Brickline brings public art to North St. Louis

On a gloomy Wednesday, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis was packed as young musicians from the HEAL Center for the Arts played in the background. But the crowd wasn’t there for the exhibitions inside the museum. 

It came for a preview of art that will soon meet St. Louis residents where they live, walk and gather.

Guests of the Brickline Greenway Art Party received a preview of the public art installations underway in North St. Louis as part of Great Rivers Greenway’s Brickline Greenway project. The work will continue over the next two years, stretching from Fairground Park to the Grand Center Arts District.

“What makes this project special is that it is not just being built for us — it is being built with us,” said St. Louis resident Karen Greer, a member of the Brickline Greenway Community Advisory Committee. “As a neighbor, I see a connective tissue that is finally weaving our neighborhood back together.”

The Brickline Greenway could be one of the city’s most transformative projects, bringing art beyond museum walls and into the public spaces people encounter in their everyday lives, said Lisa Melandri, executive director of CAM, which hosted the event. 

“Brickline Greenway is more than just a trail,” said St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer. “It’s an investment in our neighborhoods.”

Great Rivers Greenway CEO Mark Perkins said the project is intended to connect St. Louis through sustainable infrastructure while incorporating public art that creates “beauty and meaning — and a sense of place.”

Greer referenced the May 16, 2025, tornado, but noted that the unraveling began long before the storm.

“Our communities have been separated by physical and historical barriers. The Greenway is a change,” Greer said. “It’s bringing art to our backyards — helping create a vibrant, safe and beautiful space where we can all gather, talk and watch our families grow.”

She also highlighted artists whose work will appear through murals, sculptures and ground-level installations.

“It brings a new sense of pride, accessibility and community health right to our doorsteps,” Greer said.

Edward Jones Managing Partner Penny Pennington spoke to the role public art plays in community life.

“Public art interrupts us in a really good way,” Pennington said. “It creates space for us to slow down, to reflect and maybe see things differently.”

Pennington’s remarks were an ideal precursor to artist Christine Corday, whose sculpture and seating installation for the northern portion of the Brickline Greenway is a gift from Edward Jones.

“Art is a place where we meet,” Corday said. “It is democratic, informed and equitable. It is illimitable as a wellspring.”

Her installation will be titled “Finney Plaza: A Place to Dream.”

“We are bringing neighborhoods, institutions and communities together in historic scale,” Corday said. “It’s not furniture — it’s foundation. It’s the human experience.”

Vanessa Cooksey, president and CEO of the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis, spoke to the accessibility of public art.

“Initiatives like the Brickline Greenway show us what’s possible when art becomes a part of our everyday lives,” Cooksey said. “Public art is special because you don’t need a ticket, an invitation or permission to experience it.”

Cooksey said public art can foster belonging, unity and sustainable economic growth.

“I am grateful to Great Rivers Greenway — and the Brickline Greenway — for ensuring that art isn’t just behind doors,” she said. “It meets us where we are and imagines where we can go together.”

St. Louis Poet Laureate Pacia Elaine Anderson closed the program with three stories that led into a poem reflecting the importance of public art and the Brickline Greenway.

She shared a moment when “life was lifing,” and she found herself at a car wash, where a mural on Jefferson Avenue caught her eye.

“Instantly, I felt settled,” Anderson said. “I felt protected. I felt like everything was going to be okay.”

Her poem, “Connection,” reinforced her message.

“A walkway to the beautiful parts of ourselves,” Anderson said of the Brickline Greenway. “Where wonder and delight dance down corridors that stretch us beyond our comfort zone.”

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