After exploring all three floors of Maryhill Museum itself, I headed out to the car to grab some lunch. Maryhill does have a small cafe, but I'd packed a picnic lunch. The grounds are quite extensive and include a separate picnic and camping area, but I just headed for a bench in the shade near the car. And was quickly joined by one of the resident peacocks. She was pretty scruffy looking and not at all intimidated by me, but I managed to convince her to mooch off someone else.
Or perhaps she was hiding out. I could hear the loud screeching from the male peacocks, and soon several came running past in hot pursuit of a different female peacock - one not quite so scruffy looking. On my previous visit, I remember these males strutting about with their beautiful tail feathers fanned out, but today they had other things on their mind.
After sitting for a long time, letting the wind and the vast panorama strip my brain clean of every thought or worry, I headed for the sculpture garden. This wonderful heron guards the entrance. (Click on any picture for a larger view.)
Maybe it was my recent negative space drawing exercises, but I particularly liked the pattern set up by its feet gripping a branch.
The art in the sculpture garden is a combination of invitational pieces and permanent collection. Read more about it and see pieces I did not photograph here. To be honest, I was a little disappointed in the offerings overall, but this piece truly fascinated.
It is a 2007 bronze called "Quantum Man" by Julian Voss-Andreae, is at least 8 feet tall. and part of the permanent collection. No conventional bronze this. Its look changes depending on your angle.
Seen head-on, you can see it is made up of thin steel sheets - he all but disappears. Read more about this sculpture and its basis in quantum physics and wave matter project here too truly understand this piece (click on archives, then Matter Wave Project IV).
This smaller sculpture intrigued me as well. It is "Solardarity" by Jay Moody of Portland, OR and is maybe 5 feet tall made of steel and stainless steel (2007). The story behind it is quite interesting, I thought. Jay honed his metal fabrication skills in his father's metal shop, eventually creating sculptures & functional art. This piece is inspired by the 2007 solar eclipse and represents "the unification of various metals joining together in a dynamic expression of geometric shapes with a sense of energy radiating from within." Trying to get representative photos of any of these sculptures was more of a challenge than I bargained for. Three-dimensional work, after all, is meant to be seen from all sides. Plus being in the outdoor venue, one had to be aware of what was showing up in the background.
On the far side of the sculpture garden I spotted this old behemoth with the propped up limb. Oh, you just know if there are trees around, I must photograph them...
...from many angles (I've spared you seeing all of them)...
close-up to get the texture & detail...
and looking up...
Imagine my delight when I pulled into my parking spot and saw these dancing trees framed in the windshield. Not only the four closest ones, but all the way back and to the left you can see the swaying trunks and limbs.
And one last shot before hitting the road again for Walla Walla...
Or perhaps she was hiding out. I could hear the loud screeching from the male peacocks, and soon several came running past in hot pursuit of a different female peacock - one not quite so scruffy looking. On my previous visit, I remember these males strutting about with their beautiful tail feathers fanned out, but today they had other things on their mind.
After sitting for a long time, letting the wind and the vast panorama strip my brain clean of every thought or worry, I headed for the sculpture garden. This wonderful heron guards the entrance. (Click on any picture for a larger view.)
Maybe it was my recent negative space drawing exercises, but I particularly liked the pattern set up by its feet gripping a branch.
The art in the sculpture garden is a combination of invitational pieces and permanent collection. Read more about it and see pieces I did not photograph here. To be honest, I was a little disappointed in the offerings overall, but this piece truly fascinated.
It is a 2007 bronze called "Quantum Man" by Julian Voss-Andreae, is at least 8 feet tall. and part of the permanent collection. No conventional bronze this. Its look changes depending on your angle.
Seen head-on, you can see it is made up of thin steel sheets - he all but disappears. Read more about this sculpture and its basis in quantum physics and wave matter project here too truly understand this piece (click on archives, then Matter Wave Project IV).
This smaller sculpture intrigued me as well. It is "Solardarity" by Jay Moody of Portland, OR and is maybe 5 feet tall made of steel and stainless steel (2007). The story behind it is quite interesting, I thought. Jay honed his metal fabrication skills in his father's metal shop, eventually creating sculptures & functional art. This piece is inspired by the 2007 solar eclipse and represents "the unification of various metals joining together in a dynamic expression of geometric shapes with a sense of energy radiating from within." Trying to get representative photos of any of these sculptures was more of a challenge than I bargained for. Three-dimensional work, after all, is meant to be seen from all sides. Plus being in the outdoor venue, one had to be aware of what was showing up in the background.
On the far side of the sculpture garden I spotted this old behemoth with the propped up limb. Oh, you just know if there are trees around, I must photograph them...
...from many angles (I've spared you seeing all of them)...
close-up to get the texture & detail...
and looking up...
Imagine my delight when I pulled into my parking spot and saw these dancing trees framed in the windshield. Not only the four closest ones, but all the way back and to the left you can see the swaying trunks and limbs.
And one last shot before hitting the road again for Walla Walla...
5 comments:
Your last two photos remind me of Cezanne drawings of trees. Also, the Quantum man sculpture immediately brought to mind Antony Gormley's Quantum Cloud: http://www.antonygormley.com/viewproject.php?projectid=25&page=2
You seem to be having a great time.
Thank you for the link, Olga. Yes, this is very similar. Some of them brought to mind acupuncture! I really enjoyed looking through his other work - block works in particular.
Thanks too for the Cezanne reference - I knew they reminded me of something but couldn't put my finger on it. I guess those renderings were more representational than we might give them credit for. I also have a picture of an Ernest Larson oil painting called Windblown Tree that has the same dancing feel.
And yes, the trip has been thoroughly enjoyable!
The last time we were at Maryhill the peacocks were quite bedraggled looking. They were molting. Behemoth Man fascinated me as well, as does that tree each time we visit. Year before last one of the invitational sculptures was a tree as well. I actually just posted a picture of it at Pic a Theme.
I'm just catching up after a quilt retreat. I have to scroll on down and see what took you to Maryhill.
Thanks for your many recent comments on my blog on the subject of trees. Now I've seen these through your eyes, I know well what you mean. I too can see them dancing and I will look locally and see what I can find. Swaying growth patterns are needed and our trees tend to be rather straighter and more 'umbrella' shaped so I may not be so lucky. Thanks also for the other links. I will follow those up too, assuming they're still there after all this time!
Yes, Margaret, I suspect it is the near constant winds roaring up the gorge that has shaped these trees into a permanent stance of dancing. They would have been planted by the builders of Maryhill and perhaps a more native tree would have stood up better to the constant buffeting...although now that I think about it, you can find trees along the Olympic Peninsula along the Washington State coast that have been shaped into bowed angles by the constant winds.
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