{"id":257,"date":"2008-06-19T10:46:58","date_gmt":"2008-06-19T16:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bhamterminal.com\/timetable\/?p=257"},"modified":"2008-06-19T10:46:58","modified_gmt":"2008-06-19T16:46:58","slug":"in-love-with-art-in-plain-sight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/bhamterminal.com\/timetable\/2008\/06\/19\/in-love-with-art-in-plain-sight\/","title":{"rendered":"In Love With: Art in Plain Sight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Birmingham is not often considered a hot spot for public art, but perhaps we need to take a closer look. Throughout the city, you can find art out in the open\u2014maybe even along the streets you travel every day\u2014representing a kaleidoscope of styles. Here are a few of my favorites, along with the locations so that you can spot them the next time you drive by.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Rosetter<\/p>\n

Rosette Bobbin<\/a><\/strong>, off 10th<\/sup> Avenue South, next to UAB\u2019s Spencer Honors House<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Imagine a giant circular stained-glass window, but one that\u2019s sitting upright on the ground, and you\u2019ve got an idea of what this sculpture looks like. The four-ton piece actually does resemble the window in the adjacent Honors House, formerly a church. But it\u2019s also got an industrial connection, since it\u2019s made of cast iron that has been allowed to rust a bit. Artist Vaughan Randall created the piece when he worked with the metal arts program at Sloss Furnaces<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Steelworker<\/a><\/p>\n

Steelworker<\/strong>, on 8th Ave. N. in front of the Birmingham Museum of Art<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

If Vulcan didn\u2019t exist, I would nominate this guy, sculpted by Eddie Luis Jimenez, as the city\u2019s mascot. He casts a watchful, larger-than-life eye over the street, but I really admire this sculpture because it feels like Birmingham. This piece\u2014and Rosette Bobbin<\/em> \u2014use elements of the city\u2019s industrial past to inspire modern art.<\/p>\n

Sculptures in Kelly Ingram Park, 6th<\/sup> Ave. N.<\/em><\/p>\n

The pieces in this park, created by James Drake and symbolizing the historic events of the civil rights movement that took place there, are deceptively simple\u2014because they are also very effective at involving viewers in the symbolism. Police Dog Attack<\/em><\/a>, for example, forces you to weave around the sharp teeth of the snarling sculpted dogs placed at eye level. Likewise, when you view Children\u2019s March<\/em>, you are simultaneously standing with the young protesters\u2014and standing in jail with them. With Fire Hosing of Demonstrators<\/em>, you walk through a doorway, directly into the line of fire. This is subtle but powerful art.<\/p>\n

And if you want to wander off the beaten path a bit in search of sculpture, stroll down to the metal arts area of Sloss Furnaces to see an amazing, amusing collection of pieces created by the resident artists. You\u2019ll spot everything from a giant robot head and metal clothing (cast from real clothes) hanging on a clothesline to little people hiding in the weeds and even an enormous book layered with metal letters. It\u2019s a fun, random collection unlike anything you\u2019ll see in a museum.<\/p>\n

Learn more about Birmingham\u2019s public art at Birminghamart.org<\/a> and Bhamwiki.com<\/a>. And if you\u2019ve got a favorite piece, post it here so everyone can check it out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"<\/a>

Birmingham is not often considered a hot spot for public art, but perhaps we need to take a closer look. Throughout the city, you can find art out in the open\u2014maybe even along the streets you travel every day\u2014representing a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,32,1],"tags":[1021,1026,174,245,320,1038,738,760,788,799,812,814,930],"class_list":["post-257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-in-love-with","category-uncategorized","tag-alabama","tag-birmingham","tag-birmingham-museum-of-art","tag-charles-buchanan","tag-downtown","tag-in-love-with","tag-rosette-bobbin","tag-sculpture","tag-sloss-furnaces","tag-southside","tag-statue","tag-steelworker","tag-uab"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4PdO-49","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/bhamterminal.com\/timetable\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/bhamterminal.com\/timetable\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/bhamterminal.com\/timetable\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bhamterminal.com\/timetable\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bhamterminal.com\/timetable\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/bhamterminal.com\/timetable\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/bhamterminal.com\/timetable\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bhamterminal.com\/timetable\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/bhamterminal.com\/timetable\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}