End of a lovely day

The one sculpture Sue hadn’t found on her first visit to the Arboretum was tricky, as it was off the main road. We ran it down, though, and as we were walking toward it, I said it looked like a giant mushroom. I was right on target. 🙂 This is Mycelia.

Named for the filigreed, thread-like fungus, Mycelia extends reflections on the interconnectedness of humans and the natural world.

Mushrooms offer themselves as metaphor and image; the strange blooms of an otherwise invisible organism that runs beneath the forest floor. 

It was the end of a lovely day but we did get a good laugh from this quite suggestive fungus. 🙂

One last look at autumn colors before Sue dropped me off at the parking area, then headed home. I spent a bit of time (and money) in the gift shop before heading back to our friends’ house.

I’m glad you could walk along with me. The next days will be hit or miss as we’re making a flying trip back to Illinois to pick up a Toyota SUV. Why so far? Dealers in our part of Arizona are adding $7,000 on top of the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, an attempt I’ve heard at gaining back a portion of the money they’re losing by not having any stock. We went through the Costco program, which was a God-send: less than MSRP, the dealer has to add on a number of items, and Costco

Monday walk…into the heart of the wood

Must preface this by apologizing for getting behind yesterday and not visiting many posts. Sometimes life happens.Nothing bad, just busy.

We have three more Popper sculptures to view before we leave Morton Arboretum, two today, the last tomorrow. Although this first might seem like “Split Personality” or “Two-Faced”, it is in reality nothing like either of those. According to the artist:

Recalling the inner rings at the centre of a tree trunk, Heartwood offers a lyrical meditation on the interconnectedness of humans and nature. While the work’s image might first appear fractured – with the bust of a woman cleaved in two – on closer looking, a resonant parallel becomes apparent. The heartwood of a tree marks its earliest growth and becomes, with the accumulation of annual ring, the plant’s spine; the wood dense and resistant to decay. 

The outer details are lovely too.

There were still a few flowers in bloom to go along with the autumn leaves.

You may or may not see the same meaning in “Basilica” as the artist did but even if not, it’s fine. Art is in the eye and heart and in the interpretation of the beholder.

Its title borrowed from the Greek word given first to places of gathering and later to those of worship, the work is an invocation to community and communion. While it may be without walls, with no ceiling but the sky, the artist lends Basilica’s two outstretched arms and the space they enclose the sacred resonance of a temple. 

On a very different artistic note, my husband and I have been watching lots and lots of rugby and one of the odd, funny things is that during or at the end of (or sometimes both) English matches and at least some of the 7’s tournaments, Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” is played. It’s not just at rugby matches but the “good times never seemed so good” and the opportunity to belt out “So good, so good, so good” and “ba, ba, ba” has made it a favorite of a number of sporting events. That’s what I thought of when seeing this sculpture as it’s certainly reaching out. 🙂 My husband and I sing right along when whenever we hear it but I did not sing out loud this day. 🙂

Jo’s Monday Walk 12.12.22

Rebellious leaves and some daffodils

The sun shone brightly, highlighting the gold of the leaves. We had to stop, get out, and just wonder at the quintessential beauty of autumn before moving on to the next sculpture. After several years in Arizona, the sight brought back memories of raking leaves, the girls jumping in piles of leaves, the crisp sound of leaves crunching underfoot.

“Rebellious leaves
going out
in a blaze of glory,
setting trees aflame
in riotous color.
Reluctant surrender
to rumors
of coming winter.”
― John Mark Green, Taste the Wild Wonder: Poems

“The leaves are changing; I feel poetry in the air.”
― Laura Jaworski

I do know the name of this sculpture: Ephemera. Beyond that, you’re on your own once again. 🙂 There are several chairs if you want to sit and contemplate for a bit.

More exploration at the Arboretum

Although we didn’t see flowers, we did spot what my plant app says is some sort of snowberry (or maybe an American beautyberry?) Whatever it is, the pop of color was vibrant.

I missed the best leaf color but trees like this made up for it. I should have saturated this photo to give more of a true sense of the brightness of the yellow.

I’d love to give you the name of this sculpture and I tried to figure it out from the map but to no avail. Just enjoy it for what it is and what you think it represents. I like to think of it as a wood sprite.

To give you a sense of size, here I am.

A bit more autumn color and inviting path waiting to take us farther in our explorations.

Monday walk at Morton Arboretum and a double selfie!

Prior to my visit to Illinois, I asked Sue (Mac’s Girl), if she’d like to meet while I was there. We met at Morton Arboretum, in Lisle (pronounced “Lyle”) where the “Human + Nature” sculptures were on exhibit. Sue had been to the exhibit before but one sculpture had proved elusive so our mission was to find it. But today we’re starting with the first three sculptures we found.

Internationally renowned artist Daniel Popper created 15- to 26-foot-tall sculptures exclusively for the Arboretum featured in various locations across its 1,700 acres, leading guests to areas they may not have explored before. It is his largest exhibition to date anywhere in the world.

“Gingko.” I really like this one.

Flower season was past as in late October, but there was a seasonal display of color nonetheless. Decorative kale is so beautiful.

I believe this one is “Hallow.” Although this appears to be wood, it’s not.

The sculptures are constructed of glass-reinforced concrete, fiberglass and steel. They each weigh several metric tons. They are painted to look like wood.

From what I can determine, this sports the puzzling name of “UMI.” Don’t ask me. The sculptor chose the names and isn’t saying what they mean, asking each individual to determine what the sculpture and name mean. We thought this one might show the two-faced-ness of the world these days. Makes Janus and his two faces seem rather above board! Now that I think of it, this is what my high school students thought I could do. They couldn’t understand how I could see them doing things they shouldn’t. I never enlightened them as to what peripheral vision meant. 🙂 Better to let them fear my powers!

Finally, we have a never-before-seen selfie of the two of us: Sue to the left and I on the right. 🙂

Jo’s Monday Walk 12.5.22

(All quotes are from the Morton Arboretum website.)