Nothing fishy on River Walk — just sculpture repairs
Seven of the 25 giant sunfish swimming through the sky beneath the Interstate 35 overpass on the San Antonio River have vanished — at least temporarily.
The Museum Reach art installation near Camden Street that depicts hand-painted, longeared fiberglass sunfish was partially taken down this fall so that the fish could be cleaned and the fins could be repaired after sustaining recent wind damage.
The school of fish along the west bank of the river, each measuring 7 feet long, likely will return sometime in late March or early April.
“They will be back,” said Frates Seeligson, the executive director of the San Antonio River
Foundation. “They’re just having a spa treatment but will be back, hopefully in time for Fiesta.”
The art installation, dubbed “F.I.S.H.” and created by Philadelphia artist Donald Lipski, was installed when the Museum Reach portion of the River Walk opened in 2009. The artwork is a cluster of sunfish, a species native to the San Antonio River. The fish, one of the most recognizable public art pieces near the Pearl, are lit from within at night.
The San Antonio River Foundation, which provides amenities and enhancements along the river and its tributaries, maintains the art installations along the River Walk. The nonprofit typically cleans the “F.I.S.H.” installation every two years at a
cost of $20,000.
The art installation was last cleaned in 2018, Seeligson said. The scheduled cleaning and repairs planned for 2020, however, had to be delayed in response to the pandemic.
This year, CPS Energy also is embarking on some environmental remediation work near I-35, and the fish needed to be removed until the project is complete.
“Working with our friends at CPS, it was an opportunity to work in conjunction to pull the fish down,” Seeligson said. “It makes it easier for us to do the repair job.”
Typically, the fish are cleaned with a lift over the river. This year, visual artists Cade Bradshaw and Stuart Allen are doing the repairs.
The school of fish is suspended in the area by cables, and the harsh winds beneath I-35 sometimes act as a “vortex” that can rip off the fiberglass dorsal fins. The foundation has a stockpile of extra fins for repairs.
In 2010, two were damaged by Tropical Storm Hermine, when winds peaked at 60 mph. None of the fish fell, but an anchor on one came unhinged and another cracked at its anchor point.
And in 2013, a few of the fiberglass sunfish on Lipski’s installation were damaged during a powerful windstorm. Several were left hanging, and one broke off completely and fell into the river. The wind also snapped the fins off several other fish.
During CPS Energy’s project, the west side of the River Walk from the pedestrian bridge near the San Antonio Museum of Art to the Grotto art installation will be closed.