While walking through the station at St Pancras, I realized that there are more sculptures than I had thought. The one of Sir John Betjeman I knew of from previous visits, but the others were new to me. I rather like the stark nature of their textures and imagery. They have a rather aggressive feel to me which got my attention. It’s nice that public spaces make the effort to add art to the functional areas.
Banksy is an artist with international recognition, but it all started in Bristol and there are a few of his works around the center of the city. I have always liked his work and so was quite interested to see an original. Down in the harbour is his version of Girl With the Pearl Earring – with a fire alarm box being the earring. It is on the side of a building and there is a fence restricting access so it is reasonably well protected. The fence is a small obstacle to getting a photo of it but not a huge one. Photographing an artwork seems a little redundant!
Nancy and I had been discussing what pictures to add to the walls in the house. We were trying to find something that was a nice layout and also could include images from a variety of places. We settled on the Collagewall from MPix. I have used MPix for a lot of photo printing requirements over the years so was happy to give this product a go.
They have a variety of configurations that you can choose from. They have varying dimensions and layouts and you can pick your images to fit different aspect ratios. The one we went with was 4.5’ across to fit a large wall space and it included some large and small square format images with a couple of panoramic shots and one vertical thin image. I did all of the selections and formatting in Lightroom and then just dragged and dropped them in to the configuration tool. It was very straightforward.
The whole things was printed and shipped quickly and would have been with us shortly thereafter had it not been for a winter storm that meant the package got to spend a week in Salt Lake City. However, it finally arrived and we could install it. There is a paper template provided to assist in putting it on the wall. You tape that in place checking for location and level before getting to work. A series of pins need to be inserted into the surface of the wall. Using the template, you can make an initial pin hole with one of the pins without pushing it all the way in. Then, when all locations have an initial mark, the template can be removed and saved for any future installation.
Then add the full set of pins by pushing them all the way in to the initial holes previously made. This results in a grid of pins covering the full area of the finished work. Slots on the back of the prints will then slide over the heads of the pins. For some of the small prints and the panos, adhesive foam pads are added to provide some stability. The larger prints are stabilized sufficiently by the pins. Then you slot everything in to place.
From start to finish, it was probably little more than half an hour to put it up. A significant portion of that was making sure the template was exactly where we wanted and properly leveled. Nancy pushed out each print while I was inserting the pins. Finishing it off was very simple. The nature of the installation means changing a print out for a replacement would be very easy and then include a folding element that can be inserted in the back to make each print stand on its own if required. I’m really happy with the way it has come out and might do a smaller installation for another location in the house. In truth, the longest part of this is choosing the right shots to include.
Heading out of Grand Coulee took me through a town imaginatively named Electric City. I had done a little Googling before making the trip and one of the things I saw in the area was the Gehrke Windmill Garden. I had no idea whether this was worth a look but since I was going to be there, why not stop off. It was a strange little installation. Next to a park, it was set in the middle of the parking lot. Fencing surrounded the garden and within it were a wide array of wind turbines made from anything that the creator could get their hands on. Water funnel, cups, bicycle wheels – you name it. They had been roped in to action as a windmill. All this was right next to the road. Definitely not something I would make a specific visit for but a novelty to check out while passing by – I didn’t even need to take a side turning to get there!
I parked up in the South Park area south of Seattle when I was off to get some shots of the large stored 737 Max population. I walked across the bridge to see the planes but I was also rather taken with a sculpture that was sitting on the sidewalk. It was a multi layered creation with an angler fish style design with many more intricate elements built in to the structure of the fish shape. It was striking. There were lots of distracting background elements near the sculpture which I didn’t want in the shot so I decided to shoot close up to it with lots of shots and then combine them into a pano when I got home.
The hot shop at the Tacoma Glass Museum proved to be a lot of fun. We went in there as soon as we arrived because we had been watching them at work on a monitor while we were in line to buy our tickets. We also knew they would have a break later in our visit so wanted to make sure we saw the work underway. The shop is laid out to provide a lot of options for the visitors.
There is a seating gallery area built up at the back of the studio so people can sit and watch what is going on. A camera operator moves around the shop providing close up shots of the work which are shown on monitors to give a more detailed view of the work. Meanwhile, a guy was providing commentary on what was happening and answering questions from the crowd. There was also a walkway that went above and behind the work space so it was possible to look down on exactly what they were doing from quite close in.
The team were working on a candelabra in glass which appeared to be a new idea that they had. They got quite well through the work when it shattered. They went back to the beginning and edited the design the second time around. The simplified some elements and reinforced others and this time everything worked out well. We were fascinated by the whole thing and watched them all the way to completion of the work. Even if the rest of the museum hadn’t been there, this would have been worthwhile for a visit on its own.
While the Chihuly Museum in Seattle is well known, it is not the only glass museum in the area nor the only one involving Dale. He is from Tacoma originally and teamed up with some partners to create the Tacoma Glass Museum that is a focal point of the redevelopment of part of downtown Tacoma. We had seen it on a previous visit and resolved to visit on a winter’s day. We finally got around to doing that at last. It is not a huge museum but it does have some interesting works. It also has a hot shop which I shall post about separately. These are some of the shots of the works that are on display. Some of Dale’s own work is there but much work by other artists too.
This previous post included many shots from a visit to the Chihuly Museum in Seattle. In that post I mentioned how it closed around the time it was getting dark and that a return trip during the winter would be in order. With my mum visiting at Christmas, that’s exactly what we did. We timed our visit to be later in the day so we would be there once the sun set.
The transition from light to dark brought a lot of options in the gardens. Not everything was illuminated so some elements were okay while there was some light remaining but then were gone while others were only gently illuminated and only really showed the effects well once dark was fully upon us. The view back to the museum was also interesting as it changed and I did go back inside often to see how the move from external to internal lighting affected the glass works on display in there. Hopefully these shots give you a sense of how things look as darkness descends.
For the longest time I wasn’t interested in visiting the Chihuly Museum in Seattle. I had seen some glass installations outdoors and the rather bright and garish look of them put me off the idea of seeing the collection. It just didn’t look like my thing. Then, when we had visitors that were interested in going, a trip was inevitable. I have to admit, I was very wrong. What I had seen a glimpse off was in no way representative of the collection as a whole and I was most impressed by what I saw.
First, there was a lot of variety in the art. Some of it was more to my taste than others which is only to be expected. However, all of it was interesting. The layout of the exhibits gave you plenty of space to enjoy them and, while the place was popular, I rarely felt overcrowded. Much of the work was much more subtle than I had anticipated and the forms and coloring were most impressive. Other parts were a bit more dramatic but still very cool.
While much of the work was indoors, there was a selection outside and these were nicely integrated into the gardens. The blend of the colors and the reflections of the surrounding structures in the surfaces were interesting for some while others were just interesting shapes. The potential of lighting them is something that was apparent but closing time was around sundown, so we only got a hint of the illumination. We shall return in winter to see how the lighting looks.
Located in Federal Way, the Pacific Bonsai Museum is not the easiest place to find. It shows up in my GPS but, when you arrive at the turning, the signage is either too small for me to spot or nonexistent. I turned in to the entrance, more as an act of faith. Once on the access road, there were signs but then you drive for a long time before you get to the place. You do start to wonder whether it is a spoof.
Once there, though, it is worth it. Entrance is free which was a surprise, particularly given how good the trees were. Everything is outdoor with the trees displayed in groupings around the space. Backdrops provide some visual separation and information boards explain their individual histories as well as telling a little about the styles of Bonsai and the history of the art form.
Individual plants are intermingled with compositions that involve many plants, sometimes over fifty different plants being incorporated into one display. The sizing of some of these is carefully tailored to give an increased sense of depth. The bases are also chosen to emphasize different elements of the plants. As with any activity, when you find out a little bit more about it, you discover just how much complexity is involved. Old trees are not as important as those that appear to be old apparently.
The place is very impressive and, if you are in Federal Way, definitely give it a look.
