Monday, March 23, 2015

Me and My Clown Bike

Panorama of Bay Trail (Shoreline Mountain View) – Looking EastPanorama of Bay Trail

I like to ride my clown bike every morning. Today I rode to the Shoreline at Mountain View. I like this area in the Spring when the grass is green. It’s better than the brown, dry grass of summer (see Life in the Snail Lane). I ride carefully to avoid running over the snails. Sometimes, I hear a crunch. Oops.

This morning, my bike and I learned about:

  • “The Wild & Wonderful Wetlands.” Slough is a funny word.
  • “The Burrowing Owls of Shoreline.” Athene cunicularia is what the scientists call it. We also saw the yellow-eyed owl in the Imperial Valley (see Imperial Valley Miscellany). Maybe the Shoreline owls work at Google?
  • The “Community” – of the wetlands that is – is all about living with salt (and no pepper). Plants that can grow in conditions of high salinity (lots of salt) are called halophytes. Here are some of them:
    • Sea Lavender – Limonium in the Plumbago family.
    • Australian Saltbush – Atriplex in the Amaranth family.
    • Saltgrass – Distichlis in the Grass family (what did you expect?)
    • Pickleweed – Salicornia also in the Amaranth family.
    • Cordgrass – Spartina foliosa also in the Grass family.
    • Salt Marsh Dodder – Cuscuta salina in the Morning Glory family. Dodders are parasitic plants: it lives off other plants. You know, like the uncle or nephew in your family that never moves out.
  • “Limits & Controls.” Plants growing here have to work darn hard to get rid of the salt inside them. Cordgrass sweats it out. Pickleweed concentrate the salt in one part and then gets rid of that part. To each his own.
  • “The Spirit of the Times – Wild Marshes, Handy Scows & Mr. Henry Rengstorff.” A scow is a type of flat-bottomed boat. Useful for the sloughs perhaps. Too many strange words this morning.  Mr. Rengstorff – who was born in 1829 and died in 1906  – had a nice house. Today is house is appropriately called the Rengstorff House.
  • “Wind & Water Bring Life to the Farm.” Mrs. Rengstorff was one lucky housewife because her house was plumbed for indoor water thanks to their windmill. With all the time she saved, she could pursue her passion for hunting burrowing owls (just kidding).

Now, on to work.

Top Row. Left: The Burrowing Owls of Shoreline; Center: Community. Right: Limits & Controls’';
Bottom Row. Left: The Wild & Wonderful Wetlands; Center: Wind & Water Bring Life to the Farm; Right: The Spirit of the Times.

The Burrowing Owls of ShorelineCommunityLimits & ControlsThe Wild & Wonderful WetlandsWind & Water Bring Life to the FarmThe Spirit of the Times

Left: Bay Trail Joggers – Looking East; Center: Bay Trail; Right: Mountain View Slough – Looking South.
Bay Trail Joggers – Looking EastBay TraMountain View Slough – Looking South

Left: Bike on the Bay Trail; Center: Bike in front of the Rengstorff House; Right: Bike and Windmill.
Bike on the Bay TrailBike in front of the Rengstorff HouseBike and Windmill

Left: Shoreline Lake Aquatic Center; Right: A Snail on the Bay Trail – Life in the Fast Lane.
Shoreline Lake Aquatic CenterA Snail on the Bay Trail – Life in the Fast Lane

Sunday, March 22, 2015

March Grab Bag of Street Art


Two images of the south wall of the building of 501 Commons, Lower Queen Anne – 2nd Ave W and W Republican St.
South wall of the building of 501 CommonsSouth wall of the building of 501 Commons
Left: A Henry (ryanhenryward.com) on a Garage on Taylor Ave N. (For more Henry work, see Henry Murals In and Around Fremont and Ballard, Seattle).
Right: The back of Lighthouse Roasters in Fremont.
A Henry (ryanhenryward.com) on a Garage on Taylor Ave N. The back of Lighthouse Roasters in Fremont


Saturday, March 21, 2015

I Am The Change

"Wow, look at that wall!" Mark says. I catch a quick glimpse of it - a large face on a wall - as we head down Nickerson Street on the back side of Queen Anne. "Let's go take a look."

This is what happens when people know you are interested in street art and graffiti. They are on the look out for you. Email, text messages, and newspaper clippings about street art find their way to me all the time.

We make a detour and find the face. It has "I am the change" written across the forehead and "Climate Justice" written across the middle of the face. It's an image from the People's Climate March (Septemer 21, 2014). The image is located on the Seattle Pacific Art Center building on Queen Anne Avenue and West Cremona St (just off of Nickerson St).

First Day of Spring - Blue Plastic Chairs

two blue plastic chairsWelcome to the first day of Spring. What better way to enjoy Spring then to grab a blue plastic chair and watch it happen? (And what a Spring it has been in Seattle.) These two chairs were last seen in a Fremont alley.

Monday, March 16, 2015

Zio Ziegler - Crittenden 2

Right under my nose - that's where this Zio Ziegler mural was. The previous week we saw a piece of his in Las Vegas (see Las Vegas – Fremont Street, Street Art).  This piece is in Crittenden 2, a Google building. The location is not great for appreciating Ziegler's work, but nonetheless manages to be quite striking.
Zio Ziegler - Crittenden 2Zio Ziegler - Crittenden 2Zio Ziegler - Crittenden 2Zio Ziegler - Crittenden 2Zio Ziegler - Crittenden 2

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Las Vegas – Fremont Street, Street Art

Left: Fintan Magee (Australia); Right: Map of street art for Life is Beautiful, Las Vegas.
Fintan Magee (Australia)Map of street art for Life is Beautiful

We were back in Vegas (really Henderson) for a long weekend and I was looking for a reason to head to downtown (old town) Las Vegas and look for street art. So, I sold our nephew and nieces on the SlotZilla zip line. Little did they know of my after zip plan.

SlotZilla: The zip line takes you above Fremont Street for a few blocks. There are two lines, a zip line (you sit) and a zoom line (higher than the zip line and you fly super-hero style). The zip lines exit out of the top of a large “slot machine” – aka SlotZilla.

More impressive than the zip line (at least to me) was the street art, of course. The photos featured here were all within a few blocks of SlotZilla and Fremont Street and can be easily and safely found. Many were created for the Life is Beautiful Festival 2013 and 2014.

We categorize the photos by theme. Unfortunately, I only had my phone, so the images are not great. For other Las Vegas street art we captured on a previous visit, see the post Las Vegas Arts District Murals and Street Art. For a map see Las Vegas Street Art Map.

Critters

Left: Regal Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma solare) by ROA (Belgium) - for Life is Beautiful 2014. Read more about it at Street Art News. Location: N 6th. St. and Stewart Ave.

Center: “Sin Titulo” – Alexis Dias (Puerto Rico) - a hybrid snail-skull by the Puerto Rican artist for the Life Is Beautiful Festival 2013. More photos at Street Art News. Location:

Right: Crocodile and Lion Wrestling, Unknown.

Designs

Zio Ziegler (US) for the Life is Beautiful Festival 2013. For another example of his work, see Mission District Street Art – A Small Sample. Location: N 7th St. between E Ogden Ave and Stewart Ave.

Zio ZieglerZio Ziegler

Left: Zio Ziegler; Right: Doze Green, also for Life is Beautiful Festival 2013.


Left: Lakwena (London-based) “Everafter” (more info); Center and Right: Unknown with cut fingers. Detail in center.

Face Me

Left: Saner (Mexico) for Life is Beautiful 2014. Location: E Ogden Ave and N. 7th St.

Right: Vhils (Alexandro Farto) (Portugal)
Saner (Mexico) for Life is Beautiful 2014Vhils (Alexandro Farto) (Portugal)

Left: Vhils (Alexandro Farto) (Portugal); Right: Obey (Shepard Fairey).

Vhils (Alexandro Farto) (Portugal)

Figures

Left: Fintan Magee (Australia) for Life is Beautiful Festival 2014. Location: Location: E Ogden Ave between  7th and 8th St.

Right: D*face (British) for Life is Beautiful Festival 2013. “I gave her my heard, and she left me for…” dead? More info. Location:  7th Street wall of Cabana Suites at 651 E Ogden Ave.

 Fintan Magee (Australia) for Life is Beautiful 2014Dface (British) for Life is Beautiful 2013

Left: Borondo (Spain) for Life is Beautiful 2014. Uses a technique called anamorphosis. Location: on Ogden St and 7th St.

Center and Right: Wall at South Las Vegas Blvd and Fremont St.

Borondo (Spain) for Life is Beautiful 2014.

Women’s Faces

Left: D*face (British) - “Love Forever” for Life is Beautiful Festival 2014.

Right: Bicicleta Sem Freio “Bicycle without Brake” (Brazil) for Life is Beautiful Festival 2014. Location: The Market on Fremont. Read more about it at Street Art News.

Dface (British) - “Love Forever” for Life is Beautiful 2014.Bicicleta Sem Freio (Brazil) for Life is Beautiful 2014

Alley Behind La Comida