Art sights in North America
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Dancers
Frozen in joyful two-step, Jonathan Borofsky's whimsical 'Dancers' invite rushing traffic to stop and play. The centerpiece of Sculpture Park, they supervise live music and lounging picnickers in summer and rise eerily from the snow in winter. Initially a controversial buy for conservative citizens, they're a symbol on scale with Denver's ambition to be the cultural capital of the West.
reviewed
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Waiting for the Interurban
Seattle’s most popular piece of public art, this lively sculpture in recycled aluminum depicts people waiting for a train that never comes. The train that once passed through Fremont stopped running in the 1930s, and the people of Seattle have been waiting for a new train – the Interurban – ever since. Finally, in 2001, Sound Transit trains started once again to connect Seattle with Everett, much like the original train did. The sculpture is prone to regular ‘art attacks,’ where locals lovingly decorate the people in outfits corresponding to a special event, the weather, someone’s birthday, a Mariners win – whatever. Rarely do you see the sculpture ‘undressed.’ Take a loo…
reviewed
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Suprema Corte de Justicia
The Suprema Corte de Justicia, south of the Zócalo, has Orozco murals. In 1940 the artist painted four panels around the first level of the central stairway, two of which deal with the theme of justice. A more contemporary take on the same subject, Los Siete Crímenes Mayores (The Seven Worst Crimes), by Rafael Cauduro, unfolds over the three levels of the building’s southwest stairwell. Executed in his hyperrealist style, the series catalogs the horrors of state-sponsored crimes against the populace, including the ever-relevant torture-induced confession. On the southeast corner of the building’s interior, Ángel Ismael Ramos Huitrón’s En Busqueda de la Justicia …
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East Harlem Artpark
Mayor Bloomberg has been a great supporter of the Public Art Fund, as well as the Department of Cultural Affairs’ Percent for Art, initiated in 1982 by then-mayor Edward Koch, requiring that 1% of the city’s budget for construction projects be spent on integrating art into the design or architecture of new facilities. Since its inception there have been more than 220 such projects at public schools, libraries, parks and police stations, and projects have included Valerie Jaudon’s brick-and-granite mosaic at Manhattan’s police headquarters, Jorge Luis Rodriguez’ bright-orange steel flower in the East Harlem Artpark, and a Holocaust Memorial (State Supreme Court, …
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Holocaust Memorial
Mayor Bloomberg has been a great supporter of the Public Art Fund, as well as the Department of Cultural Affairs’ Percent for Art, initiated in 1982 by then-mayor Edward Koch, requiring that 1% of the city’s budget for construction projects be spent on integrating art into the design or architecture of new facilities. Since its inception there have been more than 220 such projects at public schools, libraries, parks and police stations, and projects have included Valerie Jaudon’s brick-and-granite mosaic at Manhattan’s police headquarters, Jorge Luis Rodriguez’ bright-orange steel flower in the East Harlem Artpark (Sylvan Pl & E 120th St), and a Holocaust Memori…
reviewed
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Secretaría de Educación Pública
The two front courtyards (on the opposite side of the building from the entrance off Plaza Santo Domingo) of the newly established Secretaría de Educación Pública are lined with 120 fresco panels painted by Diego Rivera in the 1920s. Together they form a tableau of ‘the very life of the people,’ in the artist’s words. Each courtyard is thematically distinct: the one on the east end deals with labor, industry and agriculture, while the interior one depicts traditions and festivals. On the latter’s top level is a series on proletarian and agrarian revolution, underneath a continuous red banner emblazoned with a Mexican corrido (folk song). The likeness of Frida K…
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Pilsen Murals
Murals are a traditional Mexican art form, and they’re splashed all over Pilsen’s buildings. If you arrive by train, your first sighting will be at the Pink Line 18th St station. With the help of his students, local art teacher Francisco Mendoza riotously colored the walls with religious and cultural imagery. The exterior wall of the Cooper Dual Language Academy is the canvas for a 1990s tile mosaic that shows a diverse range of Mexican images, from a portrait of farm-worker advocate Dolores Huerta to the Virgin of Guadalupe. Each summer, art students add more panels. A mural of parishioners eating corn while Jesus looks on graces St Pius Church.
reviewed
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Mercado Abelardo Rodríguez
The Mercado Abelardo Rodríguez, northeast of the Zócalo, became a canvas for a group of young international artists under the tutelage of Diego Rivera in the 1930s. Some of the most exuberant works, created by the American Greenwood sisters, cover the stairwell leading up to the community center, at the market’s northeast corner. On the 1st floor, Historia de México, by the Japanese artist Isama Noguchi, is a dynamic three-dimensional mural sculpted of cement and plaster that symbolizes the struggle against fascism. Other murals inside the market’s entry corridors are paeans to rural laborers and their traditions, though sadly some are fading from neglect.
reviewed
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Louisiana Artworks
- New Orleans, USA
- Sights › Art
This 90,000-sq-ft space was established by the Arts Council of New Orleans to bring working artists and lovers of art together. By providing artists with affordable studio spaces, the project hopes to foster a continuation of the city’s growing arts scene, even as rents go up around town. The Arts Council hopes to promote the local arts by keeping the facility open to the public, thus giving visitors the opportunity to witness art being created. Tourists who appreciate art are the obvious target audience here. It’s an interesting idea, and a positive step for the city as it attempts to rebuild its tourist-based economy without going down the Mickey Mouse route.
reviewed
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Graffiti Hall of Fame
A schoolyard that celebrates all sorts of taggers, this art gallery of the street was founded in 1980 by graffiti artist Ray Rodriguez (aka Sting Ray) and a group of community-minded supporters who saw the lasting value in an art that some politicians and business-owners tend to view as vandalism. You can visit the colorful murals at any time, though the actual Graffiti Hall of Fame event, which is when ‘writers’ come from all over the globe to add their art to the walls, is held in late June. For updates check the website Streets Are Saying Things (www.streetsaresayingthings.com), run by a Hall of Fame organizer and a good source of graffiti-related news.
reviewed
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Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo Chapel
Between 1925 and 1927, Diego Rivera painted murals for the Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo, an agriculture school just outside Texcoco that occupies the estate buildings of a former hacienda. Two dozen of Rivera’s panels cover the walls and ceiling of the hacienda chapel These sensual tableaux intertwine images of the Mexican struggle for agrarian reform with the earth’s fertility cycles. One depicts buried martyrs of reform symbolically fertilizing the land and thus the future. The curator will give you a brief description (in Spanish) of the murals upon request.
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Dr Evermor’s Sculpture Park
Dr Evermor’s Sculpture Park sprawls 11 miles northwest of Madison on US 12. The doc welds old pipes, carburetors and other salvaged metal into a hallucinatory world of futuristic creatures and structures. The crowning glory is the giant, egg-domed Forevertron, cited by Guinness as the world’s largest scrap-metal sculpture. The good doctor himself – aka Tom Every – is often around and happy to chat about his birds, dragons and other pieces of folk art. Look for sculptures along the highway marking the entrance.
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Cooper Dual Language Academy
Murals are a traditional Mexican art form, and they’re splashed all over Pilsen’s buildings. Check out the exterior wall of the Cooper Dual Language Academy, the canvas for a 1990s tile mosaic that shows a diverse range of Mexican images, from a portrait of farmworker advocate Dolores Huerta to the Virgin of Guadalupe. Each summer, art students add more panels. Local artist Jose Guerrero leads the highly recommended Pilsen Mural Tours where you can learn more about the neighborhood’s images.
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El Agua, el Origen de la Vida
Diego Rivera painted this series of murals, Fuente de Tláloc, for the inauguration of the Chapultepec water works (near Lago Menor). These were built in the 1940s to channel the waters of the Río Lerma, 62km west, into cisterns to supply the city. Experimenting with waterproof paints, Rivera covered the collection tank, sluice gates and part of the pipeline with images of amphibious beings and workers involved in the project. Though technically only open Saturdays, the guard can sometimes be persuaded to let you in, for a tip.
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Historia de México
The large Abelardo Rodríguez public market, east of the Zócalo, became a canvas for a group of young international artists in the 1930s under the tutelage of Diego Rivera (he paid them 13.5 pesos per square meter). One of the most intriguing (and best preserved) works, created by Japanese artist Isama Noguchi, is a dynamic three-dimensional mural sculpted of cement and plaster that symbolizes the struggle against fascism. It’s located in the community center, upstairs from the northeast corner of the market.
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Chicago Cultural Center
Heaps of freebies fill the block-long Cultural Center. In addition to housing one of the city’s two visitors centers – with free maps, concierge advice and Chicago Greeter tours – the building hosts free jazz, blues, classical and world music lunchtime concerts, as well as ongoing art exhibitions. In summer, free foreign films show in the 2nd-floor Claudia Cassidy Theater. Check the daily schedule posted at the entrances (at both Randolph and Washington Sts) to see what’s going on each day.
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Wave Organ
An Exploratorium project well worth checking out is the Wave Organ, a sound system of PVC tubes and concrete pipes capped with found marble from San Francisco’s old cemetery, built right into the tip of the Marina Boat Harbor jetty. Depending on the waves, winds and tide, the tones emitted by the organ can sound like nervous humming from a dinnertime line chef or spooky heavy breathing over the phone in a slasher film. Access to the organ is free, but a bit of a hike from the Exploratorium.
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Shidoni Foundry
Five miles north of Santa Fe in Tesuque, the Shidoni Foundry is an 8-acre apple orchard devoted to bronze sculptures. Founded in 1971, it has evolved into a world-renowned fine art casting facility and showplace. A gallery hosts changing exhibits, and there is a year-round outdoor sculpture garden on the lawn. Every Saturday, you can watch 2000°F molten bronze being poured into ceramic shell molds, one of several steps in the complex lost-wax casting technique.
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Cajun Village
Before you head back to the city, stop at the rustic antique, craft and coffee shops of Cajun Village. The buildings are all old Creole shacks that have been moved here from around the region. Down the road you might notice the 1963 Sunshine Bridge, unexceptional except for the fact that it was named by Governor Jimmie Davis who rode to electoral success singing campaign songs he wrote. Ever heard ‘You Are My Sunshine?’
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Socrates Sculpture Park
Transformed from an illegal dumping site in 1986, this open-air, 4.5-acre public space near the Noguchi museum displays sculptures, installations and superb light shows illuminating its waterfront location on the East River. Try to time a visit around free events – like yoga and capoeira on summer Saturdays and movie screenings on Wednesdays from mid-July to mid-August; pre-screening performances start at 7pm; films begin at sunset (food available).
reviewed
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St Nicholas Orthodox Church
Seldovia's most popular attraction by far is this onion-domed church, St Nicholas Orthodox Church, which overlooks the town from a hill just off Main St. Built in 1891 and restored in the 1970s, the church is open on weekday afternoons, when you can go inside to view the exquisite icons. Also notice the chandelier, made from old barrel staves. Although there's no resident clergyman, every so often the priest from Nanwalek travels here to conduct services.
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Southern Vermont Arts Center
- Manchester, USA
- Sights › Art
In addition to excellent outdoor sculpture gardens, the Southern Vermont Arts Center has a full program of concerts from June through August. Its 10 galleries of classic and contemporary art feature touring shows of sculpture, paintings, prints and photography. Lectures and jazz concerts are held in the 430-seat Arkell Pavilion. After enjoying the museum and surrounding trails, consider staying for a light lunch at its Garden Cafe.
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New York Earth Room
Since 1980 the oddity of the New York Earth Room, the work of artist Walter De Maria, has been wooing the curious with something not easily found in the city: dirt (250 cu yd, or 280,000lb, of it, to be exact). Walking into the small space is a heady experience, as the scent will make you feel like you’ve entered a wet forest; the sight of such beautiful, pure earth in the midst of this crazy city is surprisingly moving.
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Museum of Fine Arts
The collections at the Museum of Fine Arts are second in this country only to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum’s highlight is undoubtedly its American collection, including American painting and decorative arts. The museum also has an incredible collection of European paintings, including many by French impressionists. The 2003 acquisition of Duchessa di Montejasi with Her Daughters makes the MFA’s Degas collection one of the richest in the world. The museum also boasts excellent exhibits of Japanese art, including Buddhist and Shinto treasures.
The MFA is currently undergoing an ambitious expansion program, which will result in a new wing for Ameri…
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Mckinley County Courthouse
- New Mexico, USA
- Sights › Art
Gallup’s original murals date back to the 1930s and were created during the Depression as part of President Franklin D Roosevelt’s WPA program – an initiative to give out-of-work men jobs building and beautifying towns and parks on railway lines across the country. Some of the original murals can still be seen around town – check out the McKinley County Courthouse.
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