15 Untitled Works in Concrete

So this is another astounding artwork!  It is called "15 untitled works in concrete" but that title is misleading because one of these works may consist of from 2 boxes up to 6 boxes or more.  I counted from a satellite photograph about 60 concrete boxes in groups.  They are installed out in a line and the length of the exhibit is about half a mile.  All the boxes are the same size, 2.5 x 2.5 x 5 meters and the concrete is about 10" thick.  Please click on each photo to see much more detail.  Thanks.

What is fascinating is the arrangement.  Some boxes are open on the sides, some only on the ends, and some are only open on one side.  I am showing you some overall shots so you get a sense of the exhibit.  But the fun for Stan and I was to examine, one by one, each group of boxes and then try to find interesting compositions in each group.  It was so much fun because it was really intense just looking and looking for the best arrangement.  More on that tomorrow, when I will show you some of the close ups of the arrangements.

Here is Stan in the center, and a guy we met who was viewing the exhibit.  He was from Texas and had just retired from work the day before and was enjoying the exhibit as much as we were, without taking photographs.  Tomorrow's photographs will be really interesting, I promise!

 

100 Untitled Works

Two days ago I showed you some large buildings with quonset-like roofs.  These buildings were called "artillery sheds" where the big guns were stored and maintained.  They are now both filled with aluminum boxes created by the artist Donald Judd, who bought the old military base and turned it into a contemporary art museum.  In the foreground of this photo is one of the 100 aluminum boxes that the artist designed.  All of the boxes have the same exterior size, but some are open on top or on the sides or on the ends.  Many have other pieces of aluminum inside them, some at an angle.  The aluminum is 1/2" thick and comes from the factory with a shiny "mill finish."  You cannot touch the pieces because they would then have finger prints etched on them from the acid in the perspiration from our fingers.   You can't photograph them during the tour, for two reasons, I am guessing.  One is that it would be a distraction to have everyone photographing, instead of looking and experiencing the works.  The second reason is probably because when photographing, people might be bumping into the boxes.

What is astounding about this exhibit for me is the unimaginable variations between each box.  No two are alike and I was stunned at how many things could be different in each box, and yet there are 100 of them.  It is a mind boggling exhibit, and it is impossible to imagine the feeling of wandering through the two buildings and carefully looking at each individual box.  It is so much more interesting than a description would make it sound,  Oh, I took the photographs long after the inside tour was done.  I came up to the doors at the end, and wiped the dust off the window and photographed through the glass.  Same thing for photographing through the large windows on the side,  The photos are fairly clear, but I wished I had a bottle of Windex and some paper towels!

 

Yankee Craftsmanship - The Telescope Case

So the mystery is solved!  But this is funny - I gave away what this box was for, without realizing it.  So this was what I posted, asking you to guess what the finished project was.  Yankee Craftsmanship. Anyhow, this is a photograph of my finished project, a telescope carrying case for my "new-old telescope." A former ASLI member offered three of his old telescopes to club members and I ended up with a 5" f/5 refractor which he built using a lens and materials from Jaegers, back in the 1970's.  Please click on this to see a much larger version.

But I had forgotten that I made another post called: Cat Coffin, which showed the other part of the telescope case with cats playing in it!  Duh!

Well, anyhow, now the finished project can be revealed.  I promised I would show you the finished project three days after I posted "Yankee Craftsmanship" but I ran into a serious problem.  I had bought a brand new quart of marine varnish and there was something wrong with it.  It would not dry to a hard finish and I had to return it and wait for a new can to arrive which really set me back a couple of weeks.

But here it is, all finished, and with the telescope inside the box!  With three coats of varnish on top of birch plywood, it actually is a stunning thing to see in person.  It is simply beautiful!  Sorry to make you wait so long for the results.

 

The Chinati Foundation

The Chinati Foundation is a contemporary art museum located in Marfa, Texas, and based upon the ideas of its founder, artist Donald Judd.  We visited here after spending four days at Big Bend National park.  The specific intention of Chinati is to preserve and present to the public permanent large-scale installations by a limited number of artists. The emphasis is on works in which art and the surrounding landscape are inextricably linked.  More on that later. This facility is on 340 acres and was was, for many years, a U.S Army base that was active from 1911 to 1946. At one time it was an artillery unit and this is one of two large buildings where the big guns were stored and maintained.   They have since been rebuilt with new roofs and large glass windows and there is an art installation by Donald Judd inside.

This is a view inside and through the large building in the photo above.  More on the inside later on.

This gives you a sense from this architecture that it was a military facility.

These buildings in a U-shape still look like the barracks they once were.

In some photographs on the Chinati website the ground is covered with beautiful light colored grasses that appear to be about a foot tall.  But now, probably because of drought all you see as far as you look is sand and dirt.

This is an art installation inside one of the old barracks.  Interestingly, there are no windows in the buildings - the wind and the sand blow right through this building.  I was in this building when I heard the wind start to howl, really, and realy strong winds blew right through the building and they were full of sand!  I tucked the camera into my waist and bent over to shield the camera from the blowing dust as best as I could. It was a dust devil!  Within a minute the dust devil had passed on and the winds disappeared.

This is what that barracks building with the art installation inside looks like from the outside.  More tomorrow on the installations in some of the buildings, and outside!

 

A Mystery Photo

OK so here is a mystery photo and I am not going to tell you where it is.  Yet.  After Stan and I left Big Bend, we went to Marfa, Texas for two days on our way back to El Paso.  There is a is contemporary art museum there that we wanted to visit.  I will tell you more about it.  The good news is that my photographs will not be about the landscape of Big Bend, but about this museum.  This is Stan, of course, standing between two concrete structures.  Cool photograph, right?  Stay tuned!

 

Peregrine Falcon

There is a visitor's center in the Chisos Basin where the lodge we stayed in is located.  This sculpture is installed near the entrance and it is a stunning.  Turns out it is a Peregrine Falcon.  It is life-sized, and bronze and donated by the Friends of Big Bend National Park.  The sculpture commemorates the success of efforts to protect peregrine falcons, once an endangered species in Big Bend National Park. The sculpture was created by Bob Coffee, renowned Texas artist and member of Big Bend Friends’ Board of Directors. The Friends of Big Bend National Park have assisted in the funding of years of research and monitoring of the peregrine within the park.

 

Boquillas Canyon and the Rio Grande

I spoke of going to Boquillas Canyon which you get to by parking the car in a lot, then climbing up about 100 feet and then hiking back down to river level where there was a trail.  There were trees all around, so I was mainly hiking in the shade - a good thing because the trail is about 1.5 miles long to the end, where I could see the canyon in the rocks.  The temperature was over one hundred degrees, so I walked slowly and it was not a problem. This panorama gives an overall view of the scenery from a distance and was taken from the top of the 100 foot rise above the parking lot.  You can see the Rio Grande river at the lower right.  The canyon itself starts at the high rock wall straight ahead in the distance.  This is a large file, so please click on it to see more detail.