If Atlanta Had "The Bean," Where Would We Put It? "Cloud Gate" by Anish Kapoor

We bonded with The Bean and want one for Atlanta.

It's a people attractor that belongs to your eye, personal and infinite, a giant fun-house mirror, interactive without electronics, every view different, democratic free fine art, and it makes makes you look thin. "Cloud Gate" by Anish Kapoor.

We want one. Where to put it? I'll get to that in a sec. Your suggestions welcome.


Pretty much love at first sight. I'd seen pictures, read a little. The urbanists, public space lovers, and others were all agog. But I didn't get it. Now I'm total agog.

In nearby squares there's a giant Calder, a huge Picasso, and a colossal Chagall mosaic. I love them but they just sit there.

We had the stiffest legs from driving to Chicago for a wedding. We checked into the W Chicago - City Center and figured we'd go for a walk and get some dinner.

We headed east toward the lake to Michigan Avenue and The Art Institute of Chicago. I knew the Bean was over there somewhere.

This way:

We went east on Adams and got to Michigan but couldn't see the Bean so I scouted ahead. "Here it is," I signaled to JoAnn.


Our first Bean selfie.


Our first under-Bean selfie, see JoAnn behind me with raised arms? It feels non-Newtonian under there.

You just can't grok it in a still picture.



Where should we put Atlanta's bean?

Should we put it into a great public space or can use to make a great public space?

#TerrysTinySuggestions

1. Piedmont Park across 10th street from Grady Stadium. Piedmont Park is Atlanta's greatest public space and serves as a BeltLine destination.
2. High Museum where the Rodan is. The Woodruff Art Center's Sifly Piazza is wonderful once you are up there but it doesn't "show" on the street. It needs a come-hither feature.
3. The proposed Buckhead over-400-park. Buckhead is trying to make a people-attracting city center and needs it so much.
4. Decatur Square where the bandstand is. Downtown Decatur is already a great family friendly public space.
5. Centennial Olympic Park so you can catch it on the way to the Aquarium, the Hall of Fame, Civil Rights museum, the World of Coke. Not my preference but tourists would remember it.
6. Woodruff Park needs something to attract smiles. The waterfall calms. The Bean energizes. Maybe put the Bean in front of the waterfall?
7. Sweet Auburn. We've expended so much effort to make it a great space fitting it's stature. I don't think a Bean could do it. But Edgewood desperately needs a terminated vista, a come-hither landmark.
8. Tech Square on the southwest corner where Fifth Street T-bones West Peachtree.
9. Ponce City Market? Doesn't need it but...
10. Where else?

Important note: "...with the final figure standing at $23 million in 2006. No public funds were involved; all funding came from donations from individuals and corporations." - wiki. 

Maybe we can get a deal on the 2nd one.

Bonus: from the Bean you can see the Frank Gehry designed Pritzker band-shell from the side.


From the amphitheater it looks like an elegantly crumpled giant chewing gum wrapper about to break over you like a giant wave. From the side it's all curvy-business

The Churches on Joseph E. Boone Boulevard

That's so Atlanta: At Northside Drive it changes names to Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard. I'd prefer Boone-Allen Boulevard, kind of like Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. Until 2008 it was Simpson Road - so Atlanta

I've been watching three Living Walls murals on up at 1211 Joseph E. Boone. See the map below. They are where Troy Street T-bones JE Boone, just west of the BeltLine and east of Proctor Creek.

My first time through I took pictures of the churches, the physical landmarks and social bulwarks of the neighborhoods. This is Vine City and English Avenue, places folks like me go when we think things are going well.


I love these small churches in re-purposed buildings most of all.

Where's Joseph E. Boone Boulevard?


Who was Joesph E. Boone?

"Rev. Joseph Everhart Boone (September 19, 1922 – July 15, 2006) was a civil rights activist and organizer who marched together with Martin Luther King Jr. He was a key organizer of the Atlanta Movement, which led to the integration of lunch counters and department stores in Atlanta, during the early 1960s. He worked with King, Ralph David Abernathy, John Lewis and Andrew Young, but never was recognized to the same degree they were. King named Boone as the chief negotiator of Operation Breadbasket, a program that encouraged businesses that sold to African-Americans, to employ and promote African Americans. Boone led a team of more than 200 ministers in more than 30 cities for Operation Breadbasket."  Wiki.



















That's just a few of them. It's a start. Go see.


Here are the murals, they should be finished by now.

Sabine Woman by Dorothy Berge is BACK and I'm GLAD

I think this is the perhaps the best / best sighted sculpture in town. They'd hid her in the bushes for close to 20 years. I am unexpectedly emotional about it.

I ran into Gregor Turk last weekend. He told me they were "moving the Burge," said they spent three days just figuring how to take her apart. I needed to get over there.

 
This is "Sabine Woman" by Dorothy Alphena Berge (1923 - 2009), commissioned in 1968 to sit in front of 100 Colony Square at Peachtree and 14th Streets. See the map at the bottom of this post.


Sometime in the 1990's they moved her around the corner to a little garden triangle between the 100 building and the W Hotel. They hid her in the bushes.


I got my picture taken with her last year, she's big.


Yesterday I made my way from the North on foot.


She's digging in.


Look at that curve!


I talked with these guys, they know they are working on something special.


This is how you see her as you exit 100 Colony Square.

57 second video.


How to get there.


Bravo!


Thanks to Gregor Turk and the Atlanta Preservation Center's Phoenix Flies for my formal introduction.

Jewel Box Lobby - Downtown Atlanta

You can (update: you can no longer) walk right in to see this ceiling painted by Athos Menaboni.

The Rhodes-Haverty Building, (1929) designed by Pringle and Smith, is now Residence Inn Atlanta Downtown. In it's day it was Atlanta's tallest and remains one of Atlanta's finest.

Francis Palmer Smith designed three office buildings in downtown Atlanta, the Orr, the Oliver, and the Rhodes-Haverty. Each has an extraordinary jewel box lobby.


The lighting is subdued so you have to slow down and look.


I feel awkward standing here staring at the ceiling, so I'm always ready to flash my official Architecture Tourist ID.


As some point they installed drop ceiling.

Restoration Craftsmen restored the ceiling sometime prior to 1991 and were fortunate that Mr.Menabonie lived to age 94.

"Use of the space between false and true ceilings as a return air plenum resulted in an unusually thick deposit of urban grime."



"Mr.Menaboni was contacted by the owner early in the project when his signature was found on the work."

 

"Athos Menaboni originally rendered the murals...in casein paints. "

The jewel box lobbies of the William Oliver Building and W. W. Orr Doctors' Building buildings are just as good.

Slow down for Big Art on Dekalb Avenue

I don't hate billboards as much as I should. I don't like legal graffiti as much as I should.

All I know for sure is that I like 'em when I like 'em.

 
I was delighted to find this yesterday on the south edge of Candler Park.


This is 1630 Dekalb Avenue at Brooks Avenue. This corner is a little oasis. I love the street but charming and cozy aren't the right words for it.



My Favorite Mechanic is on the left. Work by California street artist Doodles from Living Walls 2010 is on the right.


If you go less that 35 on Dekalb you'll get run over so I had to stop.


Ahh, Candler Park Yoga.

I'm not conflicted about street art verses commercial billboards, not today anyway.


Glad I stopped for a look. This is downright picturesque.


The artist didn't have a card.


You can always ask Candler Park Yoga.

Dard Hunter, Roycroft, Beautiful Papers at Tech

How is it that I get to do this, to be "in" on this secret treasure?

Well it's a treasure but not a secret. Maybe it's the name. "Georgia Tech's Robert C. Williams Paper Museum" doesn't sound like a gallery. Maybe it's the bankers hours, 9-5 on weekdays. Maybe it's just because you haven't been there yet. My daughter #1 took classes in the building but never went to the museum. I can assure you that she's embarrassed about it. You can start by liking the Robert C. Williams Paper Museum Facbook page and joining their mailing list.



It was love a first sight for me. It's convenient. It's at the corner of 10th and Hemphill with free parking at the door. There is a gallery for paper technology, a gallery for history, a gallery for people, and a gallery room with rotating exhibits. It's small enough that it's not intimidating but there is depth.

I've been just twice, first to the opening of "Twinrocker: Forty Years of Hand Papermaking" and on Thursday to the opening of "A Paper Trail - The Travels of Dard Hunter."



Who is William Joseph "Dard" Hunter? "...he joined Elbert Hubbard's Roycrofters ... (he was) a leading proponent of America's Arts and Crafts Movement." "... in 1919 Hunter decided to devote his life to researching, collecting, writing, and publishing the world's history of hand papermaking and printing."

In fact he created his own paper museum at MIT which is now part of Georgia Tech's collection. And he knew how to wear a cravat.




He collected from all over the world. This woodblock made wallpaper.




Did I mention the Roycrofters.


Dard illustrated books.


Dard wrote, illustrated, designed typefaces, made paper, and printed books.




This is a paper mold. Imagine the watermark.


The artist died before completing this woodblock.


This is a "bookcover."


Another bookcover.


Another bookcover.


Dard commissioned this model of a German paper factory.

The Dard Hinter exhibit is the class project for History, Technology, & Society 3823 taught by Carla Gerona and Teri Williams.


That made it particularly special because there was cake and the class was over and they'd done something beautiful.


There were class pictures and a video.


Congratulations to all.

How is it that I get to do this, to be "in" on a secret treasure? Well it's not a secret but it is a treasure.