Tag Archives: art

Qantas Celebrates Aborigine Art Again

Qantas has decorated previous aircraft with liveries that encompass aborigine art. Their Wunala Dreaming aircraft was well known around the world and, in an age when airline liveries tend to be rather bland, these colorful jets are a welcome change. They have taken a similar route with one of their new Boeing 787-9s and I saw it at Paine Field during test flying. It came in from the south and executed a go around from relatively low level.

Then they caught me out by heading north to turn and make an approach from the opposite direction. This required some rather swift repositioning by me. In fact, I got to the parking lot as they were on final approach and, rather than park, I just pulled to the side, ran up the bank, grabbed the shot and then got back in the car to park properly. It was tight but it worked out okay.

Glassbaby’s Berkeley Glassworks

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Nancy has bought a few items from Glassbaby and was interested in getting one as a gift for someone. Previously we have been to their stores in the Bay Area but this time we went to they works in Berkeley. They have a storefront but it is primarily a glass blowing facility. As we walked in, I was drawn to the groups of people that were busy creating their works of glass art. Nancy was browsing the shelves of glass so I went back to the car to grab the camera.

There were two groups of people at work. Further back in the shop were the staff who were busy creating the core product of the company. They were heating and having the glass pretty efficiently. One of the nice things about Glassbaby’s products is that they are all hand made and consequently, no two are exactly alike.

At the other end of the shop were some people that were doing their own thing. I don’t know whether they were just using the facilities or whether they run training programs. Some of theme seemed to be under instruction. You quickly see which people are skilled at working the glass and which ones are just getting to grips with how tricky it can be. The heat coming from the furnaces could be felt even where I was and the people who were working definitely seemed to be experiencing the heat. However, they seemed to be having a good time creating.

Legion of Honor

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Perched up on a hill overlooking the entrance to the Golden Gate sits the Legion of Honor. This is an art gallery that, while including quite a variety of art styles, is synonymous with the sculpture of Rodin. I first visited in 1990 during my first trip to the west coast. I hadn’t been back since and Nancy had never been. She is a fan of some of the impressionist painters so I thought this might be a good day out for her. What I hadn’t realized was that they had a special exhibit on of Monet’s early years. Turns out it was a bit more appropriate than I realized.

It was a lovely day to be in the city. The sun was out and the temperatures were on the low 70s. We had started out early to try and get there before it got busy. We hadn’t anticipated the exhibit though. Consequently, it was already quite busy when we got there. It only got busier so we still were getting the better side of things. We went straight to the exhibit and spent a fair bit of time in there. Afterwards, we strolled through the galleries of the collection.

The different galleries are very nicely laid out. Nothing felt too crowded and the light in the rooms was very nice. Each gallery had a different style of decoration so you felt the change as you moved from room to room. Natural light through the roof made it feel a lot less oppressive than some museums. They did have some sections set up as rooms from old houses and these were a lot more subdued.

The sculpture section was very interesting. The Spreckels family started the collection and they were avid supporters of Rodin’s work. The Thinker sits in the forecourt while there are two rooms of his work. These included bronzes, plaster and marble sculptures. Rodin liked marble apparently but I find the bronze castings to be the most impressive since they show the texture of the work in a way that is lost a little with marble for me.

When I visit art museums, I find I have a limit of how long I can last. When we were in Florence, I discovered just how many Madonna and Child pictures I can look at before I am done. This museum is actually well sized for me. I was able to check out the whole collection in about the time it takes me to be maxed out. I didn’t reach the point of either my feet hurting, my back aching or just not wanting to look at another picture. About the perfect size. The collection is not as diverse as you will find in some big cities but it works well for a day out. Check it out if you have the time.

The Lego Artwork of Nathan Sawaya

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Nathan Sawaya may not be an artist you have heard of before but you may have seen at least some of his work. Nathan is an artist who works in Lego. He manages to combine the artistic vision of the piece he is trying to create with the technical skill in creating structures using standard Lego pieces – no simple feat given that most shapes have gentle curves to them and Lego is mainly straight edges.

An exhibition of some of Nathan’s work was on recently in Walnut Creek and we headed along to see what was on display. There were two types of exhibit. Some were straightforward Lego creations on display on their own. The rest were a combination of Lego and photography. Nathan had created some elements in Lego that were then combined with photography to incorporate the Lego sculpture in the main photo. For example, one of the pieces was a bare tree that then appeared in a landscape shot. Another was some railroad tracks that became the foreground to a train station.

The sculptures varied a lot in themes. Some were relatively light hearted such as a dog or some clouds. A woman’s red dress blowing in the wind with parts of it blowing behind (but with no-one actually in the dress) was a particularly interesting piece. Others were far darker in their inspiration with themes of escape and repression in the corporate world included. These pieces were often the more interesting ones to see as they had more to interpret versus the more light hearted but literal items.

The audience for the exhibit was quite varied. Many people had brought their kids along based on their interest in playing with Lego at home. I suspect they were not quite so enthused with the more sinister works. The other visitors were decidedly more adult. Whether they are just fans of Lego or interested in the messages the artist was conveying, I shall never know.

Angel of the North

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I was sent some pictures recently of a large sculpture in the UK. It threw me back to a trip that Nancy and I took a few years ago. Part of our route was a drive up the A1 passing Gateshead. Along the side of the road is a huge sculpture called the Angel of the North. You can’t drive by and not stop to see it (unless you live there or go by frequently I guess).

You can park close by and walk around the sculpture. The scale is impressive and photographs do not do much to convey the scale of it. The size is one thing but the shape of the structure is also cool with the whole thing made up of flat sheets of steel. Then there is the color. The rust finish is very cool and is excellent when he lain is on it but looks moody if it is cloudy. This is one cool piece of art and I would recommend a diversion to see it if you are anywhere close.

Artichoke Art

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Castroville CA is the self proclaimed artichoke capital of the world. Given the percentage of the world’s artichokes that are grown there, I doubt anyone is going to try and challenge them for the title. They seem to have it wrapped up. To celebrate the artichoke, the town holds an artichoke festival. This has become quite a popular event and has now migrated from Castroville to the County fairgrounds in Monterey. This seemed like something worth a visit. While you could find all sorts of things at the festival and try artichoke in many forms – artichoke cupcakes anyone – and have your picture taken with Arty the Artichoke, the thing that really caught our imagination was the artichoke art.

People sculpt various installations using artichokes and other vegetables. They may plan as long as they like but they have to bring the raw ingredients on the morning of the competition and create the art there and then. Some of them were really impressive. My favorite was the pig although several of the others looked pretty cool.

Art Institute Gardens

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I recently had lunch with a friend down in the Loop. We had finished eating and it was a glorious day so we decided to take a stroll out towards Grant Park. As we crossed Michigan Avenue, we came to a garden attached to the Art Institute. I admitted that I had never been in to this garden and my friend said exactly the same thing! Neither of us could explain why that should be the case so we wandered in to have a look around.

It was a very pleasant space and quite tranquil considering how close the bustle of Michigan Avenue was. We strolled about and just had a nice stroll. A few days later, when I had some visitors from out of town, I made the effort to go back so they could see this great spot as well. Nancy hadn’t been there either so somehow a bunch of us had managed to miss this place for many years!

It was then a short walk to Millennium Park where the water features had been turned on for the first time this year. Plenty of people were out enjoying the park although there weren’t any kids standing under the water as it fell. I guess it isn’t quite that warm just yet! It will be a while before that happens. However, it was still good enough to attract the time of a lot of people, probably fresh from their visits to the Bean!

Art of Flight

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This one will not necessarily be what you were expecting. Despite the title, this is not about flying – at least in the normal context of this blog. This is about snowboarding. Some time last year, I came across a trailer for a movie called Art of Flight. It is a movie in which some of the world’s best snowboarders go to some of the most remote parts of the planet to ride slopes that have not been ridden before.

Red Bull, ever one to support extreme sports activities, obviously provided a lot of support to this process with a number of Red Bull helicopters showing up throughout the film. Helicopters are the best way to get to some of these locations but even then the trip can be a bit hairy. Some of the helicopter flying is pretty extreme as well!

The featured snowboarder is Travis Rice. This guy certainly knows what he is about and is willing to try some amazing stuff. He is joined by a variety of guys in the different locations but they all like to try some cool descents across terrain with little in the way of forgiveness and weather that doesn’t always want to cooperate. They also go to some more normal locations but try some amazing tricks even then.

All of this sport would be impressive on its own but that is not what makes this film special. The magic comes from the way it is filmed by Curt Morgan. He makes use of innovative filming technology and improvisation and a lot of cameras to film the boarding from multiple angles to provide a phenomenal perspective. The quality of the camerawork and the editing turn this from good to great.

I got the BluRay/DVD box so I can watch it now on DVD and on BluRay in HiDef when I get around to having a BluRay player! You can get it at Amazon and I certainly recommend it. In the mean time, check out the trailer below to get a sense of what is included.