Tag Archives: sculpture

The Long Walk’s Lesser-Known Sibling

The Long Walk in Windsor Great Park is very well known. A long, straight road the goes from Windsor Castle up to a statue of George III is something many visitors to Windsor will take in. However, it isn’t the only route radiating from the castle across the park. Queen Anne’s Ride is an even longer route. Just as straight but not paved and with the section within the town built over, it is a nicer section to visit.

Because it isn’t as well known, there aren’t anything like the number of visitors. You can often feel like you are alone when you are there because any other visitors are likely to be well away from you. Because it is grassy, it is more comfortable to stroll along. There is more undulation, though, so you have pluses and minuses (or ups and downs if I am being literal).

Halfway along the route is a memorial to 1,000 years of the High Sheriff. This circular stone monument has a hole through the middle if you want to look through it. It is a large separation from the memorial and the castle, so I played with focus stacking to get both of them in focus for one image. However, this isn’t the most significant memorial.

Go further from the castle and you come to a statue of Queen Elizabeth II on horseback. Unlike the statue of George III which has him dressed like a Roman emperor, this statue has her looking like she has just ridden out from the castle and is looking back towards it. It is a far nicer statue. If you are walking in Windsor Great Park, I would certainly recommend that you make sure to include Queen Anne’s Ride as part of your route.

Ozzy the Bull

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I travel through Birmingham New Street Station a lot these days. It is a connection for a bunch of my journeys and sometimes a destination in its own right. The station had a major rebuild a few years ago and one of the features in there now is Ozzie. Ozzie is a huge mechanical bull. It is such an imposing device and I do find it cheers me up. If you are ever heading that way, do find the time to check it out.

Who Would Get a Slot and Who Has One?

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I was looking at the various statues on the outside of the cathedral in Salisbury. Normally I will not pay that much attention to the details of these statues, but I paused for a few minutes and noticed the differences between the people represented. It was easy to tell the priests because they were all standing with a hand raised as if giving the sign of the cross. There were a bunch that weren’t in that pose, though. Some looked like they might be specific trades – presumably those involved in building or maintaining the cathedral itself.

The other thing that struck me was that, while there were loads of of alcoves on the façade of the cathedral, they weren’t all occupied. Presumably, when they built it they recognised that additional individuals – bishops I guess – would be deserving of their own slot at some point. Whether there weren’t enough worthy people or they just stopped adding statues, I do not know. I wonder what it would take to add someone new at this point?

Good Morning Gandhi

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Our London office is on Tavistock Square and, every morning when I jump off the bus, I am next to the path into the middle of the square and I find myself looking at a statue of Mahatma Gandhi. Normally I am in a rush into the office so don’t stop to look at it. However, one morning I had started a call as I was getting off the bus and, rather than have it interrupted by signal loss in the lift, I walked around the square while on the call. When it was finished, I was right by the statue so took a moment to look at it and take a couple of photos.

Union Art Installation

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This art installation is in the Arboretum in Seattle, and we happened across it while out walking. I didn’t want to take up too much time trying to photograph it. Nancy is patient enough with me as it is when it comes to taking pictures on our days out and knowing that I have blog posts in mind. Stretching that patience would be too selfish. The light under the trees was a little hard to work with and the shapes of the sculpture were not so conspicuous when trying to take the shots.

The elements hang over the path. At first I thought it was something that wasn’t supposed to be there and then, as we got closer, realized it was an art work. The shapes suspended from cables between the trees was rather interesting to look at. Whether any of these shots convey it well, I am not so sure.

St Pancras Sculptures

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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.

Excel Entrance Sculpture

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I made a detour to the Excel exhibition centre to visit a friend from high school. He works there and was able to meet up and chat for a while. As I walked up the steps, I came to a sculpture that they have commemorating the workers that had made the docks the vibrant place they were for hundreds of years. I thought it was a pretty cool sculpture so here it is!

Baseball Mitt Sculpture

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I went down into the middle of Woodinville to try and get pictures of the smoke from the wildfires. I ended up walking alongside the playing fields that are usually so busy with various sports. At this time, they were empty. What I had never noticed when driving by is that they have a sculpture by the fields of a baseball mitt. This bronze sculpture has the mitt and a bunch of rabbits. I am not sure what the meaning of the rabbits is but maybe it is designed to appeal to kids that are at the park to play their sports.

Marymoor Dragons

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A sunny afternoon was a good time for a ride since such nice days are likely to be in short supply before too long. I didn’t feel like pushing myself up nasty climbs on such a lovely day so went for miles rather than climbing feet and took the trail down the Sammammish River and on down through Marymoor Park and alongside Lake Sammammish. As I went through Marymoor park on my outbound leg, I noticed what initially appeared to be a couple of plows alongside the trail. I decided to check them out on the return leg.

When I came back, I realized that, far from being farming implements (albeit on a small scale), they were actually sculptures of dragons. A pair of them, presumably taking flight? I was glad I waited until the return journey because the sun was that bit lower and the light a bit warmer. That did make it a bit more tricky to keep my shadow out of the shots but I just about managed.

Renton Municipal Airport

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I have visited Renton Municipal Airport on plenty of occasions but I had not previously stopped to check out the sculpture at the entrance to the airport. It is sited by the main gate and there is a parking area to make it easy to visit. The formal name of the airport is Clayton Scott Field and the sculpture is of Clayton Scott himself next to a sign showing the direction and distance to multiple locations. The top of the sculpture even includes space as one destination! The locations are chosen and organized to provide a nice spiral pattern to the markers. It is a nicely executed piece of artwork.