Friday, April 22, 2011

Back to the Oak Hill Condo

This location is where I first started placing my rogue rock sculptures, and why I continued to build them.  Not only did the condo allow the sculptures to stay, but the residents who saw me building them always expressed their joy at seeing them.  Today Jaye Berman came by walking her dog, a minature French poodle, and stopped to ask if I was the person responsible the building all the sculptures.  "Yep, ya got me", says I.  "Well, thank you", says she, "I really enjoy seeing them".
 I enjoy seeing them - up and intact, but not a one at the Oak Hill was that way.  So, the afternoon was spent ressurecting the fallen sculptures into new rock sculptures.  Knowing that we're going to get rain, gusty winds and thunderstorms this weekend, I tried to mortar the sculptures as best I could to weather the weather.




They're all starting to look like sailing ships to me.  I'm planning to concentrate on going in a different direction with my up-coming ventures. (Yes, there will be more to come.  Try to brace yourself.)  Hopefully, I'll have a temporary helper in the future.  More about him to come, if and when it occurs.  Meanwhile, here's the Oak Hill Condos as of today.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Signs and Bricks

The Wynnewood Train Station thought that no one knew it's name.  To rectify the matter Septa erected thirteen red, white and blue signs (YES, 13!!) at the station.  Naturally, they felt one sign would look especially good blocking my rock sculpture.  And, indeed, they not only blocked the view of my sculpture, but flattened it to the good earth from which I had built it.  Dismaying to say the least.
Even more disturbing was the sight (and site) of many small orange flags crossing through my (yes, it's mine) plot of ground where I place the rock sculpture.  Have these Septa guys no eye for beauty and imagination?  Are they such cretins that all they saw was a pile of rocks?  Well, no problem!  I just moved my sculpture further up the slope and to the side so it is now more visible than ever.  As I didn't have my camera at the time, I had to construct a totally new sculpture, rather than re-make what was there.  Don't know yet whether this one is a "keeper" or I'll go back to the previous design which I really liked.
To put up these thirteen (13) signs, which are securely planted in cement, the workmen removed the bricks from the platform.  They conveniently left these bricks sitting loosely around the sign posts.  Naturally, some ignorant low-life used one of these lovely Latrobe bricks to destroy my smaller rock sculpture at the station.  I weeded the area, rebuilt the sculpture (I am so persistent), and put the brick up by a sign post. 




You know, with all those signs, I wonder if they would ever notice if one went missing?

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Caught in the Act

Decided to return to the rock sculpture at Conshohocken State Road & City Avenue to see if it was still intact.  Lo and behold it was still standing.  But there was a police wagon parked in the vacant gas station lot only 50 feet away from my site.  Well, "What the hell", I thought as I pulled around him and opened my trunk.  The plot needed the dandelions and trash removed, and now looked like a good time to do it.  Of course, as I did the clean-up, I also re-modeled the sculpture and cemented the smaller stones.  The police left (to go after more important law-breakers), yet someone was wildly honking at me.  I turned to see my sister and her husband laughing and pointing at me.  Caught me in the act of creation.  It made me realize that this sculpture is located in the most travelled location of any of my sculptures.  Is no place safe from my rogue, public art?




If that's my most public location, then this sculpture below is my most secluded location.  It's near the Ardmore Train Station, and really just visible to train riders unless you go way down the track in the Wynnewood direction.  I need to go back and cement it because it does seem to get whacked frequently from miscreants that sneak down there to drink and get high.  Guess they just don't appreciate fine art.