#Sculpture Park

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

Victor's Way. Indian Sculpture Park-Wicklow, Ireland.

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Mathias Weinfurter - Palisade Fence, 2023

[hyombus]

Sitting With Takofuusen 8/13/2023

[jsands84]

Running some errands today and the Pappajohn Sculpture Park happened to be in the middle of them.

[docileeffects]

[cerealdigitalgallery]

Territories of Dreams by Patricia Lortie & Sabine Lecorre-Moore

Kiyooka Ohe Arts Centre & Sculpture Park, Mohkinstis, Canada

June 2023

[ilovejoyjessie]

the “Hidden Figures” series

+ Photographed by @skyclad.studio (ig) // website

Back in the before times, in 2019, I took a trip to Minneapolis for a concert on New Year’s Eve. With literally 30 hours in the city, I landed on the 31st at 9am, headed to the concert at around 9pm - had a transcendent time - then back to the hotel afterwards. The next day, I had about 5 hours to kill before having to head at the airport to return home. I asked the front desk for a late checkout - they obliged - and at noon I left my room with 3 hours still until I had to hit the road.

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When I can squeeze it into a trip to a new place, I try to make a visit to an art museum or botanical attraction in the area. I looked to see what was nearby and fatefully, the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden - home of the Spoonbridge & Cherry and the notable Hahn/Cock - was a short drive from the hotel. I hailed a ride and hopped in, made lively banter with my driver, then soon enough stepped out of the car and down a set of steps onto the snowy park grounds.

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As I walked among the pieces, several of them spoke to me: the fracturedness of Judith Shea’s “Without Words”, the pensive and mysterious “Walking Man” by George Segal, the playful “Empire” by Eva Rothschild, the eerie holiness of Theaster Gates’ “Black Vessel for a Saint”... Some of them spoke to different feelings I had inside me at the time; others depicted stories I felt I could relate to and wanted to watch unfold before my eyes. I found myself wanting to interact with so many of them - wanting to fit myself into their sculpted moments, entwine my stories and feelings between their crevices and curves. But with only a few hours left in the city, I couldn’t squeeze in the chance to link with a fellow artist to help me capture the visions I had. So I tucked the concept away in my mind and continued moseying through the winding pathways of the park.

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Back to Seattle, the sculpture garden’s marks on me remained. As I embarked on other projects, processing other emotions through other pieces, I also started scouting places I could take my Midwest vision and execute it in the Pacific Northwest. Sure, there's plenty sculptures and statues in the city of Seattle - but getting to and interacting with them the way I wanted to (see my recent mini-post on nudity as vulnerability and power) would prove to be a little difficult...

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A fellow artist mentioned the Olympic Sculpture Park and I thought back to what I remembered seeing there. It’d been a minute since I had last walked through so I visited it again and the pieces that I saw touched me differently from the last time I saw them. Then, I was new to the area - everything shined brightly, glowing with a promise of what was to come for me here: “Which pieces would be the ones that I would grow to understand - which ones would I grow to love seeing in the distance?” But walking through it in 2022, the sculptures spoke to me differently than they did the first time; and in turn, they also spoke to a different me...

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I was seeing the sculptures with more worn eyes. And as I mentally noted which sculptures I could see myself fitting into like I had in Minneapolis, I started to realize that the pieces were reflecting a deeper feeling back at me: The pieces on the Olympic park grounds that spoke to me before were no longer the fascinating landmarks welcoming me to my new home - the pieces that spoke to me were the monuments that emphasized the outsider feelings I had that were settling in.

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In a place I thought I’d fit into, that I thought I had....I was sticking out. The boxes I thought I’d fit into I was pouring out of. The doors I thought were wide open were really just windows ajar just wide enough for me to stick an arm’s length into. The language of the land I thought I knew and understood were now sounding strange. Though I’d been here for 4 years, I felt like a stranger who didn’t belong - an antigen the host was beginning to respond to and filter out, an intrusive thought in someone else’s dream.

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I slowly realized that this concept was bigger for me than just speaking to my original thought of art begetting art as I combined my feelings and stories with the ones depicted on the park grounds. The feelings I had looking over the park pieces stirred the idea to speak to and represent the way I felt about being here now, with this iconic Seattle landscape as the backdrop. “Hidden Figures” then became my next cathartic art exercise - a visual representation of the struggle I felt trying to find my place in the city’s spaces I thought were made for me, the dichotomy of how standing out can be a strength and a hinderance here, and the lonesomeness that can come with being a transplant in the city - baring and presenting all those feelings in the heart of the city itself.

[primathehomonculus]

Diary of a Homunculus, page 8 The Oldhouse peninsula, situated right next to my town, has many sculpture parks and cool buildings ^_^

[aisling-saoirse]

Grounds for Sculpture - August 27th 2018

[sexypinkon]

The sculptures found in Grenada’s underwater park have become one with the space in such a profound way that upon diving to see them firsthand, you may be led to believe, based on what you see and the atmosphere, that art has existed since ancient times. Not so, as the park was first constructed in 2006. Constructed from concrete and steel, some of the sculptures weigh as much as 15 tons. They’re held in place by bolts, on the bottom of the seafloor. The sculptures, 75 in all, lure divers of all sorts and even glass bottom boat tours, which also get decent views due to the fact that some of the sculptures are relatively close to the surface.

Thus far, Grenada’s Underwater Sculpture Park has stood the test of time; though you’ll notice that some did not escape completely unscathed. It’s just as well though, as the essence of the sculptures remain, and the national park continues to support conservation efforts as some of the entrance fees are used to aid marine management initiatives.

There are quite a few sculptures just waiting to be explored at the underwater sculpture park. The intention of the British sculptor who created it was not just to put together something that would look good underwater but would also aid conservation efforts. Reef damage had already been done, and the statues were put in after to help protect the reefs, help maintain the health of the ecosystem, and eventually, help restore underwater life in that area.

This is one of the highlights of the Grenada Underwater Sculpture Park. Christ of the Deep was created by Troy Lewis. Its installation was supported with funds from the Grenada Tourism Authority. This sculpture happens to be a replica of the original sculpture sited on the waterfront of the Carenage, St. George's harbour, which was given in gratitude to the people of Grenada for their hospitality and selflessness when they aided 600 passengers and crew members of the Bianca C. At its installation, the underwater sculpture marked the 50th anniversary of the Bianca C sinking. This wreck, the largest in the Caribbean, is also a popular scuba diving site.

Truly iconic, this sculpture features a group of children, 26 in all, Grenadian, and holding hands. They are positioned in a circle, and there are varying interpretations for this work of art. Some say it represents the circle of life, while others say that the children represent slaves thrown off ships so many years ago. There is a trend of thought that suggests it may even relate to the lives of these slaves being cut off, but largely, the true meaning remains a mystery. The creator, Jason deCaires Taylor’s true intent moves in and out with the waves. Still another analogy suggests that the concrete sculpture depicts “the adaptability of children in any environment as the sea embraces them and the children become part of their new environment”. Whatever was the intention of its creator, the Vicissitudes is a truly historic piece, and it is certainly a sight to behold on an underwater dive.

Read more here-:https://www.sandals.com/blog/underwater-sculpture-park-grenada/  and https://grenadaunderwatersculpture.com/grenada/

[pixel-alchemy]

"Where There In Five", Sculpture Park, Franklin, MA

[jayadophotography]

Asian Thai Sculpture At The Park

By: jayadophotography

You can buy me a coffee ☕ here. Thank you. 🙌

© 2023 Jay Ado Photography. All Rights Reserved.

[paulpingminho]

[rodenbeard]

Statues of the Buddha Park in Vientiane, Laos

[misandrie]

Statues of the Buddha Park in Vientiane, Laos

[volt-egy-feketem]