Resilience by artist Paula Crown

Paula Crown sculptor/artist

Her journey from Wall Street to the Art World Article

Bronze sculpture Resilience
At Rockefeller Center Channel Gardens

The bronze sculpture Resilience, on view at the top of the Channel Gardens, alludes to the devastating environmental impact of single-use plastics and extends Crown’s intention to memorialize the collective suffering experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, reminding us of humankind’s resilience and innate ability to transfer energy even through the most mundane of objects.”

“A new art installation at Rockefeller Center in New York City stands as a warning about the harmful effects of disposable plastics.”

Solo Cups on the grocery store shelf

The Battle of Homestead

This bronze relief created by sculptor Brian Reneski

July 6, 1892. The Battle of Homestead (click for Rivers of Steel article)

or American Experience:
Carnegie Strike a Homestead Mill

Railroad Bridge over the Monongahela

Library Lions Don Masks in New York City

Another guest blog today.

The New York Public Library Lions don masks.

My sister has taken the role of a NYC tourist as she walks in the city and today she photographed Patience and Fortitude. They’re carved from pink Tennessee marble, designed by sculptor Edward Clark Potter.

Read about their naming and renaming here

“Patience and Fortitude, the world-renowned pair of marble lions that stand proudly before the majestic Beaux-Arts building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan, have captured the imagination and affection of New Yorkers and visitors from all over the world since the Library was dedicated on May 23, 1911.”

Yolanda by Miriam Lenk

Yolanda by Miriam Lenk 

Walked by this giant bronze sculpture in front of a bank a few times and it certainly brought body image to mind.

http://www.artconnect.com/projects/yolanda-2003-2006-bronce-320x-140x-140-cm-investititionsbank-berlin-bundesallee-210-nachodstrasse-berlin

Chainsaw Artist Transforms Trees into Art

Bridgeport, Washington is a small town on the Columbia River, near  Chief Joseph Dam.  The town’s old sycamore trees, which lined the main street, were in sad shape but instead of being cut down, chainsaw artist Jacob Lucas has transformed them into incredible sculptures.

With a CHAINSAW!

(And by the way he does custom orders if you have a tree stump in need of being transformed.)

Salmon, quail, wolves, cougars, bear, the logging industry, deer, farming, pelicans, beavers, dragonfly, bees and honeycomb, eagles and other native species are a few of the themes of the tree sculptures.

See an owl swoop down to catch  jackrabbit below.

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To get an idea of the scaleIMG_2712

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Scottish Bard’s 256th Birthday Anniversary – Just before sunset in the snow

Steve said it was Robbie Burns birthday today.  Born January 25, 1759.

We missed the fancy fundraiser for the museum last week, the Haggis and men decked out in kilts of their clan.

We missed the “not your grandfather’s ” Robert Burns birthday party in Lawrenceville and the one on the South Side with all kinds of scotch at Piper’s pub.

But we got to pay homage to the Scottish poet, just before dusk.  The end of a January gloomy Sunday.

We headed out to Schenley Park to the Robert Burns statue (by Scottish sculptor J. Massey Rhind)  and it started to snow.

Burns statue with snow front

Right next to Phipps Conservatory.

Burns statue with snow

Burns statue with plow

Burns Pedestal

Mrs. Peacock sounds like a game of clue but here is  a snippet of the article in the Mary 3, 1914 Post-Gazette.

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For a list of Robert Burns memorials around the world, click here

Quotes

“The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men,
Gang aft agley.
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!

(To A Mouse)”
― Robert Burns, The Works of Robert Burns

                                                                                          My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here;

                                                                                          My heart’s in the Highlands a-chasing the deer;

                                                                                          A-chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,

                                                                                          My heart’s in the Highlands wherever I go.” 

                                                                                                                                  ― Robert Burns

from Tam o’Shanter

But pleasures are like poppies spread—

You seize the flow’r, its bloom is shed;

Or like the snow falls in the river—

A moment white—then melts forever.
Line 59

“And man, whose heav’n-erected face
The smiles of love adorn
Man’s inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn!”
― Robert Burns

Frank Vittor, Sculptor, Studied under Auguste Rodin

In 1954, Frank Vittor (who has an interesting story if you click his name)sculpted a famous baseball player, Honus Wagner,  honoring his contributions to baseball.

The  Honus Wagner statue stands at the Home Plate Entrance of PNC Park, Pittsburgh PA. The statue has been in Schenley Park, Forbes Field and Three Rivers Stadium from what I researched before it was relocated to PNC Park.

I posted a St. Joseph the Worker statue in Homestead which was also sculpted by Mr. Vittor

Here is just one side of the base of statue I photographed this evening, of two young boys pointing up to Mr. Wagner on the pedestal above.

They just spoke to me.   Maybe it was the way the light made their three dimensions pronounced.

 

Honus Wagner Statue

 

You’ve all heard how valuable  the Honus Wagner baseball card is.   (millions paid)  

Here is what the back of the statue says

J.P. “HONUS”
WAGNER
(Back of base:)
ERECTED IN 1955
BY THE FANS OF AMERICA
IN HONOR OF A BASEBALL IMMORTAL
A CHAMPION AMONG CHAMPIONS
WHOSE RECORD ON AND OFF THE
PLAYING FIELD OF THE NATIONAL GAME
WILL EVER STAND AS A MONUMENT
TO HIS OWN GREATNESS
AND AS AN EXAMPLE AND INSPIRATION TO THE YOUTH
OF OUR COUNTRY

SPONSORED BY
THE PITTSBURGH PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL ASSOCIATION
RELOCATED BY THE PITTSBURGH BASEBALL CLUB
FROM SCHENLEY PARK TO THREE RIVERS STADIUM
AND REDEDICATED JULY 21, 1972

SO THAT FUTURE PIRATE FANS WILL BE REMINDED OF HONUS WAGNER’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO BASEBALL IN PITTSBURGH.

NYC Locksmith and Metal Artist: Philip Mortillaro

Philip Mortillaro

Do you know how many times I have walked by this locksmith on 7th Avenue and it was always closed?  The intricate collage of keys always caught my eye.

Wednesday morning,  Mary and I were returning from the Post Office and the locksmith’s door was open.

Mr. Mortillaro was speaking with a customer. Mary walked on ahead but I signaled to her to wait.  After the customer left, I entered and although I’d photographed the facade on other occasions, I asked the proprietor if I might photograph him.  Mr. Mortillaro was totally welcoming and agreeable and here is the portrait I captured.  He told me he has been a locksmith since age 14!

The links to his website and a trailer of a video are found at the end of the post.

Keys Made Locksmith

Ket to Heaven

Although he says he is not religious, he has actually made St. Peter (a gift)  the Key to Heaven 

Complaint Department

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Just like the New York Public Library-  Patience and Fortitude guard the entrance.

You can see a trailer to Mr. Mortillaro’s video Do Not Duplicate 

and visit his website to see his Metal Art

Do Not Duplicate Trailer