Friday, February 25, 2011

Public Art: Organic Sculptures in Washington Park

Stick Men
Earlier this week, before the snowfall, we went for a walk through Washington Park around dusk. I had no idea these sculptures were there, so at first, especially at dusk, they startled me a bit. There are 3 total, located not too far from the playground, but the third was a bit further out of the way and the park was still very muddy. Later we found out via Cary Clarke from the Mayor's office on twitter that the artist is Nico Jose, a recent graduate of Lewis & Clark College with a double major in environmental studies and studio art. According to his site, he's currently working on a project in the Philippines.

I also thought spring was right around the corner before we got all snowed on. Here's why:
Chinese Paper Tree Springing Hellebores

The cool tree on the left was fortunately labeled as a "Chinese paper tree", but I still don't know what the middle one is called. My Mom identified the flower on the right for me as a Hellebore/Lenten Rose. And I think this one is a fancy crocus coming up. (I like photographing flowers, I just wish I were better at identifying them.) There seem to be a lot of the Lenten Roses in bloom right now here, in white, darker purple, etc. but that was the prettiest one I've seen yet. We did stroll through the Rose test garden a little, and I think it was the emptiest we've seen it yet, although there was one larger bush in bloom. I was tempted to take some pictures of the trimmed rose bushes with moss growing on them, but instead I focused on the views:

Trees & Snowy

And later as the sun set there was a very distinct pink glow hitting part of the city that you can see in this pic. I think there's always some great reason to go climb up into Washington park, views, flowers, art, or to visit the Japanese gardens. Not to mention you get to put some effort in for a 300 ft.+ elevation change! Not bad for a short evening stroll.

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