Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined themed chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the eighth day of the month is "Art."
****************
Last month I had a dental appointment in a nearby city (we can still call failing rustbelt places cities, right?) and since my dentist's office is along the Rock River, I strolled along their riverwalk for a bit. Honestly, the riverwalk in our town is longer and the views are prettier, but who am I to really complain about a walk in a new location?
As part of this meander, I saw that they had a really lovely mural on their performing arts center. I loved the idea that they sponsored a visual artist in a space devoted to the performing arts. I loved the way the artist painted movement and color and you can hardly even tell that this is just another bland brick building in a crumbling river town.
Unexpected beauty in unexpected places. What was your last unexpected vision of beauty?
I have crystals (plastic probably--definitely not fancy ones) strung up in odd places and I love coming across surprise prisms and rainbows throughout the day... I love urban murals and graffiti too.
ReplyDeleteYes! Following rainbows around your house as the sun moves must be so fun!
DeleteI have such mixed feelings about murals in cities. I mean, you rarely see a mural in a thriving, moneyed town, right? These outdoor paintings are always in a rough and tumble urban environment, and so they've now become synonymous with that. Like "Here's a mural, so you're in a place on the downward slide, and we're trying to inspire community engagement and make things look good." I appreciate the art, but I wonder about its unintentional message.
ReplyDeleteI guess I don't agree with this? Our town is thriving and beautiful and one of the things that is part of that growth is our wonderful art community, including a lot of public art - murals and sculptures in particular. I don't think public art is exclusive to declining/impoverished areas and even if it was, I guess I would still think it was a good thing because it gives the artist work and provides beauty for people where it might be hard to come by.
DeleteI'll chime in to say that I live in a small (thriving!) university town in rural Canada and we have a lot of GORGEOUS murals. I am here for all the street art.
ReplyDeleteLast unexpected vision of beauty? Likely when we were traveling (full of beautiful sights) and on our way home I got a cappuccino and the foam was just...so pretty. Isn't it wonderful that eating can be a delight for our eyes, too?!
Yes, Elisabeth, my (thriving!) town similarly has a lot of lovely public art and I think it really adds to the charm of the place!
DeleteThanks for sharing your image of foam on a hot drink. What a lovely way to experience food and drink.
Ooh, I love murals! When I think of the time I've spent in the Mission District of San Francisco, what stands out in my mind is the beautiful murals in that area of the city. We have a few in Minneapolis but not a lot. I'd be on board with more!
ReplyDeleteMy last unexpected beauty was seeing a beautiful sunrise the other morning. It was pretty cloudy but there were streaks of pink on the horizon. I pointed it out to both boys since it was so pretty and unexpected!
Oh, have you seen any of Adam Turman's murals? He's a Twin Cities-based artist and I have one of his prints and desperately want to see some of his work in person. I think he usually does something for the State Fair and I feel like he's always working on something!
DeleteThis is so cool! I love unexpected murals like this. And I also hope your dentist appointment went smoothly and wasn't painful and didn't uncover any additional issues. And also that your hygienist was appropriately chatty and no more than that!
ReplyDeleteThe hygienist was very reassuring and actually chatted the whole time about things she knew I didn't have to respond to. It was the best dental cleaning experience I've had in a long time.
DeleteYes, I love things like this! That mural is beautiful. Today when I was running on my favorite trail I was thinking about how compared to trails in other areas, it's kind of blah- lots of sand, not much color, totally flat... but every once in a while there would be one colorful flower popping out randomly and I thought "This trail is 'Florida beautiful!'" (Kind of like we have "Florida cold" sometimes when it gets down to the 40s.) There are beautiful features of the trail if you pay attention.
ReplyDeleteLOL. I would kill for a trail like that right now. I think you're right and we just have to look for beauty wherever we can get it!
DeleteSo pretty! The other day on a walk, the sun hit the school in my neighborhood just right, and the bricks turned pink, and all the windows glowed orange. I literally stopped in my (yax) tracks. It was gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteOh, what a lovely image. Sunrise and sunset are the BEST times to be outside!
DeleteOoo that is lovely! And so vibrant!
ReplyDeleteHmm, I can't think of a specific location, but I love randomly seeing painted murals pop up too!
Oh, I love murals. None near me, unfortunately. I wish that campus (or, at least the area of campus where I am located) had more murals. One thing I particularly appreciate is when the artist brings the soul of the place into the art. You can just tell that the murals "fit" where they were painted. Honestly, though? I love any public art. Even at the shopping center across the street - where there is this random huge chess set. So much fun to be surprised by these pops of color and whimsy.
ReplyDelete