Happy Pi Day everyone!  As promised in the last post, today’s featured topic has absolutely nothing to do with birds, maybe a fish, but definitely not birds.  Think I just heard a collective sigh of relief across the blogosphere.  The following set of images were taken at the Denver Botanical Gardens.  To be honest, I am not overly excited with plants but more than willing to spend the day letting Linda work her craft among the pretty flowers.  The reality is, I have no problem hanging out at botanical gardens because I know they usually have a bunch of these:

Maybe not a cool looking fish with a gorgeous backdrop but they generally have a large collection of ornate statues that keep me entertained for long periods of time.  From an “art” perspective, I still consider Allerton Park the best shooting location for the interesting and the bizarre. (link here).  Indianapolis Botanical Garden was another wonderful place to photograph odd statues (link here).   Now I get to add Denver to that list.  The art selector in the gardens we have visited in the past tend to be more abstract based which makes the next very concrete (sorry for the pun) piece really stand out among the overall collection.  Very fluid lines and perfect proportions – nicely done.

Hit the break to see a number of other displays at the Denver Botanical Gardens

Here is another example from the gardens that has me wandering back through all my “art” photographs taken in the last 5 or so years.  I swear I took a set of pictures very similar to the one below.

Same grey coloring, same form of texturing and a similar mother figure.  The ones I recall did not have the children in it.  For the life of me I can’t remember where I took those but I will continue digging through the archives to see if I can jog my memory – always intriguing when you can link similar artwork together or minimally the style/concepts.

Another very common subject matter for artwork is Asia Pacific culture.  I’m not smart enough to tell you for sure what the particular style is beyond that general term. Possibly Japanese influenced but again, this is not a learned subject, but since I find it interesting I never pass up a chance to get some shots in the tin.  This particular item has a nice rounded edge theme to it.

Where this one has more of a fusion of soft curves with harder edges.  Of these two examples my preference is with the softer curved version.

This particular botanical gardens had a number of art pieces in this style.  This one was the tallest of the offerings and really stood out from the rest of the pieces – that and it was literally “standing out” from the other examples in the garden features which were nestled among the plant life.

I found another one on the grounds that had a similar style to the tall one above.  They both had that curled cap look at the top covering a rectangular structure.  Now that I can see these as a collective set, I wonder if they are meant to be ornate birdhouses.  The central openings are a little low to the ground from a bird safety perspective, but beyond that they have the basic shelter needs.

Speaking of being nestled… this piece almost escaped my search. By chance I first saw the reflection in the water and then located it when trying to find a clear path under the tree.

Putting it in landscape crop provided a more pleasing composition (my opinion only).  Guessing this one would be dangerous for a bird to take refuge in so let’s say it is a squirrel hut for now

The following pieces of work came with a plaque that provides some context to the concept.  Now for a confession, when it comes to art I often skip over the artist’s written concept preferring instead to see what it means to me.  First off, do I like or do I not like it?  Granted a good explanation could possibly sway my interpretation of a piece of art, but in truth, if I don’t like it.. sorry, I just don’t like it.  No judgement on the quality of the offering by any means, but you earned my attention on the subject by the product, not necessarily the creative writing.

So, feel free to read the meaning if you like, this set was already placed in my “thumbs up” category.  Very clean lines, a pleasing contrast in materials that bond to form a whole better than its pieces.

Here is another angle of the same piece.

The individual pieces were quite distinct.  The one above has a buoy feel to it where the one below looks like a top (without the center post) or for those more self protective inclined – a slug.  Same clean lines and smooth merger of distinct materials.

And then there’s the version that looks like the Apollo 14 Command Center (link here).

Of course, there are the more traditional art offerings scattered about the grounds.  This grapefruit looking thingy was nicely enhanced by the green growth –  natures built in Lightroom contraster.

Sorry for this one being a little soft.  No excuses other than poor execution … even on a stationary object (sigh).  Anyway, I liked it merely because it looked like an acorn on steroids.  Who wouldn’t want the Arnold of the Oak World sitting proudly in their backyard (or in the woods in our case).

What did look odd in the overall collection of art was a more modern piece sitting in the middle of a pond.  It reminded me of a giant Jenga game or possibly a unique 3D spin on Tetris.  This was probably my least liked element in the overall collection of statues in the gardens.  It just didn’t seem to fit.

That’s all I have folks.  Hope you enjoyed seeing some of the offerings from our trip to the Denver Botanical Zoo.  If nothing else, at least a break from the birds (ha)