Central Plateau, North Island

Central Plateau, North Island
View from a friend's farm

Tuesday 2 June 2015

Wellington scenes on the second trip

 

We had another trip to Wellington on Tuesday, to the airport, Kaz flew home to Dunedin, then a little further south to the farm. A fine day, no wind, but still big swells from the south. Along Cobham Drive are some sculptures, and here are some, photos from Hugh or courtesy of the internet. I now know how difficult it is to take window photos!!!

Artist
Leon van den Eijkel and Hutt Valley engineer Allan Brown of Metallion Ltd.

"All the trees in my city had been cut down for heating so we children didn't know what a tree was. We had only black and white images of them. So we made urban trees from all sorts of wood, trips of cloth, broken pieces of glass and iron we found on the street."

Wellington Urban Forest taken from another view

Phil Dadson's Akau Tangi has been unveiled on Cobham Drive, taking its place alongside the four other pieces in the Meridian Wellington Wind Sculpture series: Pacific Grass, Tower of Light, Urban Forest and Zephyrometer.
His sculpture is made up of 10 painted steel poles topped with moving metal cones shaped like windsocks. The cones move with the wind and make sounds in certain wind directions.

Akau Tangi sculpture, Wellington

Kon Dimopoulous Pacific Grass

Pacific Grass is a 13 metre high composite rod sculpture by Kon Dimopoulos located on the Traffic island at Cobham Dr and Calabar Rd in Mirimar.

"Pacific Grass is a celebration of movement. It is like a ballet in which 1550 different characters have their own part choreographed and moved by the wind.

"Like music in dance, wind is the critical element in this production, shaping and forming with its influence." - Kon Dimopoulos

Presented to the city in 2001, sponsored by Meridian Energy, and assisted by the Wellington City Council.

Pacific Grass, wind sculpture near Wellington Airport

The Zephyrometer is a civic sculpture by Evans Bay, Wellington. It was made by Christchurch artist Phil Price and installed in 2003.[1] It is a kinetic sculpture consisting of a concrete cylinder holding a 26m tall needle which sways to show wind direction and speed (Wellington is known to Kiwis as "Windy Wellington"). The needle consists of fiberglass exterior around a wooden framework. After being damaged by lightning on August 14, 2014, it was restored on May 13, 2015.

Zephyrometer, courtesy of Internet

There was so little wind along this road, nothing waving, but nevertheless, all are wonderful, either static, or moving.My favourite is the “ Pacific Grass” the reeds rattle in the wind, so real.

Quotation of the day, author unknown

“ Go with the wind, or change your direction in life”

Greetings from Jean

12 comments:

Nancy J said...

Hooray, I did this post the other day, and Blogger would not accept it, today after some searching on Google, earlier comments said you could do a post with no photos and they were working on it ( Microsoft). I clicked, entered p/word, and here it is. A little late, but better than not at all.

Out To Pasture said...

Sorry for your Blogger glich but glad you persevered. The sculptures are wonderful.

eileeninmd said...

I love all these pretty sculptures. Lovely sights to see along the road while traveling. A great quote for the day. I hope all is well! Have a happy day!

TexWisGirl said...

glad you resolved your issue!

i like the sculptures - especially the grass.

Carol Mattingly said...

So gorgeous. I love the sculpture with the wind socks best. I would love to hear what all of the sounds make on each of the sculptures. Carol

Julie Fukuda said...

It looks super against that sky. What creative sculptures those are!

Jenn Jilks said...

These are amazing, Jean! I love them. hugs, busy with grandkids...so tired! xx

bj said...

Such great sculptures..how fun to see them.

Jim said...

How wonderful all these sculptures are, Jean! I particularly like the 'Grass' one. I could watch and listen to that forever.
thanks so much for posting these.

Fundy Blue said...

Hi Nancy!
I enjoy sculptures in public spaces, so these were great fun to see and to learn about. Although sometimes I wonder what people were thinking when they chose something to install as public art. I'm still laughing over the statue of Anubis that was displayed just outside the Denver International Airport to advertise an Egyptian exhibit at the science museum. It got a lot a attention from people uncomfortable with flying.

Also, on the way to DIA, is Denver's huge blue mustang with fiery red that stare at you from many directions. It's affectionately know as the Killer Horse because it fell on its sculptor and killed him shortly before it was finished. It caused a lot of controversy when it was installed, but it turned out to be the sculpture that everyone loves to hate. Faced with the possibility of removing it, people raised an uproar.

I'm so glad that Boris has found his forever home with you and Hugh. I'm sure he brings so much joy and fun everywhere he goes; I certainly enjoy seeing his photos and hearing about him.

Most of all I was happy to hear that Hugh has finally gotten his needed surgery scheduled. What a relief it will be to have that take care of. I've seen those knee walkers in action. They are spiffy!

You're heading into winter and we're heading into summer. I understand all the science behind it, but it's still odd to think of.

Take care, and give Ginger Boy his favorite kind of scratch for me. Hugs to you!

KB said...

I love the Pacific Grass too. That is unique and beautiful.

Allie-oops Designs said...

Wow how creative, I too love the Pacific Grass one. I was glad to read that Hugh is getting his surgery, hon, I'll keep you both in prayer!