…are freestanding Christmas decorations considered sculptures?
I suppose they are sculptures adorned with lights. They have a framework that gives them shape and then are draped with glitter, babbles, stars and lights. Here are a few sculptures from the mall.
Thanks to Marsha for hosting Photographing Public Art Challenge https://alwayswrite.blog/2022/11/20/weekend-coffee-leathers-for-you-and-me/
….thanks to Marsha for hosting PPAC https://alwayswrite.blog/2022/11/04/ppac-70-spokane-house-history-murals/
….thanks to Marsha for hosting PPAC https://alwayswrite.blog/2022/09/09/ppac-63-a-day-of-public-mourning/
On my last trip to the cottage I stopped at Harris Farm to check out the pumpkins and produce. There were tons of pumpkins in all sizes and colours and part of the field had been set up for the kids to play games. They also took hay bales and painted fun characters from Winnie the Pooh.
….thanks to Sami for hosting Monday Murals https://sami-colourfulworld.blogspot.com/2022/09/monday-murals-in-bruhl.html and Marsha for hosting PPAC https://alwayswrite.blog/2022/09/02/ppac-62-bears-totems-and-their-friends/
Walking towards the subway station in my daughter’s neighbourhood of the Junction Triangle I came across the following street art:
….thanks Marsha for hosting Photographing Public Art Challenge https://alwayswrite.blog/2022/05/13/ppac-46-danger-in-lake-havasu-city/
After our disappointing discovery at the Curve Garden in Dalston our luck changed for the better. While looking at the scaffolding one of the curators from the garden came over to us and asked us if we were admiring the plants behind the metal barrier. We told her about our journey to find a Stik mural and how disappointed we were to finally find one that was almost completely hidden from view.
The curator’s name was Mari and she felt very badly for us. She told us the history of how the garden came to be and how much Stik supported this community project. The mural was very much visible when the garden was first built and they owned another one that was stolen after Stik became well known. She gave us a quick tour of the place and got our email address so that she could send us photos of the mural before the wall became a safety hazard.
In the second photo we see the lovely Mari who was so kind to us and next to her is Stik, the artist.
When Mari heard that we were going to the British Museum later that day she hesitantly told us that there was supposedly another Stik mural close by in the Phoenix Garden.
After seeing the Stonehenge Exhibition at the British Museum, Kevin checked google maps to see how close the Stik mural was from our location. Once again we were off on a mission. Coming from a city where all the streets run north and south and east and west we found London difficult to navigate because there are so many circles, diagonals and curvy roads. After a few missed turns we finally found ourselves on the right path and saw the sign for Phoenix Garden.
As soon as we stepped through the gates I saw what I thought could be the mural off in the distance. With his cane in hand, I swear Kevin started to run down the path towards the mural. Success…..we actually found a Stik mural.
….an adventure of epic proportions
While living in London, my husband decided he needed to find some street art created by the famous artist Stik. He went on the internet to locate some Stik murals that were not too far from our flat in Islington/Highbury.
Stik is a British graffiti artist based in London.[1][2] He is known for painting large stick figures.
One of his works fetched £150,000 at auction.
We started our search for a Stik mural at Shakespeare Walk. We got on a bus and made our way using Google Maps. When we got there we found ourselves walking through a nice residential neighbourhood with a community centre and parks. We thought we might be close because we did see some street art made by children.
We asked a couple of local residents if they could help us but they were at a complete loss and had never heard of Stik. We ended up walking through Butterfield Green before getting back on the bus and heading home.
Two days later, Kevin found another area where he thought we’d have more luck. This time we got on a bus that took us further east towards Dalston. When we got there I wasn’t sure where Kevin was taking me. We walked through back alleys and abandoned lots but didn’t see a Stik.
We went back to the main street and passed a colourful gate to a city garden but it didn’t open for another 10 minutes so we walked a little further and down a dead-end street where we passed some quirky shop windows and some graffiti art on the buildings.
We returned to the Curve Garden Gate and looked up and saw this amazing mural on the wall outside the gate. Later we found out the people in the mural were famous local residents of Dalston.
Kevin was certain that we would find a Stik mural behind those doors. What we did find was an amazing garden space that had been created by the community back in 2012 to make up for the fact that Dalston had no green spaces for the residents to enjoy. Inside there was a cafe, a tiny ‘museum’ of sorts, a play area for children and wonderful pots of spring plants. The walkway inside twisted and turned around trees and plants and areas to sit and enjoy this green space.
While I was enjoying the scenery and taking photos Kevin was off looking for a Stik. When I caught up with him he looked dejected and not because he couldn’t find it. He found it buried behind scaffolding and overgrown plants. Unfortunately we could only see the bottom third of the figure. Apparently the wall it was painted on was deemed unsafe so the city covered it up for safety reasons.
The search continues…….
Thanks to Sami for hosting Monday Murals https://sami-colourfulworld.blogspot.com/2022/05/monday-murals-ellenbrook-ii.html and Marsha for host Photographing Public Art Challenge https://alwayswrite.blog/photographing_public_art_challenge/?wref=tp
….thanks to Marsha for hosting PPAC https://alwayswrite.blog/2021/10/15/ppac-18-rusty-public-art-along-az-highways/
I know that Marsha expects the art we post to be outside but I figure if the gallery is open to the public and is free to the public then maybe it’s okay to post under this challenge. Back in September the Women’s Art Association of Canada hosted a show for new member like me to display their work.
One of the pieces that impressed me was an installation piece that had to be assembled and then disassembled at the end of the show. The artist took pieces of her grandmother’s couch and other items from her home to create this piece.
….thanks to Marsha for hosting WQWWC https://alwayswrite.blog/2021/08/11/wqwwc-37-lakes-oceans-water/
This challenge requires that we find a quote to go along with the prompt. Here are my two favourite bodies of water in Ontario: Lake Ontario and Georgian Bay.
My quotes that fit this challenge are:
– Viola Shipman
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
…thanks to Marsha for hosting Writers’ Quotes Wednesday https://tchistorygal.net/2021/05/12/wqwwc-24-beauty-mothers-day-revisited/
Looking back on Mother’s Day I’m saddened by the fact that I lost my mother at a young age. She was only 61 and I was 40, a mother myself with young children at the time of her passing. The following Mother’s Days in years to come were strange to me because I had no mother to buy presents for or send cards to.
My mother never considered herself beautiful. I think that comes from having a glamorous older sister. In our eyes, however, we saw her as beautiful and looking back at her early photographs she had a grace and inner beauty that shone through. Her friends always told her she looked like the Canadian gold medalist Elizabeth Manley.
Outer beauty is a gift. Inner beauty is an accomplishment. Randi G. Fine
This is my Mom on her wedding day with her sister on the left.
One of my favourite photos of my Mom is this one, probably one year after we arrived in Canada. I’m 3 and my sister is 1 and our youngest sister won’t arrive for another three years. Mom would have been 24 in this photo. The next photo was taken in 1962.
Twenty five years later the last of the three daughters is married and later that year Mom and Dad take a cruise through the Caribbean with a group of friends…..one of many holidays that they took every year and continued to take until her sudden death in 1993.
“The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole but true beauty in a Woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she knows.”
― Audrey Hepburn
Mama Cormier 