"Art on the Walks"

A couple of months ago when we were in Michigan, Mary took Fred, McKenzie and I to see the 2015 Art on the Rocks exhibit in Marquette. It brought back a lot of memories for me.

Over the years, Mary, Jeanne and I had attended quite a few Art on the Rocks, most of them when it was held among the rocks and beneath the trees of Presque Isle. That location, it seems to me, was the ideal setting for Art on the Rocks. Now that it is being held at the lower harbour, and the exhibits are arranged in a grid, and in the direct sun, it has lost a certain flavor. And from what I saw that day we visited, attendence is down compared to the old days. 

In honor of the old Art on the Rocks then, I am calling this post Art on the Walks. Henderson boasts many pieces of art in public places. As I wander around town, I'm often delighted to find yet another. I like a town that likes to dress up it's public places. 

This is on Great North Road as you approach Henderson from the south.

A newer one that appeared one day on one side of the mall carpark.

Another very new one on the side of a computer store near the Railside Avenue train/bus stations. 

Some of them are very modest. Just a bunch of volcanic stones arranged to satisfy somebody's aesthetic sense. 

Outside a store front in downtown Henderson

I don't know if the bed store commissioned this, but it very new

This is a Maori community building. 

Kitty-corner from the Pak-N-Save supermarket. Also new

On the way from the train station overpass to the City Offices.

I like this one. I wish you could see it better. The fish extend across 7 of the fence sections that enclose the Henderson Primary School.

I don't understand why this next one is located where it is.  I suppose it needed a long (about 100 feet) section of wall and that was available on the back side of the Westfield Mall in town. 

In the picture just below, I am standing near the south entrance to the lowest level of the mall. The trouble with this position is that if you walk down the length of the wall, expecting to be able to continue and to have access to either another mall entrance or to another footpath leading back to a carpark, you are disappointed. You simply run in to a fence preventing you from falling into Henderson Creek. 

As you can see from their shadows, there are trees along the footpath and then a drop-off down to Henderson Creek which runs parallel to the wall.  That prevented me from getting better pictures of this very nice mural.

This is a straight on shot of a small section of it. I'm as far back as I can get. One more step and I'm going to be splashing  into the creek, twenty feet below me.

And this is the far end looking back.  Each fish was individually made of ceramic, I think, by local school kids. I thought briefly of counting them, but was on my way to an appointment and didn't want to take the time. 

This is really beautifully done. It's a shame that it is being wasted where it is. Even Allie said that she had no idea it was here, for all the times she has been through this south entrance. I wish it were somewhere where it could be viewed in it's entirety. They at least need to put a bridge over the creek at the far end of this walkway that would allow people to pass it. It's wasted on a dead end.    -djf

Here's just a little framed bit of beauty that I found in a park. Thanks Henderson.