By Barbara Falconer Newhall
Photographing Seattle’s Olympic Sculpture Park was fun. Even more fun was downloading all my wannabe works of photo art and poring over over them for hours on end. Especially the photos I took of Teresita Fernandez’s magical, elusive glass wall, “Seattle Cloud Cover.” And Mark di Suvero’s steely “Schubert Sonata.”
Which shot of the di Suvero steel sculpture hovering over the park path was better? The one with the sky in the background, or the one with the waters of Puget Sound? (The sky.)
Which of the photos of Teresita Fernandez’ mysterious “Seattle Cloud Cover” captured the play
of light through the layers of glass and photographic materials? (None. Which means I’ll have to post a bunch and hope for the best.)
The Olympic Sculpture Park was greeted with reservations by some locals because it took out a beloved old train barn. But the setting is as artful and some of the sculpture is pretty cool. It’s
a nice little stroll up and down and over and back, which brisk walkers can do in minutes and art lovers and picnickers can splurge an afternoon on.
As I write, son Peter is on his way here for a quickie three-day visit. He’ll stay in the guest room where I’ve stored his little kid furniture along with his shiney herd of soccer and chess trophies
and his shelves and shelves of books from high school and college. (If I ship those books to Minneapolis for him, will that mean he’s left home for good?)
Whatever happens to the books, I want to have time to spend with Peter this week, so I won’t be writing a long post here. I’ll just go through the photos from the trip Jon and I took to Seattle over the summer, and post a few.
A risky strategy, of course. The photos could turn out to be too much fun. They could eat up the day, and when Peter arrives his little kid bed won’t be made.
More Olympic Sculpture Park photos at “Olympic Sculpture Park Photos — Cool art, Really Cool Park.” There’s another cool pedestrian bridge in Austin, Texas; see it at “The Ghost of 300 Million Drought-Killed Trees Hovers Over a Lake in Texas.” Another of my favorite places is “Pentwater, Michigan — A Small Town on a Big Lake.”
My Seattle sister-in-law has this to say about the Sculpture Park:
“I think The Sculpture park is a jewel close to a waterfront that has been a mixed blessing for a long time filled with fast food and souvenir shops with a few exceptions like The Aquarium and the ferry terminals . . .For me the park has become a favorite place to go and to recommend to visitors.”