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Lens-Artists Challenge #249 – Art in the Park (and other places)

Buskers in Old Town Scottsdale.

This week’s challenge features a focus on the arts. Public art in all its forms and locations. Whether in a park or a parking lot, an outdoor theater, or a street corner, art in public places can be found in communities worldwide. In a small park in Scottsdale, Arizona, for example, the buskers in the photo above play their style of music hoping that you will stop long enough to listen for a bit and leave a tip in the basket on the drum in front of them.

Greetings Postcard mural as it was being painted.

Murals are popular art projects in many cities. The first city I visited that featured murals on building walls was Siler City, North Carolina. Over the years, my hometown of Fargo started encouraging artists by decorating building walls with poster art. A traveling team of artists brought their Greetings Tour to Fargo for one week. They traveled in a motor home, parked it near their project, and spent their days creating a Greetings mural for host cities around the country.

Utility box.

Another public art form I first saw in North Carolina was a collection of large utility boxes. There were a couple of taller, narrow boxes and behind them a larger box. Someone painted the two taller boxes to look like gas pumps, and the larger box behind was painted to look like a filling station. The concept that utility boxes could be something prettier than dull gray or drab green has completely changed in Fargo. A community of artists was organized and committed to creating art on the many city utility boxes in our downtown area.

Homeless Jesus.

Timothy Schmalz, an artist who lives and works in Toronto, Canada created a sculpture of a homeless person sleeping on a bench. Careful observation of the sculpture will shed light upon the person’s identity. The nail holes in the feet are the telltale sign that the sleeping person is Jesus. The first cast of the work was installed in 2013 in front of the University of Toronto’s Regis College. His “Homeless Jesus” can now be found in various locations worldwide, including this one in front of the First Lutheran Church in Fargo, North Dakota. On our recent visit to Rio de Janeiro Brazil, we saw “Homeless Jesus” near the Metropolitan Cathedral.

Fighting Stallions.

Probably the most dynamic piece of public art in this challenge collection is the sculpture “Fighting Stallions” created by Korczak Ziolkowski, the sculptor who began work on the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota in 1948. This work is a powerful tribute to the strength and spirit of the horse, an animal that played a central role in the lives and culture of many Native American tribes.

Train car art project in downtown Fargo.

Near the original Fargo Train Depot, two rail cars sit on a siding, their sides emblazoned with murals focusing on the city of Fargo and North Dakota State University. The project was initiated in 2015 by the Fargo Moorhead Visual Artists (FMVA) organization. The FMVA collaborated with the Northern Pacific Railway Historical Society, the Fargo Park District, and the City of Fargo to transform a set of old train cars into public art. Completed in 2017, The train car art project has become a popular attraction for tourists and locals alike, and it has helped revitalize the area around the original Fargo Depot.

The Tin Family.

The Enchanted Highway is a 32-mile (51 km) scenic drive located in southwestern North Dakota. The Tin Family is one example from the collection of whimsical giant sculptures that range as high as 60 feet (18 meters) in height. The Enchanted Highway collection, created entirely of scrap metal, includes a giant grasshopper, a group of pheasants taking flight, and a fish leaping out of a pond. One of the most popular sculptures is called “Geese in Flight,” which features a flock of metal geese soaring into the sky.

Winnipeg Canada is home to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Finally, the design of buildings and other architecture certainly fits the challenge. One beautiful example is the unique design of the Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg, Canada. The building is an impressive feat of modern architecture, featuring several unique design elements that make it stand out. The overall design of the museum is meant to evoke the idea of a mountain, with a curved form rising out of the ground and sloping upwards toward the sky. Tower of Hope, a 320-ft (100 m) tall structure, rises above the main building. Visitors can take an elevator to the top of the tower and enjoy panoramic views of the surrounding area.

What public art is displayed in your hometown? What interesting pieces of art have you seen and photographed during your travels? I hope by featuring my wide variety of examples that your selection need not be limited to any specific medium or venue. Art is where you find it. Where do you find yours? Your challenge response should include a link to the week’s challenge host.  We can find your post easily in the Reader if it includes the “Lens-Artists” tag. For more information on joining the challenge, click here.

I’ve posted HD images on my Flickr site and included a few other examples there, as well. You can see the entire gallery here. Next week, it’s Amy’s turn to host the Lens-Artists Challenge. Look for her challenge post on Saturday at noon EST.

John Steiner

133 comments

  1. Great photos, great theme. Food for thought. They’ve started decorating utility boxes in my community, though I think they are more ‘appliqués’ than painted. Game on!

    Reply

    • I have an idea that most of the boxes in my community are vinyl. That would be a lot easier to implement and apply than to have a painter do the work “on site.”

      Reply

  2. I find it here, good job with the samples, I find it in my every room in my house, but I can’t post them as they are not public places. Will have to do this when I go back home and have access to my computer and archives. Great topic to share so important art.. for the soul and mind

    Reply

  3. Fabulous art!! I just did a post on my blog of urban art in Minneapolis. The companion post for St. Paul will be created eventually. There are SO many murals here! As well as painted utility boxes. I have so many ideas for this challenge! I’ll have to control myself 🤓 I loved all of these in your post!

    Reply

  6. Top choice, John. It’s soo hard to create a shortlist and even select the best images from the shortlist. I suppose you addressed all possible options.

    I like the idea behind the homeless Jesus and the sculpture fighting stallions. 👍

    Reply

  15. I love all the avenues to take this challenge.Your feature photo was such a great lead in.I, too, have noticed more and more utility boxes with art, and have actually researched some local companies who might do one on my property. I had never heard of the Homeless Jesus. Pretty powerful!!!

    Such a great challenge.As you know I am traveling. Hopefully can bring up my computer shortly.Great challenge.

    Reply

      • Likewise! When I looked at your about post and saw travel, writing and photography, well, we have a bit of the same interests and I followed you too. Thanks for the follow! There are so many great bloggers out there 🤗

  34. I love this. The homeless Jesus is powerful. Public art gives us a flavor of the places they’re displayed. Great to have this short tour of Fargo.

    Reply

  40. hello john,
    a wonderful and interesting selection of images you have chosen for the theme. i like them very much, especially the 2nd, 3rd and 4th.
    here is my contribution to the challenge, https://wp.me/pdALlZ-tO.

    many greetings robert

    Reply

  41. Eek! I hopped in for the challenge but forgot to comment, John. A great challenge this week, one that I could add to in my post. The street art is lovely, but Sleeping Jesus is compelling. Thank you for hosting L-A this week!

    Reply

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