Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Landscapes of Celebration

Today I went to the museum to see the Painter as Printmaker exhibit.  While downtown, I wanted to visit my favorite park in the city.  It is Olympic Plaza where we presented the medals during the 1988 Winter Olympics.  Now it is an established, beautifully landscaped park with a pool and a fountain.  But not today.  Today it has "temporary gardens designed by local artists"  to create "Landscapes of Celebration".  I had my camera, so I can share these with you. 
This one is titled "We're not gophers".  Yes, those are pink, cement prairie dogs heads sticking out of the planter openings.  The other openings are filled with prairie grass.  What used to be filled with gorgeous flowers spilling down the sides is now filled with pink, cement prairie dogs.


This is the bottom of the pool. Usually, on a hot summer day, the pool is full of children running through the fountain. Today... no children.  It's hosting the garden called "Big Sky".  It's a series of circles in various sizes and shades of blue painted on the bottom of the pool.  And did I mention, there are no children here today?

"The Centennial Garden".  Each of the orange posts has the name of a city park printed on it.  I believe that the height of the post corresponds to the size of the park.  Below the posts are wild prairie grasses.  These are under the magnificent arches that proclaim the Olympic virtues of Citius, Altius and Fortius.

This is "Picnic".  Platforms of wooden slats painted a very loud shade of pink and red have been placed over the flower containers with various cutouts of prairie grasses.  There are slanted risers so you can sit and rest your back against them.  There were many people napping on them.  But no flowers.

"Come Play in my Garden" .  Green wooden pine air fresheners, complete with little holes at the tops so you can hang them from your rearview mirror, nestled there among the real trees.  At least there was no cheap piney woods smell permeating the area.
So what do you think?  I think that I would prefer the beautiful plantings that usually appear in this park.  It's not that I don't like these.  I think they're quite creative and imaginative.  I just wish that they didn't replace so much of the annual plantings.  Our growing season is so short here.  I think this would have been a great fall exhibit.

5 comments:

Alex said...

Hilarious pictures! ^^ So well taken, love those pink prairie dogs, reminds me of the whack-a-mole machine

Unknown said...

I don't think I'm so crazy about what they've done here, and am with you, I'd prefer the usual landscaping. The 'pine' trees just seem tacky to me. (Though I do like that you posted this. It is always interesting to see what is going on around the world!)

But I'll tell you, I LOVE that poppy you did in the previous post! It is gorgeous!

Mari Brown and Colourblob said...

Thats too cool, so different and I like that. The orange posts look like huge pencils stusk in the ground.

Sandra said...

Are these permanent? Fun to see, but as you said, "Do you see any kids?"

Ann said...

This does look like a fun exhibit. But I do agree with you. Another time of the year probably would have been a better choice. Then it could bring more people into the park instead of discouraging the regular summer visitors.