Art – RDZ Photography

Pittsburgh – August 2018 – Sights on a Saturday

Architecture, Art, Festival, History, Nature

In town for the Regatta, we were able to check out a number of other sites for sights during the day.

Throughout downtown there were ‘earths’ painted with messages of making the world a better place.

Flags of the world on the relief of the countries.

A very artistic earth.

Market Square is always busy with something going on.

Meanwhile on the North Shore a large artistic installation graces the riverfront.

I believe that architecture is the most beautiful art form – and functional.

Alcoa Headquarters building.

After we left the Photo Antiquities Museum we came across a festival in a park where they were promotion the protection of animals, including many vegan food options.

There were many artists as well.

But most booths had various animal protection themes.

He needs our help.

The cat rescue group leader.

Origami art

A novel use for test tubes.

I was tempted to bring home a beagle rescue – but we travel far too much – it wouldn’t be fair to the dog.

Nearby is the Children’s Museum – formerly the Buhl Planetarium – with a nice carved relief.

A series of tubes would occasionally created a fog cloud.

Making our way to the river for the Regatta we passed by the baseball stadium, and the Willie Stargell statue.

As well as Roberto Clemente, along with the bridge they renamed for him.

As we made our way to our seat for the regatta fireworks nature provided one last shot for the day.

Cleveland – July 2018 – “Fuel Cleveland”

Architecture, Art, Festival, History, Transportation

Fuel Cleveland is an effort to bring together motorcycle art, culture and design. In existences for just 3 years, the annual event has become huge.

Cleveland has always been a center of transportation manufacturing, with the famed ‘Cleveland’ motorcycles being produced between 1902 and 1929.

Today the name has been revived by the Cleveland Cycle Werks.

The show has a limited number of motorcycles inside, but is attended by thousands who arrive on their own bikes.

The collection on the street where we parked was better than most shows, and that was just the beginning.

As previously noted, art is a critical part of this show. This photographer specializes in using the old school camera, developing his own film. He came to the event from New York City.

Inside were some of the best bikes. The restorations are amazing.

While many are customized choppers.

Held in an old factory on the east side, the setting was perfect for this event.

Many of the custom jobs had death as a subject matter.

The art was mixed in throughout.

There were plenty of colorful people as well.

Your usual retro living room based on motorcycle parts.

Even the vendors had character.

While most of the bikes were Harley Davidson’s, I did come across a few others including this great old BMW.

Next up was the Skidmore Garage. A working garage specializing in old bikes, most were up on the stands for easier access.

This bike, called Junk and Disorderly used random, non traditional motorcycle parts. Note the seat is made out of an old tire.

The mix of the custom bikes and eclectic art of old gas tanks provides a good idea of the atmosphere in the Skidmore Garage.

The Detroit Brothers have an interesting approach to gas tank accessories.

Hells Angels softer side – a pink chopper.

There were numerous helmet design artists on hand.

Even the air cleaners looked cool.

This area of the east side of Cleveland was always an industrial neighborhood. While most of the industry has left, there are still a number of buildings remaining. The neighborhood definitely added to the gritty feel with the bikes.

The parking lot was packed with bikes and riders.

The classic winged Harley logo.

Old bikes and old factories – a perfect combination.

Even more – bikes everywhere.

Lining the tree lawns along the street.

A sweet cherry red chopper by itself in front of the building across the street.

Welcome to Cleveland.

By now we were dog tired and headed home, just not in a dog chariot – we took the car.

Columbus – July 2018 – The Color Run

Art, Festival

A cloudy Saturday morning was perfect for a running/walking event in downtown Columbus called The Color Run.

Billed as the Happiest 5K on the Planet, the color run is all about having fun and being healthy (although breathing the dust is debatable).

At the start everyone was festive and clean.

After crossing the Broad Street bridge the participants went through the first zone of getting blasted with colored dust.

The volunteers enthusiastically douse the runners from large squirt bottles.

A cinematographer from a local TV station apparently got too close.

Most came through looking to add to their colorful collection on their previously white shirts.

Reactions varied!

Billed as ‘not a race’ some clearly were regular runners – although the red makes it looks like she is running from zombies in a George Romero movie.

The kids really embraced the event.

Another great form for getting powdered.

Many were taking selfies along the way.

The blue zone. Many participants wore bandanna’s over their noses to keep the dust out. The dust is a food grade corn starch.

I kept hearing the Pat Benatar song ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot’ watching the people encouraging the volunteers with the dust.

You look good.

In the pink zone one of the volunteers was over enthusiastic in his delivery.

He was hammering people with the dust.

Resulting in serious clouds and coverage.

While other volunteers hurried to keep up refilling the bottles.

One lady had her dog with her – the dog came through it much better than she did.

Nearly all seemed to enjoy the event.

Many wore tutu’s – not sure why.

The Columbus Police have always worn crisp white shirts – probably not the best for the day. This young lady was asking for a hug – they agreed to a fist bump.

As they approached the finish line they ran through giant bubble machines.

Before arriving at the party area.

The skyline had a very colorful look today.

One of the sponsor was a laundry detergent company with a faux washing machine.

The DJ was throwing packets containing more colored dust to the crowd. About every 10 minutes he would encourage them to open them up and toss the contents into the air.

The results were spectacular.

The dog’s final look – a bit colorful but no worse for wear.

The participants were happy.

There were stations they could participate in – bouncing the dust off on trampolines.

All headed home happy.

Covered in colorful dust.

Zionsville, Indiana – July 2018 – A Big Fan of Fans

Architecture, Art, History, Sciences

As you wander through the streets of an industrial park in suburban Indianapolis the last thing you would expect to find is one of the largest fan collections in the world.

So what you think – well look and be amazed at how stylish and functional these antiques are.

Housed in the headquarters of a fan company called Fanimation, the museum has over 2000 desk and ceiling fan from more than 140 manufacturers (according to their website)

Most are from the first few decades of the 20th century, and show that classic 20s and 30s style.

When we arrived we asked if we could see the collection. The receptionist told us we were more than welcome to check them out, and lead us to the display room. She also indicated she would get Kim to tell us about them.

Kim is a retired Indianapolis firefighter who has been collecting fans for a long time. He is an excellent restorer of fans, having refurbished many of those in the collection.

The fan below however is in it’s original condition, after more than 80 years.

The fans are owned by various members of the Antique Fan Collectors Association (of which Kim is a member with many of the fans in the collection being his personal ones).

The oldest electric fans in the museum are from the 1890s, while they have non electric ones (steam and water powered ones) from the 1880s.

The Dayton fan company, represented below, is still in business today.

They have numerous fans of different shapes.

Fanimation was founded by Tom Frampton in Pasadena, California in the 1980s. They relocated to Indiana in the mid 1990s, opening this facility in 2003.

Most have extensive use of brass, which adds a classic beauty to practical use of the fan.

Numerous specialty designs are represented, such as this airplane fan – a cool way to stay cool.

More of the collection.

One of the non electric fans

As a fan manufacturer their lobby fans are stylish as well.

Even the replica terracotta soldier in the lobby has a fan! If you ever find yourself in Indianapolis, skip the art museum (although it is nice too) – check out the fan museum – ask for Kim!

Kokomo, Indiana – July 2018 – Hot Times in a Glass Factory

Architecture, Art, History

Kokomo, Indiana is a city of 50,000 in north central Indiana, about 50 miles north of Indianapolis. Always an industrial town, Kokomo was surprisingly a nice town.

We were in town to take a factory tour (below) but while we waited we checked out all of the places in town noted on Roadside America.

The first site is the Seiberling Mansion. Built in the late 1800s it is a stately home along Sycamore Street.

In the middle of town is the Kokomantis – a 17′ high steel sculpture of a mantis.

A block down the street is the Storybrook Express, a quirky building used for a drive through beer distributor.

Finally in Highland Park are two attractions including Big Ben who was thought to be the largest steer in history at over 5000 pounds.

He is now stuffed and on display inside a shelter behind glass.

Also in this shelter is the remains of a giant sycamore tree. This stump is 57′ in circumference.

Our main event for the day was a tour of the Kokomo Opalescent Glass Company. It is the oldest manufacturer of opalescent glass in the world, with this factory in continuous use since 1888.

Our tour started next to the furnace. We were about 50′ away and it was 120 degrees.

They use an assortment of ladles for pouring the glass.

The vintage carts have already mixed material for the various colors ready for the furnace.

When they are done the pieces of glass are placed in barrels scattered about the factory for remelting and forming later.

A few of the ovens.

KOG is famed for their skilled glass blowers. We were treated to a demonstration.

A trainee demonstrated how to blow glass.

Our tour consisted of a number of elderly from a church and two moms who had 9 kids between them! As you can see the kids were thrilled to be there.

Our tour took us back past the furnace area.

Once completed, the glass is inventoried. With hundreds of colors and patterns the selection is immense.

The storage reminded me of the end of the first Indiana Jones movie.

Throughout the history of the company the workers have signed a wall, with some signatures dating back to the 1800s.

They have high skilled workers who can customize the glass for various uses, including stained glass panel replacements.

The pubic has the opportunity to come in and make their own glass beads.

Another one of the skilled workers with some detail glass work.

The Kokomo Opalescent Glass Company is a great place for a visit.

Elkhart, Indiana – July 2018 – Gardens and Public Art

Architecture, Art, Nature

Our destination this day was Elkhart, Indiana – home of a collection of ‘Quilt Gardens’ and ‘Quilt Murals’. But first a quick stop at the Indiana Welcome Center in Hammond.

Hammond is in Lake County, which is a mix of industrial, suburban and farming set along the south shore of Lake Michigan. Their welcome center is built to represent the waves, silos and steel mills of the county.

The movie A Christmas Story was set in Hammond (although filmed in Cleveland and Toronto). One of the famous scenes is where a little kid is talked into sticking his tongue on a freezing cold flag pole, thus getting stuck. It is recreated here in a statue.

Once we arrived in Elkhart we saw our first mural.

As well as the quilt garden. To us the gardens were somewhat of a bust – they are difficult to see because they are too flat to the ground, and just appear as a mix of flowers (albeit nice flowers)

The entire county did have a collection of decorated elk though.

We spent an hour at the Wellfield Arboretum, which has a nice collection of sculptures, plants and flowers.

A steel rodent?

There were also some water features along with a number of painted ‘sticks’.

The arboretum was well kept.

In nearby Middlebury is the ‘World’s Fair Gardens’. These gardens were first presented in the Chicago Century of Progress fair in the 1930s.

They were later moved to Middlebury where they have existed ever since.

The Middlebury site had a quilt gardens that was easier to see as it was on a small hill.

Pittsburgh – July 2018 – Art of the Brick Revisited

Architecture, Art, Festival

The art of Nathan Sawaya is so amazing we decided that even though we had previously seen the Art of the Brick exhibit in Cincinnati, we would check it out again since the exhibit was in Pittsburgh.

Despite the fact that much of the exhibit was the same, the opportunity to photograph a second time was more than enticing enough to go. In addition either I had forgotten many of them, or Nathan has added new ones in the last couple of years.

The exhibit still opens with a short video along with a presentation of a hand holding a single brick – keeping with the theme it starts with 1 brick.

Many feature famed works of art including American Gothic. On this day I tried to vary the angles of the shots to give perspective to the brick work involved.

A section called The Sculpture Garden.

We were there on a Sunday morning and the place was empty – in part I believe in the additional cost, $20 over the normal museum entrance fee. But it made for great photos without people in them.