Tag Archives: art

White Tower — day and night

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Time for some more Dale Chihuly art glass, as seen at the Denver Botanic Gardens.  My wife and I both decided that some pieces looked best in daylight, while others were real stand-outs when lit up at night — so for comparison’s sake, let’s look at the installation White Tower over a few hours’ time.

White Tower, daylight

White Tower is a fine piece — but in daylight, we both thought it was most interesting up close.  Those magenta spots on the white branches (tentacles?) aren’t painted on — they’re clear areas in a white outer layer, which let the inner color shine through.

Unfortunately, the background is a bit too cluttered to really set the piece off, at least from this angle. Continue reading →

Blue Icicle Towers

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For the next few months (through November), the Denver Botanic Gardens is hosting an exhibition (part of the Garden Cycle series) of glass art by Dale Chihuly.  When you first walk into the gardens, you’re greeted by this sight:

Blue Icicle Towers

It’s called Blue Icicle Towers, and is one of Chihuly’s new works.  Like most of his art, it’s neither small nor subtle — but it’s an eye-catcher and will leave you wondering just how he and his crew make everything.  More to come…

Painter

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If you’re about ready for a little break from all things Maya, here’s a shot from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science — it’s of a miniature carving (roughly 10″ tall) by Vasily Konovalenko titled “Painter:”

Painter

If you’re wondering why miniature sculpture is in a natural history museum, it’s because Konovalenko’s carvings are entirely made from gemstones. Here’s this little guy’s bill of materials from the placard:

Shoes: black jasper

Pants: jasper

Shirt: lapis

Apron: white jasper

Hat: jasper

Face & Hands: jasper

Eyes: sapphire

Floor: agate

Bucket: petrified wood, cacholong

Brush: agate, amethyst quartz

Great Expectations

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One of the best parts of living in Colorado is that we can get up to some… interesting… mountain events over the course of the year. This was a Canadian entry at the 2012 Breckenridge snow sculpture contest:

Great Expectations

I’m always amazed at just how much detail the sculptors can coax out of packed snow (OK, in this case with a bit of help from some icicles).

Great Expectations details 1

And of course, you have to look carefully to spot all the goodies they’ve packed into their work.

Great Expectations details 2

Stuccoed

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A bit of ancient royal propaganda on the north face of the Palace at the ruins of Palenque in Chiapas, Mexico:

Stuccoed

This stucco is a bit tricky to get a good image of — you can’t get near it (for its own sake), and other parts of the structure it’s on block your view from ground level. So you need to work from a distance with a long lens.

I used Topaz Adjust to bring out the colors and structure a bit in this shot.

Angels in the Stucco

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Stucco decorations on the face of the Acropolis at the Maya ruins of Ek’ Balam:

Angels in the Stucco

This stucco is in fantastic shape for its age — in no small part thanks to the fact that it was buried inside the Acropolis pyramid not long after it was built. It’s a tricky photographic subject thanks to the protective thatched roof overhead (the light’s even, but low, all day long), but it’s worth it to preserve this amazing work.