It’s an absolute treat when David Ryejol organizes a poster project for a good cause. In 2021, that resulted in Local Lands, a poster exhibit and fundraising effort that celebrates the vast public parks of the Greater St. Louis Area while supporting River City Outdoors, a network of partners addressing the barriers that exist to safe and equitable outdoor access in the St. Louis region. 

We were all encouraged to pick a favorite public park in St. Louis to create a poster for, and I was excited to go with my downtown outdoor refuge: Citygarden Sculpture Park. This space gave me much needed breaks from office work by giving me a path to walk through, sculptures to contemplate and interact with, and flowers to smell in the spring time. It’s a small wonder in a bustling city, and I was happy to pay tribute to it. 

I illustrated a few of my favorite sculptures that can be found, all intertwined by the gravel path that winds through the park. I nestled them together in the shape of an arc, to commemorate the very arch you can see while there. Four colors were picked from the palette given to artists to keep all posters connected and cohesive.

While the expo was only a weekend long, you can still view and purchase posters at locallands.org.