Current Exhibit
A River Runs Through It: The Mississippi in the Urban Core
Selected Images 2021 – 2024
Artist’s Comment
The Mississippi River provides a heartbeat and connector for the Twin Cities metropolitan area. It supports commerce, recreation, research and learning, advocacy, and spiritual reflection for people and, of course, it also serves as an important migration corridor and habitat for birds, animals, and fish.
It’s also an unusually wild place given its location. Except for the occasional airplane or power boat, a walk in Fort Snelling State Park/Bdote can feel like a similar stroll in a north woods forest. Quiet enjoyment, easily accessible, is a hallmark of the river.
Over the span of the river within the metro area there are important designations that recognize and protect the ecological qualities and promote accessibility. These include the Mississippi National River Recreation Area – a unit of the National Park Service – a 72 mile stretch that includes the Twin Cities section, and state and local parks and natural areas, the most significant of which is Fort Snelling State Park. Macalester owns and operates a research site (the Ordway Field Station) south of downtown St. Paul; most of that parcel was protected in perpetuity by a conservation easement in 2013. A painting depicting the Ordway site is a permanent feature of the Smail Gallery.
This exhibit offers examples of some of the rivers many uses and moods. The collection of images from which the exhibit is drawn has been shared with Fort Snelling State Park, the Friends of the Mississippi River (the local advocacy group for the river) and some relevant Macalester faculty and staff.
The images were captured between the two downtowns, which is the portion of the river closest to where you are now standing.
DAVID WHEATON, AUGUST 2025
About the Artist
Retired Macalester CFO David Wheaton is an active amateur landscape photographer. His retirement project of using the Mississippi River in the Twin Cities forms the basis of this year’s Smail Gallery exhibit. The images were captured in the last several years at various times and places between the two downtowns. All shooting locations are within an easy drive of the Macalester campus.