Public Art Projects

[apl68]

This week a little impromptu public art project has shown up at the city park.  Beside the walking trail somebody has started a line of painted rocks.  The first one has a face painted on it.  A sign beside it says that this is "Roscoe the Rock Snake," and invites others to add their own contributions to see how long they can make him.  In the past couple of days he has grown noticeably longer.  Contributions so far include a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle portrait and a miniature Calvary scene.

I don't know whose idea Roscoe was, although there's one acquaintance that I suspect might know something about it.  This is reminiscent of a painted rock project we had around town a couple of years ago.  Painted rocks popped up all over the place, including one outside at the library.  I've heard of things like this in other communities as well.

[apl68]

Roscoe the Rock Snake had picked up several more segments as of this morning.  He seems to be thriving.  He boasts brightly-painted names, a tiny American flag, crosses, and lots of cheerful-looking abstract designs.

[Parasaurolophus]

That's cool!

Years ago, a local artist hauled a pile of driftwood into the woods and made a life-sized driftwood mammoth for people to stumble over on a hike. Alas, it became quite well known and led to tons of tourists traipsing across private property to find it, so the artist took it apart. I never got to see it, though I did search for it.

[apl68]

That's cool!

Years ago, a local artist hauled a pile of driftwood into the woods and made a life-sized driftwood mammoth for people to stumble over on a hike. Alas, it became quite well known and led to tons of tourists traipsing across private property to find it, so the artist took it apart. I never got to see it, though I did search for it.

I would love to have seen that.  Dinosaurs are cool and all, but the mammals of bygone eras deserve some love too.

There's a bicycle/hiking trail at Bentonville in northwest Arkansas where hikers stumble across two giant insects clinging to trees and turtle about the size of a Volkswagen alongside the trail.  If they keep going past those, they'll come across a Sasquatch with shaggy "hair" made of hundreds of old bicycle chains.

Nearby they can take a side trail to the grounds of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, where they can see assorted art works on the grounds, including a twelve-foot-tall deer.

[memyself]

Another Roscoe Rock Snake popped up on the edge of my little neighborhood park earlier this week!
I am contemplating adding a segment, if I can get my hands on a bit of paint.

[apl68]

Another Roscoe Rock Snake popped up on the edge of my little neighborhood park earlier this week!
I am contemplating adding a segment, if I can get my hands on a bit of paint.

Nice!  Guess the idea has been going the rounds.  I'm sure that no two Roscoes will look quite the same.

Ours added just a few segments over the weekend.  Looks like he now has 50 or 60 of them.  He's very colorful.  I guess I should take pictures, but I'm not sure how to photograph something like that to best advantage.

[apl68]

Roscoe seems to have reached his maximum length.  I don't think there were any new segments as of this morning.  My suspicions regarding who got him started at the park were confirmed this morning.

[memyself]

Our Roscoe is still just a baby, with perhaps 6 or 8 segments at this point.

[apl68]

Roscoe nearly doubled his length over the weekend!  Lots of lovely new painted rocks, including names, another nicely painted little American flag, and a larger rock with a cross outlined in painted pebbles.  Also a Pac-Man ghost and a pair of painted lips that each make clever use of the rock's natural shape.

[Langue_doc]

Reminds me of the Sisyphus garden along the Hudson. The stones keep falling off, so the current artwork looks quite different from the earlier ones seen in the pictures below:

https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/have-you-seen-these-mysterious-stone-sculptures-along-the-hudson-river/
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/14/nyregion/a-mystery-solved-why-the-sisyphus-stones-rise-and-tumble.html

[apl68]

Reminds me of the Sisyphus garden along the Hudson. The stones keep falling off, so the current artwork looks quite different from the earlier ones seen in the pictures below:

https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/have-you-seen-these-mysterious-stone-sculptures-along-the-hudson-river/
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/14/nyregion/a-mystery-solved-why-the-sisyphus-stones-rise-and-tumble.html

I've never heard of those!  That's one persistent artist.  His works look a bit like "hoodoo" rock spires.  Except that they're true balanced rocks instead.

[Langue_doc]

Reminds me of the Sisyphus garden along the Hudson. The stones keep falling off, so the current artwork looks quite different from the earlier ones seen in the pictures below:

https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/have-you-seen-these-mysterious-stone-sculptures-along-the-hudson-river/
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/14/nyregion/a-mystery-solved-why-the-sisyphus-stones-rise-and-tumble.html

I've never heard of those!  That's one persistent artist.  His works look a bit like "hoodoo" rock spires.  Except that they're true balanced rocks instead.

Persistent, he is! The spires must have fallen off, thanks to gravity, so his current displays are flattish circular rocks several of them artistically piled on top of one another. He also has logs placed upright on clefts among the rocks and boulders that litter the shoreline.