When I saw that the photohunt theme this week was metal, I decided to feature some of the metal objects in my garden and on my deck. The top row left to right shows my metal wind chimes, metal washtub and watering can, metal sundial. Second row has my metal frog far left, another metal frog in the middle, and a metal hummingbird which I took last April when the flowers were blooming.
You can always click on my montages if you want to see the individual photographs better. My second montage is of photographs I took at the NC Art Museum Park this week. The top left shot below is one of three ellipses which are part of Gyre, 1999 by Thomas Sayre (American, born 1950). I discussed this work on the previous post but in short it is made of concrete and iron oxide which were poured into trenches inlaid with steel bars for reinforcement. So, Gyre is, in part, metal. If you look in the lower part of that shot you can see Collapse I, 2000 which is also in part made of metal and I'll show that in detail. To the right of Gyre is a photograph of untitled, 2007 which is in the woodland part of the park and is by Ledelle Moe (South African, born 1971) who also created Collapse I. Both of these works are made from concrete, construction mesh and steel and are therefore partly metal. 
The bottom left work in the montage above is Crossroads, Trickster 1, 2005 by Martha Jackson Jarvis (American, born 1952) and is in part metal. Crossroads Trickster 1 is made of brick, steel, mortar, glass, tile, and stone. The children surrounding Crossroads are live children and not sculpture. The bottom right work is Wind Machine 2002 by Vollis Simpson (American, born 1918) and is made of steel and other media. The artist spent his life designing heavy equipment for moving houses and after retirement in 1985 he started creating monumental kinetic sculptures out of found objects. Wind Machine is made out of old cars, trucks, bicycles, farm machinery, street lights, and highway signs.
The shot above is a macro shot of an exposed part of Collapse 1, so you can see the way it is constructed with steel and concrete. The shot below gives a view of the whole work so you can get a better look at it. I really love this work and found it interesting that the inspiration came from fallen statues such as when statues of Stalin were pulled down.
Happy Easter weekend to those of you who celebrate that and happy weekend to everyone. You can find other photohunters at the home of the hunt on Saturday at - PhotoHunt or you can find early birds on technorati, here - 
photohunt
A dominant feature in the NC Museum of Art's Park is Gyre, 1999 by Thomas Sayre (American born 1950). I have photographed this work which consists of 3 ellipses before and posted a photo I took, some time ago on my blog. However, in the past I have concentrated on the shadows which are cast by the ellipses and photographed it as a whole work (shot included all 3 arcs). When I was at the park this week, it was completely overcast and the sun wasn't out to cast shadows. I found myself photographing the individual ellipses and in so doing I realized that they serve as a nice frame for the landscape.
Each one frames an area on either side and I found it interesting to look at that and surprised that I had never done that before. In order to create this enormous sculpture, the artist developed a method of earth casting. A backhoe dug out the shapes in the ground and a mixture of concrete and iron oxide was poured directly into the trenches which were inlaid with steel bars. After curing for a month, a crane lifted each of the concrete forms up and lowered them into their positions.
To get a sense of their scale, the shot above is of the three arches with the art museum in the background. Although it's pretty dark, I think you can see how small the museum looks behind the arches. I enjoyed looking at the Gyre in a completely different way without my focus being on the impressive shadows they cast when the sun is out.
The shot above gives a sense of how the Gyre fits into the landscape of the open part of the art park. The art park has a number of different habitats: forest bottomland, house creek, pond, prairie, and upland forest. My last post featured some of the art in the forest portion of the park. In addition to information on the man made art, there are signs to identify the birds, plants, trees, insects, etc. in areas of the park and they have some good programs for children.
I think it is interesting that the museum is creating opportunities for artists, architects, landscape architects and environmental scientists to collaborate on projects in the park. A current project involves redesigning the pond and an artist is working with water quality engineers to create a new pond that cleans storm water, has space to hold groups for educational purposes, and stands on its own as art. I did snap a picture of the current pond but it wasn't a very good one so I'll have to go back as the new project unfolds and snap some more of the pond.
Last but not least, thank you to Kat's Krackerbox for mentioning me for the E for Excellent blog Award. I posted about the Excellent blog award once before when Startinesky (another blogger whose site I enjoy) passed it on to me. I appreciated Kat mentioning me for it too, and wanted to say thank you. Kat participates in Weekend Snapshot one of the photo memes I participate in and I enjoy visiting her WS posts.
I took my camera with me to my dermatologist appointment today because I planned to go on the Art Museum art walk if the appointment didn't run too long. Before I even walked into the doctor's office, I couldn't resist snapping some pictures of the pansies and tulips in front of the building.
The appointment went well. No surprises. No biopsies. Nothing of concern at all. Woohooo. After my melanoma diagnosis, I had to go for skin checks every three months. It was extended to 6 months after I started seeing a medical oncologist in addition to the surgical oncologist who has followed me since my sentinel node was positive for melanoma.
I am a very easy skin check because I have almost no moles or freckles to follow. The risk with me was that my nodular melanoma primary was so deep and it had spread to a lymph node. I was hoping that I might go to annual dermatology appointments after this one but he wants to keep me on the 6 month schedule which is alright for now. I'm relieved that there wasn't anything hiding somewhere that I couldn't see and that I got a clean bill from the head to toe check. I wasn't expecting any problems but you never know.
It was cold and cloudy today but I'm on such a roll with my daily walks that I headed over to the NC Museum of Art for a walk in the art park after I saw the doctor. This makes my 9th day in a row of going for a walk. I have written about the art park before on my blog but last time I was there I didn't walk on the woodland trail part. Therefore, my plan was to snap some shots on that trail. The work above is called Cloud Chamber for Trees and Sky and was created by Chris Drury (British, born in Sri Lanka, 1948) in 2003. You can read more about this and the other works in the art part link above but briefly, if you go inside you can view the sky on the floor. An aperture in the roof projects an inverted image of the sky onto the floor. I expected a hobbit to come walking out of the door but fortunately for my heart, that didn't happen.
Another large work in the woodland part of the art park is called - To See Jennie Smile and was created by Steven Siegal (American born 1953) in 2006. Seen from a distance as photographed above, it blends into the woods and appears to me to be made of wood chips, at least to me. It's actually made from tons of unused newspapers donated by the News and Observer which represents 2 weeks of leftovers. The structure is anchored inside around the trunks of two trees and the tops of the trees were sectioned and used for the base. 
The close-up above shows the base. The paper exposed to the elements is predicted to last around 10 years so this is a temporary work. One of the concepts of this work is to return the paper created from trees to the woods.
I never would have guessed that it was made from newspapers if I hadn't stood very close and taken a shot of it. Standing far enough away to see the whole work, it blends into the woods, although it's clearly a man made work.
The shot above is of the outdoor stage at the museum where they have performances and movies in the summer. I love this time of year where some trees are still bare and others are in full color.
The meadow path above connects the open part of the art park to the woodland path. I love meadows and will have to be sure to come back later in the spring when the wild flowers start to come up. However, I like meadows all times of the year and for some reason found it appealing as it is starting to leave winter and herald spring. I will be posting more photographs from my art walk in future posts but I think I'll end this post here with a thank you.
SabineM passed on the Hello My Friend award to me which I appreciate so much. Sabine is a great friend and a wonderful photographer. I am so glad to have gotten to know her through photohunters.
You can always click on my montages if you want to see the individual photographs better. My second montage is of photographs I took at the NC Art Museum Park this week. The top left shot below is one of three ellipses which are part of Gyre, 1999 by Thomas Sayre (American, born 1950). I discussed this work on the previous post but in short it is made of concrete and iron oxide which were poured into trenches inlaid with steel bars for reinforcement. So, Gyre is, in part, metal. If you look in the lower part of that shot you can see Collapse I, 2000 which is also in part made of metal and I'll show that in detail. To the right of Gyre is a photograph of untitled, 2007 which is in the woodland part of the park and is by Ledelle Moe (South African, born 1971) who also created Collapse I. Both of these works are made from concrete, construction mesh and steel and are therefore partly metal. 
The bottom left work in the montage above is Crossroads, Trickster 1, 2005 by Martha Jackson Jarvis (American, born 1952) and is in part metal. Crossroads Trickster 1 is made of brick, steel, mortar, glass, tile, and stone. The children surrounding Crossroads are live children and not sculpture. The bottom right work is Wind Machine 2002 by Vollis Simpson (American, born 1918) and is made of steel and other media. The artist spent his life designing heavy equipment for moving houses and after retirement in 1985 he started creating monumental kinetic sculptures out of found objects. Wind Machine is made out of old cars, trucks, bicycles, farm machinery, street lights, and highway signs.
The shot above is a macro shot of an exposed part of Collapse 1, so you can see the way it is constructed with steel and concrete. The shot below gives a view of the whole work so you can get a better look at it. I really love this work and found it interesting that the inspiration came from fallen statues such as when statues of Stalin were pulled down.
Happy Easter weekend to those of you who celebrate that and happy weekend to everyone. You can find other photohunters at the home of the hunt on Saturday at - PhotoHunt or you can find early birds on technorati, here - 
Weekend Snapshot