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Barbara Falconer Newhall

Veteran journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall riffs on life as she knows it.

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A Case of the Human Condition: Hanging Out in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

October 16, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

spoonbridge and cherry, Minneapolis. Photo by BF Newhall
Spoonbridge and Cherry by Oldenburg. Photo by BF Newhall

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

After our visit to the the Walker Art Center in downtown Minneapolis, my son Peter and I walked across the street to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

Claes Oldenburg’s  “Spoonbridge and Cherry” (1985-1988) was a kick, but I gravitated toward Jenny Holzer’s  “Selections From the Living Series” (1989). Holzer’s twenty-eight white granite benches look innocuous enough — until you get closer. Each bench bears a pithy — tongue in cheek? — aphorism.

I took pictures of  my favorites.

A walk in the garden.
A walk in the garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

minneapolis-sculpture-garden
A Jenny Holzer bench. This one's all about getting out of college and facing the possibility of downward mobility "at the end of an era of plenty." For the sake of my twenty-something kids, I'm hoping she's wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

minneapolis-sculpture-garden
This one caught my attention: "There is a period when it is clear that you have gone wrong, but you continue. Sometimes there is a luxurious amount of time before anything bad happens."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

minneapolis-sculpture-garden
Photos by B.F. Newhall

Filed Under: A Case of the Human Condition

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ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Writing Retreat Report — I Got Some Work Done. Thanks for Holding Me Accountable

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On my retreat I discovered that those columns I wrote as a young mom back in the 20th century have a lot to say to the 21st century.  Read more.

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