to celebrate the Independence Day holiday. Bowen depicts a cannon and cannonball along one side panel of the bench. Along the other side panel, is Bowen’s depiction of the gill of whiskey freely flowing. The vessel was passed around to the Expedition members to mark the nighttime celebration at their campsite along the stream they named Independence Creek in honor of the holiday. Clark noted in the journal, they shot off a few rounds from the cannon there at the Independence Creek site located north of Atchison limits. Excerpts from the Journal highlight the depictions.
Bowen said he would like to do two more benches in honor of the Expedition and the notes from the historic Journals one about the animals and the other with a focus on the plants.
Art Bench Coordinator Angie Cairo, and Bowens’ family and friends, members of the Atchison Art Association were on hand for the bench setting.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.