A Walk in the Park -- 1/30/2015

With beautiful blue skies and a temp of -- well, we are wearing jackets and warm caps -- Bruce and Vicki lead us down to the waterfront and a tour of Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park.

A low lying cloud hovers about and we quickly shoo it away with our wishes.  As we make our way, we get a view of the Ferris Wheel and remember its Seahawk blue and green lights at night.

Links are inserted for further reading.

The Eagle, painted steel, was created in 1971 by Alexander Calder.  Appears very proud, spreading wings and ready to fly, with beak pointed upward.

Partial view of Wake with intriguing reflections in the glass building.

Richard Serra, a former steel mill worker, created the five part Wake, the largest permanent sculpture in the park.  It weighs 300 tons and stretches 125 feet.   

I quote from this link one of the reasons for the name:  "But for the artist, the piece has a more personal reference, too. The title "Wake" also references the death of his friend Kirk Varnedoe. Varnedoe, the warmly regarded former curator at New York's Museum of Modern Art, died in 2003 and had been planning a retrospective exhibition for Serra."

My attention is grabbed by a plane overhead pulling a '12' banner.  Anticipation for next Sunday's Super Bowl game.

"We are 12"

The needle will be lighted in blue and green tonight.

I don't know where I would find a typewriter eraser today, other than in a museum -- or a sculpture park.  Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen are the artists and used fiberglass and steel, painted with acrylic urethane.

Teresita Fernandez used laminated glass on this bridge, which provides safe access over the railroad, and leads to another part of the park.  The view below shows reflections on the wall behind it.  Named "Seattle Cloud Cover," it represents images of the changing sky.

A walk along the Cloud creation.

Very interesting to me is the fountain, "Father and Son," two life size sculptures; one is a man, the other a boy.  Shown below is the Father, with the Son obscured by the height of the water spout.  Each hour the fountains shift, revealing next the Son and obscuring the Father.  A bell tolls the hour.  

Artist is Louise Bourgeois.  If I remember correctly, I am told someone wanted male nudity to be given equal time in the art world, but stipulated that the two figures would never be shown at the same time.   It is fascinating to simply stop and watch.  And listen.

The Father

The Son

This amazing creation by Mark di Suvero in painted and unpainted steel, shows his interest in motion. Schubert Sonata moves in a circular fashion, as the wind changes direction and effectively acts as a weather vane.

Even more amazing is Echo, whose eyes are closed, and who was added to the park in May of 2011. The artist, Jaume Plensa, regularly makes monumental, elongated, white heads of girls.  

Echo's story is from Greek Mythology, and I quote in part:  "But other silences in Echo are disturbing, too. In a reference to Zeus's home, Mount Olympus of Greece, the sculpture is planted facing Mount Olympus of the Olympic Mountains across the water from Seattle."

Not to be missed is the story of Echo's involvement with Zeus and his wife, Hera at this link.  Many views of Echo will also be shown.

More of her story and how she became to be named Echo is told here.

I tend to think like Roy McMakin, artist of "Love and Loss."  The second photo follows his theme.

The white object on the left is the L.  To its right is a round O.  Farther right is the painted tree trunks making a V.  The E is on the table -- together they spell Love.

The ampersand is pictured above.

Beginning at the white object on the left - L, then the white round one - O, and in the foreground are the two S's -- spelling Loss.

Mark di Suvero also created Bunyon's Chess, criss-cross steel beams with wood.

At the far end of the waterfront is a beach which should be visited both at high and at low tides.  You may encounter a Seattle Aquarium Beach Naturalist to hear about protecting the beaches.

The Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle is a destination not to be missed, and to enjoy it fully will take a whole afternoon, or better still a whole day.

Or more.

Many of the sculptures are not shown here, as my camera told me, "Enough!  Come back another day."

I will.

Willie of Willie's Tug,

   and of Walldog, Willie and Jake

   Friday, January 30, 2015