A narrative

The day was Halloween. It  began in a rather average manner and slowly escaladed to become more and more eerie. The 5 bulky Iowa state vans careened around the corner. I woke up as my head smacked against the window as Julie abruptly halted van number one. It was a rather shabby parking situation in attempting to avoid parking over any dead bodies … and then it occurred to me, we were in a grave yard. I stepped out of the van, blinking in the searing sunlight, overwhelmed by a draft of hot, muggy air. It was a bit of a relief from the dank quarters of the body odor infested vans. Graves both old and new stretched to the farthest horizon, as far as my eye could see. Our stay at the cemetery was brief, however impacting. The sense of the gravestones was nostalgic and proud, giving us our first taste of the south. And what better place to be on Hallows Eve!

 Our next venture led us to our campsite at Homochito. You could say that putting up our tents was a fun time; that is, if you’re definition of a fun time is trying to hammer stakes into solid rocky ground right beside the road. After setting up tents, the real fun began. Costume upon costume of creativity appeared out of the woodwork…literally. Under the tight confines of our suitcases, some managed to pack their costumes, while others made theirs up the day of after a quick trip to Walmart and a thrift store. Julie fooled us all with her raven costume by buying black angel wings. She threw us all for a loop when she cut them in half to make wing-like gloves. So creative! It’s like she works at the College of Design or something.

Other creatures of the night that we saw on this eve were:

 

10 | Halloween in Homochito

A few extra photos from the Halloween Festivities....

Day 9 | Mud Island Park and Ritchie Smith Associates

As the last day in Memphis came to a close, the professors were feeling generous, and let us sleep in an extra hour (Generosity, or was Mud Park not open until 10am?)

We spent our morning at Mud Island Park, an island located between the Mississippi River, and Wolf River Harbor, conveniently a few blocks from our hotel location. The park has restricted access, and only a few ways to enter.

Along with a large outdoor amphitheater, the main emphasis of the park was a large re-creation of the Mississippi River and it’s surrounding topography and land formations – 30 inches of the rendition create a single mile of the Mississippi.

After a brief lecture on the history and construction of the park, we were let lose to draw a two-page spread, capturing the essence of the park, skyline, design details and flaws.

The second part of our day was spent visiting The Landscape Architecture Firm, Ritchie Smith Associates. We swapped our hiking boots and adventure gear with some clean, spiffy attire. The firm was small, but had enough plans, samples, and books to fill Parks Library.

Ritchie Smith has worked on numerous projects that include places we visited while in Memphis including Greenway Trail, Courtyard Square, Riverfront Landing, and many other designs and installments throughout the city.

It was a valuable experience visiting Ritchie Smith Associates- to imagine a sort of place we may work in someday in our future.

Hannah and Lauren

Day 8 | Beale Street

Today we explored the birthplace of blues, Beale Street in Memphis Tennessee. The weather was a little chilly, made colder by the wind. We had a Beale Street history lesson in Robert Church Senior Park. Some of the fun facts from that sit down were:

• Used to be a rich merchant district with mansions away from the river, and shipyards and stores down by the riverfront
• Robert Church Sr. bought most of the land surrounding Beale street after the Yellow Fever epidemic in the 1870's
• 1890's began Beale Streets first success as a Cultural Nexus, a hub of Southern music
• 1903 was W.C Handy's arrival to Beale Street
• Roaring twenties welcomed the height of Beale Street as a musical cultural district
• Beale street died during the Great Depression and didn't start to come back till the 1970's

After our history lesson, we walked down to the riverfront to explore the area known as Beale Street Landing. The teachers were surprised to find that we would not be able to aptly experience the landing because of the construction being done for a new Beale Street Landing. We did explore Beale Street in our pairs to generate what would fit in with both Memphis and Beale Street. Tonight we have been working on our renvision of the Beale Street Landing of our own. We have made natural history plans, and cultural plans. The teachers surprised us with a group pizza dinner, with pizza from a local pizza place, soda, and candy. Fully sugared and caffeinated we are now are working on combining our natural and culture plans into a landing that reflects all of Beale Street and Memphis' history.  

Chad rocking out with The King

Taking over Beale Street

Construction Work on Beale Street Landing

Austin jammin' and working hard

All of us working hard after some good food

Day 7 | Walking in Memphis

Surprise! Sunday is your free day! After an unexpected announcement that our free day was moved from Monday to Sunday, we spent our first day in Memphis, Tennessee exploring the city. Some students started the morning by attending nearby churches. Some even used this opportunity to catch up on some independent sketching and learn about the architecture of the area.

Hannah's sketch of the Trinity Lutheran Church

Even though we are well-acquainted with various hotels, we decided to visit one more. The Peabody Hotel has ducks that swim in a large fountain in a beautiful and extravagant lobby    

Ducks in the fountain.

Beale St. is the cultural and historical heart and lifeblood of Memphis. It is famous for its blues music, barbecue food, and atmosphere.  After a morning of perusing shops and museums, some students treated themselves to lunch at restaurants like B.B. King’s. They enjoyed ribs, pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans, coleslaw, and more. Live blues music in the restaurant really gave them a feel for the culture of Beale St.

Yummmm... Hungry?

Entertainment during lunch.

Another group of students spent the day at the Memphis Zoo. They saw monkeys, giraffes, reptiles, flamingos, lions, tigers, and so much more. The experience also included a seal show and camel rides.

Group photo at the Zoo.

Lions and tigers and... CAMELS?

Some students returned to Beale St. at night, and found it transformed.  Street performers flipped and tumbled, neon lights flashed, music played, and people laughed. The space was far more populated and lively at night than during the day.

Beale street coming to life. 

Neon lights of Beale St. 

Doing some late night shopping at the street markets off Beale St.

Amanda
Katherine