Big Edge - A Sculpture Made of Boats

Google Street View

An eye catching sculpture at a roundabout opposite Vdara Hotel & Spa, City Center, Las Vegas.

The sculpture created by Artist Nancy Rubins is called "Big Edge" and was created using more than 200 aluminum canoes, rowboats and flat-bottomed boats hung togather by stainless steel wires.

More info: Las Vegas Sun

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Cyclisk - An Oblisk Made of Bicycles

Google Street View

A beautiful sculpture in Santa Rosa, California made out of about 340 bicycles and one tricycle.

Created by Northern California artists Mark Grieve and Ilana, ironically it is right in the vicinity of several car dealers.

As per wired.com it could be a "tribute to the way car culture has sacrificed more eco-friendly bicycle culture? A memento mori for industrial civilization? A reminder that riding your bicycle is both healthier and cheaper than driving a car?"

The artist Mark Grieve however explains that "The statement is up to the viewer and hopefully the work is an intersection of ideas, so it can keep growing with the community....... When a person brings to a piece his/her own interpretation, the piece is 'working' for the community."

More info and images in wired.com

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Red Umbrellas

Google Street View

When I found this in Google Street View my first impression was that these have been custom laid for the GSV car. A search on the Net however revealed that these were part of the an art installation for Paris Nuit Blanche - an annual all-night arts festival.
(Source: virtualglobetrotting.com)

A digitally modified version of this image to make it look like a work of art, can be seen in my other blog - Google Street View Art.

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Sunny Side Up

Google Street View

A Fried Egg sculpture made from concrete. Located in the park by the river in Bali Township, New Taipei, Taiwan.

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Three Coats and A Travel Trunk

Image Source: Google Street View

Image from Wikimedia Commons is by ד"ר אבישי טייכר

An unusual and rather bizarre cast aluminium sculpture at the Ben Gurion University in Be'er Sheva, Israel. The sculpture was created by Israeli sculptor Ofra Zimbalista in year 2000. As per sculptor's web page, the

size of first coat is 130x45x50 cm, second coat is 100x40x40 cm, third coat is 165x50x55 cm. and the trunk measures 58x110x60 cm.

Various web pages have given different names to the trunk in the sculpture; Travelling Box, Steamer Trunk, Travel Trunk. The variation could be due to translation from Hebrew to English. I have however retained the name, as given in the sculptor's web page - "Travel Trunk".

Source of info: pikiwiki.org.il (in Hebrew) (English Translation) and Ofra Zimbalista's web page

Credits: I had found its Google Street View by serendipity and had no idea what it represented. I made a post about in Fun & Games section of GEC and requested information about this strange sculpture. I am thankful to Walter, BridgePlayer, Georges-S, esq. and Noisette for sending me details about it.

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Eternity - An Unusual Sculpture

Image Source: Google Street View

Image Source: Google Street View

An unusual wooden sculpture in the park near the ruins of Koknese Castle, Koknese, Latvia. The fort dates back to 13th century. The Sculpture known as "Eternity" (Latvian: Mūžībai) was created by sculptor Ģirts Burvis on the occasion of 725 anniversary of the castle.

The 11 metres tall sculpture is made out of old oaks. Three vertical standing oak trunks, supporting two draped figures. The sculpture symbolizes the past, present and future generations.

Source of info and more info: koknese.lv and vieglicelot.lv

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Sky Bloom

Google Street View

"Her Secret Is Patience" (unofficially known as "Sky Bloom") a sculpture by Janet Echelman at Civic Space Park, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona.

The net changes its shape with the wind speed and direction and as per the artist, this reflects enormous ever changing cumulus clouds of Arizona.

The sculpture is made of painted, galvanized steel; polyester twine netting; and coloured lights. The lowest point of net is 38 ft from the ground and highest 100 ft high.

Another similar sculpture by her in Portugal called "She Changes" has been covered earlier in this blog - "A Giant Anemone In The Sky".

More info: Wikipedia

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Wine Bottle and Bubbly Glass

Google Street View

Sculpture found at the Summerhill Pyramid Winery, Kelowna, BC, Canada.

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Bike On Rock

Google Street View

An unusual view of a bike on a rock in the Ronneby River in Blekinge County, Sweden.

No details about this unusual location for a bike are known. Presence of the electric wire however means that it must be lit up in the night. Obviously it is not work of some prankster but a carefully planned advertisement for some bike company or a piece of public art

Perhaps some of my readers can throw more light on it.

Credit for finding this unusual view is to Jesko Zabel, a member of Artistic Google fraternity, who recently shared this in Google+

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Shape Changing Sculpture at Sant Julia de Loria, Andorra

Google Street View

A few months back I had posted Google Street View of a sculpture at a roundabout near the harbour at Dénia, Spain, which keeps on changing its shape as one travels around the roundabout. (Link)

Here is another similar sculpture at Sant Julia de Loria, Andorra, found by Kerry White and shared in Google+

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Face In The Grass

Google Street View

This Google Street View is reposted from an older post for purpose of comparison with my digitally modified version of this street view shared in Artistic Google album of Google+

Best seen in larger view

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Decorative Cranes

Google Street View

While roaming the Google streets came across this large collection of decorative cranes on the Arend Road, Rustenburg, South Africa. These are probably made of wood or plastic and are apparently on sale.

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Glass Eggs in Macau

Google Street View

Found these glass eggs at a roundabout in Macau. No details of these glass eggs are available, however from the beautiful night image shown below it looks that there are colourful fountains inside the glass eggs.

Image from Panoramio are by calvinstkm

A digitally enhanced image as posted in Google+

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Tent With A Zipper

Google Street View

This is not a real tent but a sculpture made to look like tent. Also notice the stone with a zipper next to the tent. These sculpture are part of the exhibits at the Ju Ming museum in Jinshan, near Taipei, Taiwan.

The museum is the largest outdoor museum in Taiwan and showcases the work of Taiwan's famous sculptor Ju Ming and other International fame sculptors like Andy Warhol, Bernard Buffet, Joan Miro, Pablo Picasso etc.

The museum contains more than one thousand sculptures and it is fun to roam around via Google Street View.

More details and images: Travelogue of An Armchair Traveller

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She Changes - A Giant Anemone In The Sky

Google Street View (Click  on the image for larger image.)


Google Street View (Click on the image for larger image.)

This giant anemone like creature floating in the sky is a  sculpture at a roundabout near the beach front at Praça Cidade San Salvador (San Salvador Square), Matosinhos, Portugal.

Officially named "She Changes", it is a creation of artist Janet Echelman, and like her other major artworks, this sculpture is also made from nets woven from UV-resistant, colourfast PTFE fibre. The sculpture was commissioned in 2005 and is a tribute to the local fisherman.

Main source of info and more info: echelman.com

Mural at Cat and Dog Clinic

Google Street View

While roaming the streets of Wroclaw, Poland found this cat and dog mural at a veterinary clinic. Nothing unusual just amusing!

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Train to Heaven, Wroclaw

Google Street View

The Train to Heaven (Polish: Pociąg do nieba)  in Wrocław, Poland, is a monument to the rolling stock factory, which was once located in the town.

Artist Andrzej Jarodzki used a 65 years old steam engine and 30 metres long rails to depict a train climbing to the sky. Commissioned in 2010, it is largest monument in town and weighs 80 tons.

Source of info: Polish Wikipedia (English Translation)

Paper Boats

Google Street View (Click on the image for larger image)

These paper boats at a roundabout in Castrillón, Asturias, Spain remind me of a beautiful poem "Paper Boats" by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

Day by day I float my paper boats one by one down the running stream.

In big black letters I write my name on them and the name of the village where I live.

I hope that someone in some strange land will find them and know who I am.

I load my little boats with shiuli flower* from our garden, and hope that these blooms of the dawn will be carried safely to land in the night.

I launch my paper boats and look up into the sky and see the little clouds setting thee white bulging sails.

I know not what playmate of mine in the sky sends them down the air to race with my boats!

When night comes I bury my face in my arms and dream that my paper boats float on and on under the midnight stars.

The fairies of sleep are sailing in them, and the lading ins their baskets full of dreams.
(Source: allpoetry.com)
*Shiuli flower (English: Night-flowering Jasmine)

Surprisingly no information is available about this art work or may be I couldn't find it on the Net. Perhaps some readers can throw more light on it.

Update: March 26, 2012

As per links e-mailed by Krenek, an active member of Google  Earth Community, the Paper Boats sculpture is part pf the plans to beautify the approach roads to the town. The boats have been made of steel and painted to give it the looks of news paper, which also carries the pictures of celebrities of the town. Amongst those included is a picture of Woody Allen who has an affinity with the region and has shot some scenes here for one of his film.

Each boat is eight meters long and 2.5 meters wide and nine  feet high. These boats are illuminated during the night.

Source of info: lne.es (In Spanish) (English Translation) / minube.com  (In Spanish) (English Translation) - This web page also has some good images of the Paper Boats.

Credits: Thank you Krenek for sending me links about these Paper Boats.

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Simply ART

Google Street View

This simple art work is an alphabetical Arch at Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, Ohio, USA, which spells ART.

Installed in 2001 it was created by artist, Doris Shlayn. The sculpture made of steel is 100 feet tall at its highest point and 101 feet wide with road passing underneath it.

Source of info and more info: Ohio Outdoor Sculpture Inventory

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Beautiful Pedestrian Coastal Path between Manarola and Riomaggiore

To fully appreciate this view, please open it in Google Street View

My last post was about a nice approach road to city tunnel in Suji-gu city of South Korea. Today I present a beautiful covered pedestrian path on the coast between the Italian villages of Manarola and Riomaggiore. These two villages are part of 'Cinque Terre' on the Italian Riviera coast of Liguria region, north-western Italy.

'Cinque Terre' which literary means "Five Lands" is a cluster of 5 small villages, which are famous for multi-coloured terraced houses on rugged and steep hills stretching upto deep cliffs overlooking the sea. These villages also have another unique feature that none of the villages have any motorable roads and the 8 km long coastal path which connects these is meant for hikers only.

To preserve the beauty of this region the whole area has been declared as "The Cinque Terre National Park" and is also a UNESCO World Heritage list.

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