Auburn #Art on Main

Recently I took a walk down Main Street in Auburn, Washington, to check out the current public art installations. Here are some of the delightful creations on display. Descriptions of the art were taken from the City of Auburn website.

Artist: Ann Danis
Title: Seahorse
Medium: Stainless steel body and armature with steel nose
Location: 10 East Main Street (#5)

This whimsical fork seahorse, created by Elizabeth Ann Danis, is one in a series of seahorses created in Studio B.  It represents the joy of nature and our responsibility to protect all the creatures of the earth,  but sea creatures in particular. We are all in this together.

Artist: Tom Benedict
Title: The Corkscrew Juniper
Medium: Rocky Mountain juniper wood
Location: B St. NE & B St. parking lot (#8)

Rocky Mountain Junipers  grow for hundreds of years in some of natures’ most inhospitable places. “The Corkscrew Juniper” celebrates the refined beauty, and tortured endurance of these amazing trees.

Artist: Cyrra Robinson

Title: Reflective Balance
Medium: Stainless steel
Location: 10 East Main St. (#4)

This sculpture is about reflecting upon our actions in order to bring balance to the universe, so that we may experience freedom. 

Artist: Chuck Fitzgerald

Title: Strawberry
Medium: Stainless steel and polyurea
Location: D St. NE & Main St. (#10)

Because the northwest is well known for its berry production I decided to create a "pop art" version of the strawberry on a fork.

Artist: Pat McVay
Title: Cow That Tried to Jump Over the Hamburger
Medium: Single block of salvaged cedar
Location: B St. NE & Main St. (#7)

Cows are vegetarians, as you know
And they really are built to mow!
They can’t get that high
Away up Into the sky
Dreaming of jumping if she could
But actually, she really did pretty good!

Although not part of the street sculpture display, I like the way this storefront supports the Auburn Symphony Orchestra. 

More photos of all the sidewalk sculptures, along with descriptions by the artists, can be found on the City of Auburn website: HERE

FYI: I've posted photos of Auburn's Main Street art before. Here are the links:
November, 2018
March, 2018
February, 2018 (These sculptures are permanent fixtures.)

I'm linked with:

Our World Tuesday - Link HERE

Saturday Snapshot - Melinda at A Web of Stories - Link HERE 

Auburn #Art - #SaturdaySnapshots

Auburn, Washington, has new sculpture on its downtown sidewalks! Here's a sampling of what I found on a recent walk.
(Click on photos to enlarge.)

Artist: Anita Schuller & John Casey
Title: Olé!
Medium: Steel and glass

Artist: Rodger Squirrell
Title: Egg Timer III
Medium: Galvanized steel

Artist: Jacob Novinger
Title: Heirloom Hare
Medium: Direct metal sculpture

Artist: Sandra Hays
Title: Woman in the Mirror
Medium: Bronze

Artist: Lin McJunkin and Milo White
Title: Fossil III
Medium: Powder coated steel and cast glass

More: Auburn Downtown Sculpture

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. 

To join in or to view photos from around the world: 

Post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on West Metro Mommy Read's website (link: HERE) Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.

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Sculpture - #SaturdaySnapshot

Some of the walks I take with the Auburn Senior Activity Center are in urban areas--alongside lakes, in parks, on city sidewalks. Here are a few photos of sculptures I've seen along the way.

In Olympia, Washington:

"From the Sea"

Artist: Hugh Bucholz

Medium: Silicon Bronze

"Pendant Mandala"

Artist: Kenneth Hall

Medium: Welded Steel and Fused Glass 

(Glass by Kathleen Heidenreich)

 

"Diver"

Artist: Kevin Au

Medium: Stainless Steel

"Motherhood"
Artist: Simon Kogan
Medium: Cast Bronze
Date Acquired: 10/1/1999
Location: Percival Landing at Thurston Avenue

Near the Kirkland, Washington, waterfront (Lake Washington): 

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any information about the artist who created this sculpture.

Leap Frog
Bronze
Artist: Prince Monyo Mihailescu-Nasturel
Location: Marsh Park, 6605 Lake Washington Blvd NE
Gift from the Danz family, 1991

Centennial Fountain
Bronze
Artist: James Fitzgerald
Location: Marina Park, 25 Lakeshore Plaza
Gift funded by the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA), King County Arts Commission,
Community Friends, and International Rotary

Links to more information about these sculptures and others in these areas:

Olympia, WA, Percival Plinth Project

Kirkland, WA, Public Art

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. 

To join in or to view photos from around the world: 

Post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on West Metro Mommy Read's website (link: HERE) Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.

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Olympic Sculpture Park, #Seattle - #SaturdaySnapshots

This past Tuesday I went on a lovely walk through the Olympic Sculpture Park on the Seattle waterfront. The site was a former fuel storage and transfer facility, and clean-up of the contamination began in the 1990s. The sculpture park opened in January, 2007, and is part of the Seattle Art Museum. It overlooks Elliot Bay of Puget Sound. 

The nine-acre park is adjacent to Myrtle Edwards Park and Elliott Bay Park, which our group also enjoyed. The parks are free and open to the public. Here's a sample of what I saw:

"Split" by Roxy Paine, 2003

"The Eagle" by Alexander Calder, 1971
Olympic Mountains in the background.

Cyclists, joggers, families, school groups -- all enjoying a beautiful day

Clever bench design. I don't know the artist's name.

"Perre's Ventaglio III" by Beverly Pepper, 1967

"Schubert Sonata" by Mark di Suvero, 1992
This kinetic sculpture moves in the breeze. 

"Echo" by Jaume Plensa

"Father and Son" by Louise Bourgeois, 2004-2006

An inviting rose garden, too.

More info: Seattle Art Museum Map and Guide

Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. 

To participate: 

Post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on West Metro Mommy Read's website (link: HERE) Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.

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Auburn #Art BenchMarks - Saturday Snapshots

Last July I roamed the streets of Auburn, Washington, taking photos of Pianos on Parade. Then I posted them HERE for Saturday Snapshot. This  year, however, the big attraction was park benches. I didn't capture them all, but here are the ones I tracked down. The Green River College Carpentry Department fabricated the wooden benches and various organizations provided the designs. (Click on photos for a closer look.)

Interurban Center for the Arts with
Maple Lawn Elementary

"Your Donations Make a Difference"
Auburn Food Bank

"It's Never Goodbye - It's Always See Ya Later"
See Ya Later Foundation

"When you dance, your purpose is not to get to
a certain place on the floor. It's to enjoy each
step along the way."
Pacific Ballroom Dance 

"Changing the world by serving children,
one child and one community at a time"
Kiwanis Club of Auburn

"We Serve" - Auburn Noon Lions Club

Last but not least is "Sandy!"
White River Valley Museum

About Sandy, according to the City of Auburn website:

Sandy has been a beloved figure in Auburn for over half a century. Originally sitting in front of Massey's supermarket on East Main Street, this ten cent ride delighted a generation of children. Sandy now resides in the White River Valley Museum and if you are not taller than her ears you can still enjoy a ride on this piece of Auburn history!

Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.

To enjoy a variety of beautiful pictures from around the world, 

click HERE or on the box below.  

To participate in Saturday Snapshots: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) 

have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on the host blogsite. 

Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. 

Girl in Hyacinth Blue - Teaser Tuesday and First Chapter / First Paragraph

Have you ever read a book that goes backward in time instead of forward? That's the structure of Girl in Hyacinth Blue. In this story, the ownership of a painting is traced back through history, with each chapter revealing the effect the painting has on its owner, until the final chapter reveals the artist.

First Paragraph:
Love Enough
     Cornelius Engelbrecht invented himself. Let me emphasize, straight away, that he isn't what I would call a friend, but I know him enough to say that he did purposely design himself: single, modest dresser in receding colors, mathematics teacher, sponsor of the chess club, mild mannered acquaintance to all rather than a friend to any, a person anxious to become invisible. However, that exterior blandness masked a burning center, and for some reason that became clear to me only later, Cornelius Engelbrecht revealed to me the secret obsession that lay beneath his orderly, controlled design. 

Teaser (from Page 83, trade paperback edition):
And her headdress! She thought it clever to suggest her family's contributions to Dutch naval history by building a ship, a man-of-war I think it was, atop horizontal rows of cadogan curls - no one wore cadogan curls anymore - as if the vessel were bravely battling those ferocious blond waves. On its stern she flew a tiny flag. 
(In case you're curious, I did a Google search for "cadogan curls" and found this: "...the ladies adopted the "cadogan," an English style, similar to the wigs worn by the men. The hair was still powdered, but it was bunched out at the side and braided or curled, and looped up at the back.")  

Genre: Literature / Historical
Book Length: 196 Pages
Amazon Link: Girl in Hyacinth Blue
Author Website: Susan Vreeland

Synopsis:
This luminous story begins in the present day, when a professor invites a colleague to his home to see a painting that he has kept secret for decades. The professor swears it is a Vermeer—but why has he hidden this important work for so long? The reasons unfold in a series of events that trace the ownership of the painting back to World War II and Amsterdam, and still further back to the moment of the work's inspiration. As the painting moves through each owner's hands, what was long hidden quietly surfaces, illuminating poignant moments in multiple lives. Susan Vreeland's characters remind us, through their love of this mysterious painting, how beauty transforms and why we reach for it, what lasts and what in our lives is singular and unforgettable.

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!

Link at ADailyRhythm.com

First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.

Link at BibliophileByTheSea

Twitter: @SandyNachlinger

Facebook: sandy.nachlinger

Pianos on Parade - 2015 - Saturday Snapshot

Last August, I posted photos of Pianos on Parade in Auburn, Washington. So when an email arrived several days ago, saying the art installation was back for another year, I grabbed my camera! Here are this year's artists' interpretations of pianos like you've never seen them before. 

Click on photos to enlarge. If you'd like more information on the pieces and/or artists, here's the website: Pianos on Parade 2015

Happy Trees

Mr. Tubehead

Candyland!

LOVE those crazy keys!

Underdog animals

These posters said "8 1/2 year old burrito unicorn
dearly missed by his family"

My favorite: Steampunk

It was fun seeing the piano's internal workings.
Yes, all the pianos were playable.

If you're curious about last year's pianos, here's the link to my 2014 post:

Pianos on Parade - 2014

Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.

To enjoy a variety of beautiful pictures from around the world, 

click HERE or on the box below.  

To participate in Saturday Snapshots: post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) 

have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on the host blogsite. 

Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate 

for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. 

Please don’t post random photos that you find online.