It’s amazing what you can find in the most normal of settings, and unexpectedly. All you have to do is keep your eyes open and actually look at your surroundings. For example, Philadelphia seems to be full of surprises such as this wonderful sculpture of a leopard on South 20th Street and Manning Street near Rittenhouse Square. One story has it that it the building which it is attempting to get into used to be a lingerie store and that this was used as marketing. The store has long gone but the leopard remains.
Where did the Red Owl go?
I am shocked! I was up at Temple University in Philadelphia earlier this week dropping off my daughter and when I was explaining the beautiful statue of the Red Owl at Alumni Circle on Liacouras Walk to another parent when I noticed it has been removed! I love this wonderful marble work by Beniamino Bufano and the fact that it was part of an installation that included an acoustic wall that had been specially designed to show off the properties of sound reflection. The statue was dedicated in 1988 and now, under 30 years later it has disappeared!
In its place there now stands a larger, more sinister looking owl with outstretched wings. It was still attached to its supporting crane this week so it must have been a recent change. I can find no mention of what has happened to Bufano’s classic – I hope it is relocated but it is a shame it was moved in the first place. I will miss it.
Kapaleeshwarar Temple, Mylapore – revisited from afar
As I sit here in my office at temperatures hovering above freezing in the unseasonably mild (yes, it’s true!) winter weather I cannot believe it was nine months ago that I was traveling to Chennai (Madras) in India. I first wrote about that trip here and in subsequent posts that week, but it was only today that I finally got around to processing a few more images from that trip, starting with the Kapaleeshwarar Temple in Mylapore, now a district of the sprawling city.
As I go through more images I will upload them to my art site and may include a few more here too in other posts.
Hidden Meaning?
I am not a great fan of whimsical garden ornaments, gnomes, fairies, bunnies and such like. Often they seem to just clutter up a garden and add nothing to the scenery. However, on a recent trip to Ocean City, NJ we spotted this delightful duo on a property’s side yard which caused us to stop and do a “double take.”
What message is being conveyed here? Should children be wary of alligators (even though there are none in NJ) ? Is this a warning against being too engrossed in reading a book? Or is the rosy-cheeked child calming the beast by reading to it? It’s certainly an unusual pairing in my experience. Do you have any other suggestions for interpretation?
~Richard
