Logs

While I was home over break I noticed that a lot of the people in my town had firewood sitting out. I really liked how the stacked wood looked and found some photos online that were really neat.


This photo is full of logs. I really like the various sizes and shades of wood. It is almost mosaic like with all the logs. This photo is titled: Logs, UPM Blandin paper mill, Grand Rapids and was taken by Clint Austin.Here is another photo of logs. This one looks more realistic to what people would have for fire wood. I found this photo at www.alakhnor.com/post-thumb/?p=21. It seems more realistic because it has a bunch of twigs and other natural findings embedded in the log stack. This one is even more interesting because of the chaotic way all the logs are arranged.

Here is a photo by Gordon Pritchard. This one focuses on the side view of the logs. I like this one because it shows a lot of the earth behind the logs and the contrast between the earth and logs.

In addition to stacks of logs I like this photo that highlights the beauty found inside a log. Once some cuts a log or a tree down it exposes the repetitious rings. These rings may mean how old the tree is, but I think this photo is an interesting earth art piece. The photo is by Arnold Paul, 2006.

Men-an-tol

This is a photo of the Men-an-tol which means holed stone. This fabulous piece of art is located in Cornwall, England and is from the Bronze Age, 16th century. There were initially four stones standing, but now one of the four stones has fallen. The three stones that still standing were thought to once be arranged in a triangle. It was believed that if naked children passed through the holed stone they could be healed from different illnesses like rickets and scrofula. Also smaller adults passed through nine times in an attempt to ward off fevers. The holed stone is fairly large measuring 4 1/2’ high and 4’ across. It was also believed that questions could be answered by brass pins if they were left on the stone. Others believe that this was once the entrance to a Neolithic tomb.
I think this is a beautiful site to see and I sure it had a great history. I am not quite sure I buy into the prophetic aspects of the stone and that it holds healing powers, but I love to learn about wonderful pieces of art and their stories behind them. I wish there were drawing of the original four stones and their positions. Although, there is no evidence to show that the fourth stone fell, maybe it was supposed to be positioned in that way, who knows. This is also located in the text page 188 in the Rituals section. The photo showed here is from http://www.visitcornwall.com/ and taken by Paul Watts.

Oklahoma City National Memorial

After seeing the memorials Mr. Birchett showed us in class I started to think about other memorials that were around the United States. I remembered the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. This means a lot to me because I remember the day that the Murrah Building was bombed in Oklahoma City and I remember how interested I was in the whole event. I would love to one day go visit this elaborate memorial because it was crafted so wonderful and has so much power and meaning. Above is an over view of the whole memorial. The memorial was created by Hans and Torrey Butzer and Sven Berg a Butzer Design Partnership. They won a contest and then 3 years later this beautiful masterpiece was created.

Here is a photo of one of the two gates at the ends of the reflecting pool. This one reads 9:03 while the other reads 9:01 symbolizing the middle time of 9:02 when the explosion happened. I love the lighting and the meaning these gates bring to the memorial.

To the right you can see the reflecting pool that lies in between the two gates and is the focal point in the middle of the memorial. This pool brings calming and relaxing feelings to the scene showing that in a state of chaos and devastation there can still be time for relaxation and reflection. I love when pools are integrated into memorials because, although artificial, they bring a sense of earth and movement into the piece of art.

This image in my opinion is the most powerful. Here there are 168 chairs with victim's names on them arranged in nine rows representing the nine floor of the building. There are also19 smaller chairs representing the children that lost their lives. This is called the Field of Chairs because the chairs are located in an empty field to the right of the reflecting pool.

This is the Survivor Tree. This American Elm survived the bombing and is still alive today. This tree is a symbol of life and triumph in a time of despair. I love how the designers used this tree as a focal point of the memorial as opposed to tearing it down. This is a true integration of earth and man proving to be a magnificent piece of earth art.

This is the Survivor Wall where over 600 names of survivors are inscribed into the granite. This is the only remaining wall left from the Murrah building. I also appreciate how the designers left this one wall from the lobby to use another focal point and a remembrance of what was there.


This is the Rescuers' Orchard where there are many trees representing the people that came to help during this time of need. The trees surround the Survivor Tree showing a direct interaction between the trees. Also there is an inscription at the Survivor Tree that looks toward the orchard and reads: To the courageous and caring who responded from near and far, we offer our eternal gratitude, as a thank you to the thousands of rescuers and volunteers who helped.

The Children's Area is special due to the amount of children that were actually killed during the blast and the response from other children around the world. The area is made up of tiles that were painted by children and sent to Oklahoma City. There are also chalkboards and chalk that can be used by children to write or draw messages.

The last element to the memorial is the Fence. This is an area that once put up to protect the site, almost immediately people came to show their love and respect. There are over 60,000 items that have been collected from the fence.

Monroe Park

Today I went out in Monroe Park to see what kind of earth art I could find. I was so excited with what I found. There were so many unique trees, and interesting scenes found in the park. I have always thought of Monroe Park as a nasty, ugly park, but now I have a completely different opinion.



My first photo is of a partially eaten apple. This reminded me of the photos Mr. Birchett showed us in class from his experiment with fruit in the woods. I love how the apple is just laying there and it is not really rotten yet, showing a timeline or story of when it was probably dropped.









The next photo I have is of these bricks lying at the roots of the tree. I like how the bricks almost blend in with the landscape since they are so dirty. This was one of my favorite photos just showing how random of things you can find around campus or anywhere you look.









Then I took a picture of a piece of bread that had been nibbled on. I really liked the relationship between man and nature with this photo. Of course a person had to leave the piece of bread here but the nature then took the bread and ate on it, moved it, and brought it into their world of nature.

This was another interesting photo where the tree trunk had knobs almost. They looked like large rocks at first, but then I realized that it was part of the tree itself. I really wonder how this happened and what caused the tree to grow like this. It makes me wonder if it was natural or man made. This was so awesome to see. I even tried to kick them to see if they moved, they didn't, but it was a lot of fun to play around with them since they look so unstable, yet are not.

Here is pretty cigarette box shoved in between the tree. I interested to know if this was intentional for art or to be noticed or if someone did it because they were lazy. This was another obvious piece of unnatural material that was hidden inside the earth's landscape. I also really liked how pretty the box was with the bright teal and black colors. The tree itself was also intriguing to look at because of its size and texture.

I found a pile of cones or seeds? This HAD to be man-made. I am extremely interested to know if this was someone from our class because it is similar to things was have seen before. I think it is great how it was still there because someone had to of created it. I love the shapes of the cone/seed things. I wish I knew what they actually were.

Rock Pathway

I found this image on a friend's Facebook page. A few friends and she went on a nature walk and they took this picture. This weekend I skimmed Lippard's text about stones. I liked how they were referred to as 'immortal' and that they had 'survived' all aspects of life. This photo is interesting because it has a mixture of land and water. I love how the rocks are different colors and leading into the water. The rocks seem to fit as if a puzzle and they create a solid and beautiful trail. The stones here look like they are from all different times and places because of the contrast in color. This just highlights the fact that stones are timeless pieces of the earth and are multifunctional.

The Lightning Field

I have always been fascinated by lightning. I think that this idea by Walter de Maria is a fabulous portrayal of the beauty inside a storm. This is created in New Mexico where 400 steel poles have been placed to attract the lightning during storms. I love the power and action that is produce by this photo.

What is Earth Art??

I think earth art is everywhere. It is all about the interpretation of the things you see. Some earth art is created with natural materials: rocks, dirt, trees, sand, or water. This is a great use of the land and what nature has to offer. I think the most inspirational earth art is the type that is not created by man. It is the art that is created by the colors of the world and the materials of the earth. Weather patterns and natural phenomena are some of the greatest artists known to man. They create the most interesting and remarkable pieces of work. Through erosion, volcanoes, hurricanes, and tornados the earth is transformed producing masterpieces. Artists are able to capture these unique scenes which speak to the masses about the beauty and mystery of nature. I think that now, more than ever, the importance of earth art is huge because with the trends ‘going green’ and ‘save the world’ everywhere people are more likely to stop and see the beauty that lies in earth art.