We have the best of both worlds. We live and work in small rural towns where every third person is a good friend, a short drive from big city culture in Raleigh and Durham. Our friend Linda invited Camille up to Raleigh for a stroll around the Museum Park on January 19, 2017
WALLS
The trail took us over the highway and down through the trees where we stopped to admire a handsome precast concrete wall. Just outside the Art Museum we marveled at the juxtaposition of an aluminum tree atop a tussocked berm.
GYRE
These three enormous hoops dominated the museum trail, photo-bombing many of the photos we took. The artist, Thomas Sayre actually poured them into trenches he’d dug in the earth and later lifted them out with a crane. We had to wonder what kind of person wakes up with the thought, “I know what I’ll do today! I’m going to dig three giant round trenches. Then I’m going to pour a custom blend of concrete and steel into the holes and wait for it to set up. Then…”
COLLAPSE AND CLOUD CHAMBER
Aptly named collapse, these enormous feminine haunches are also made of concrete. Regretfully, the Cloud Chamber was in use so we were unable to experience the camera obscura inside. Linda, who has been inside on other occasions explained how a small hole in the roof projects a mirror image of the trees, clouds and sky on the interior walls of the chamber.
OPEN MIND
This is a giant work of art which resembles a human brain when viewed from above.
Rows of bike racks give the appearance of brass bed headboards or jail cells, casting interlocking shadows on the turf below.
CROSSROADS/TRICKSTER
This one reminded us of a giant corn cob in a color that contrasted nicely with the blue sky. We started out in jackets but soon shed them on this mild winters day.
AN EYE FOR BEAUTY
The people who planned the art trail nuanced it with a deft combination of nature and art. Ironically, the benefactors behind this engaging art walk have also invested heavily in Chatham Park, a nearly 8,000-acre multi-use park with serious ramifications for neighborhood as the development increases population to 50,000 from under 4,000.
ILLUSIONS
Wind Sculpture II gives the impression of a kite about to take off while Ideas of Stone–Elm makes you want to shrink away from the inevitable collapse of a slender tree under the weight of a nearly 3,000 pound boulder. Neither is what it appears. Wind Sculpture is firmly rooted to the ground by its steel framework, and the ‘tree’ is a solid bronze casting of an Italian elm.