Sculpture

Native American fisherman sculpture: Sculpture Saturday

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This life-sized Native American fisherman sculpture is at the Columbia Gorge Museum in Stevenson, Washington. This sculpture shows how people of nearby tribes fished in the Columbia River with dip nets. One of their favorite fishing spots was at Celilo Falls. When The Dalles Dam was completed in 1957, the falls disappeared within hours.

Native American fisherman sculpture

Today, you might see a Native American fisherman fishing from platforms at Cascade Locks, Oregon, near the Bridge of the Gods.

fishing platforms

fishing platforms

To taste locally harvested seafood, be sure to visit the Brigham Fish Market in Cascade Locks. They serve great fish and chips and clam chowder!

Sculpture Saturday

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Charmed (Bestiary) sculpture: Monochrome Madness

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The Charmed (Bestiary) sculpture is part of an exhibition featuring works by Joe Feddersen (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation). The Joe Feddersen: Earth, Water, Sky exhibit at the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon, features nearly 100 multimedia pieces of his art. It runs through January 18, 2025.

This fused glass and filament piece is part petroglyph wall, part wind chime, and part charm bracelet. The glass charms shift with the slightest breeze, reflecting the constant changes in nature.

Charmed (Bestiary)

The delicate clear glass pieces of Charmed (Bestiary) are beautiful on their own, but the shadows they cast take this piece to another level. Can you find the person walking, birds flying, coyotes, and bicycle charms?

Monochrome Madness – The space between

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Polo player sculpture: Monochrome Monday

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polo player

Polo player sculpture, 7th-8th century. Earthenware with traces of white slip and paint. China, Tang dynasty (618-907). Seattle Asian Art Museum.

Monochrome Monday

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Chihuly glass art: Wordless Wednesday

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Chihuly glass art

Chihuly glass art at the Seattle Aquarium

Wordless Wednesday

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Bear with Humor: Wordless Wednesday

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Bear with Humor

Bear with Humor by Rick Bartow (Mad River Band of the Wiyot Tribe, d. 2016) at High Desert Museum

Wordless Wednesday

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Mythical creatures of MOR: FOWC

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While visiting the Museum of the Rockies (MOR) in Bozeman, Montana, I was amazed to see mythical creatures filling one of their halls. Kudos to whomever had the great idea to create and display life-sized representations of creatures that have existed in our imaginations for years.

Large-scale mythical creatures

A colorful 17-foot long dragon guards one of the entrances. These are mythical creatures, but they resemble lizards, snakes, and dinosaurs.

mythical creatures

Near the other entrance, a unicorn points the way ahead. Modern tales of this creature depict it as white with a single long horn. However, older stories describe them with the body of a goat and a short, colored horn.

Unicorn sculpture

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Crazy Horse sculpture: LAPC

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The sculpture of Crazy Horse in South Dakota stands out along the horizon as you drive north from Custer. We visited the site earlier this month, near the date of its 75th anniversary, to view the progress on the immense sculpture.

Crazy Horse Sculpture

Crazy Horse Memorial

The Crazy Horse Memorial includes a Welcome Center, a gift store and restaurant, the family home of the sculptor, rotating exhibits, indoor and outdoor sculptures, the Native American Educational and Cultural Center, and the Indian Museum of North America. I’ll feature photos of the Museum in a later post. The nonprofit also manages the Indian University of North America.

One of my favorite things was a 1/34 scale model of the Crazy Horse sculpture. The size of the finished sculpture carved into the mountainside will be 641 feet long and 563 feet tall.

Close view of scale model

If you stand in just the right spot, you can capture an image that includes the scale model and the current sculpture.

Crazy Horse
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Tick Followed Tock clocks: Wordless Wednesday

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Tick followed tock

Tick Followed Tock clocks at Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, Ireland

Wordless Wednesday

Awash kinetic sculpture: Art that captures wind & water

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This is a kinetic sound sculpture that’s part of an exhibit at the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon. The exhibit is called Desert Reflections: Water Shapes the West and it runs through September 29, 2019. This exhibit used the combined talents of scientists, historians, and artists.

When you play the video on this post, listen carefully to the music in the background. The sounds of High Desert water and wind were recorded. They were combined with the “color” of music played on a Skinner church organ.

As the artists at Harmonic Laboratory state, “This evokes the richness of the region, a place shaped by many forces interacting in a complex way.”

As you stand underneath the sculpture, the calming tones, continuous motion, and gentle breeze helps you feel some of the energy that’s such an important part of High Desert environments.

Freedom of Expression Challenge – Art

Double O Ranch Sign: Monochrome Monday

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Double-O-Ranch-13April2019

This interesting Double O Ranch sign is on part of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon. At one time this 17,000 acre ranch was privately owned by Bill Hanley. The U.S. Government purchased most of it in 1941 and added it to the refuge. The ranch was originally owned by Amos W. Riley and James A. Hardin. It was established in 1875 and was one of the first permanent pioneer settlements in Harney County.