Impressions of Sweden: They Like Their Statues

Maybe this goes along with being an older, European city. But there were lots of statues in Stockholm.

Also sculptural details on buildings, as well as more more modern-type public art. What's represented here is not everything that I saw — there were a number of pieces that I, regrettably, did not photograph.

I also didn't do the best job of documenting the names, locations, and other details. Some I did take a picture of the plaque detailing such information; others, not. Some I was able to locate relevant web pages; others, not, such as this one.

If I ever go back to Stockholm, I'd like to visit the sculpture garden for this artist, Carl Milles.

Orpheus Group by Carl Milles

This next one, I saw during a boat tour of Stockholm.

At The Opera House

At the Nordiska Museet.

In honor of Astrid Lindgren, author of the "Pippi Longstocking" books.

Two different fountains.

How to strangle a fish

How to kill a dragon

Seen as we were leaving the Royal Palace after our tour.

Also at the Royal Palace, near the front promenade.

In a more modern vein, there was La Mano.

And "Sjaan" (1987) by Sigurdur Gudmundsson (b. 1942).

And in a lighter vein . . . Bananas in Trees . . .

 . . . and Plastic Balls in Trees.

Little Dancing Man by the Water.

In Växjö, "Durus och Mollis" (2008)  by Monika Gora.

And last, but certainly not least . . . because it's all about the yarn . . .

An Accidental Discovery

Yesterday, I accidentally learned about a feature of my point-and-shoot digital camera.

It happened while Tim and I were taking a Stairway Walk through the Maple Leaf/Thornton Creek area of north Seattle. A signature feature of the walk is Thornton Creek itself, which has undergone daylighting over the last 15 years or so.

Much of the walk meandered through residential neighborhoods (not very interesting), but the walk led us by a pond with a beaver dam and through a small wetland oasis.

Beaver dam

Pond next to beaver dam. You can see steam rising from the water.

Wetland

Buds

Mossy log

Our route, following the guidebook, also took us through the area by the Thornton Creek Water Quality Channel. While I considered it pleasant to walk through, it is not without its critics.

Thornton Creek Water Quality Channel

In addition to the environmental aspect, there was some fun public art to look at.

Spires

Glass mosaic circles in the pavement

Floaty things

Globes

Anyway, back to my accidental discovery. At some point, in taking a picture, I hit a button on my camera which caused a display called "Exposure compensation" to pop up on my screen. It took me only a minute or two to figure out that it was controlled by pressing on the wheel control on the back of my camera next to this symbol.

Intrigued, I took a series of test photos this morning of this is the pile o’ yarn.

Its the intended destiny is to become this sweater, called “Better Than the Real Deal” from The Yarn Girls' Guide to Knits for All Seasons.

Here are the test photos. The only difference is in the shutter speed. I can see where this feature might be handy when taking a picture where the subject is against a window and the light outside is too bright.

The yarn is not as pink as it appears here. It's actually more of a brick-y red.

Carkeek Park

Over the weekend, Tim and I had occasion to visit Carkeek Park a couple of times.

The first time, I didn't have my camera, necessitating a return trip on Sunday.

Tim likes to walk the trails there, so he's there more often. But there were some new features since the last time.

This one, he said he thought he had seen before.

Near several of the installations we spotted plaques with QR codes indicating that the installations were part of a CoCA exhibit. Perusing their website, I found a link featuring descriptions of the pieces, and also learned that this is the fifth collection of pieces in the Heaven and Earth series.

Tim saw this one on a trail down from the northern perimeter of the park. I had driven down to the parking lot near the beach, so he took a few pictures with his camera phone.

The piece next to the beach parking lot reminded me of the kinetic sculpture we saw on Orcas Island. You can see a short video here.

Reading the description of "The Lau Event", I wonder how much exposure to the weather has affected it.

"Tree Pods" reminded me of the public art along Linden Avenue; both repurposed/recycled/upcycled signage to fun effect.

These two are by the same group. The descriptive text mentions a possible third to appear on the beach. The first one made me think of a porcupine, and the second one I call "The Wolf in the Woods." We spotted the marker, which directed us 200 yards up the trail. At just about the point where we might have considered turning back, Tim looked to his left and there it was.

This last one is actually situated next to the Environmental Learning Center at the entrance to the park. I spotted it on the way in, but it was the last one we stopped to look at. At first, I thought it was a yarn bombing.

But it turned out to be more. . . .

Much more.

Weather and time permitting, I'd like to go back next weekend with a map and find the rest of the pieces.