This post is a little late. We're in Cleveland babysitting little grandson. Silly me, I thought that once I got him to bed, ate dinner between 7:30 and 8:00, I'd have time to work ahead on my posts. A glass of wine to wind down after fun and busy days and I'm asleep on the couch at 8:30.
When we lived in downtown Dayton, my big dog Ted and I walked all over the place. One of our favorite walks was to walk across the Main Street bridge through the McPherson Town neighborhood to the Dayton Art Institute and stop by a river lookout to view the the city from the west.
Bring in sculptor/multi-instrumentalist Michael Bashaw. Bashaw grew up in East Dayton and came to believe that rivers are natural sanctuaries. He used to go down to the flood locks of the Miami River where there were large gears and pipes. There were slits in these pipes and the wind would whistle through them.
“I would take my flute down there,” Bashaw said, “And I would play along with them. I’d practice there and play along with them because there were all these harmonics and there were different pitches. It was magical.”
For years, Bashaw imagined a sculpture along the river (right where Ted is standing) that sings different tones with the wind. When the Dayton Garden Club commissioned him for their 100-year anniversary site alongside Monument bridge, he got his opportunity. The work is called Wind in the Garden. The DGC wanted a sculpture that honors the protection of native plants, migratory birds, and the river.
By chance, I just happened upon this sculpture. It was a little after 9:00 a.m. and MetroPark employees were cleaning around it. Its dedication was at 12:30 that day. One of the men said that he had heard the wind whistle through the pipes, a very enchanting sound. He said that the significance of this new sculpture is to draw us back to life on the river and when people come to the site and look out over the river, they will appreciate both the sculpture and the river. On the concrete pad, quotes cascade in ribbons to remind onlookers of the flowing river and to plant a seed to open the eyes and mind of the beauty in this little corner of town.
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The river has great wisdom and whispers its secrets to the hearts of men.
~ Mark Twain
When we try to pick out anything by itself we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. ~ John Muir
We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one. ~ Jacques Cousteau
Water is the driving force of all nature. ~Leonardo daVinci
If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere. ~ Vincent Van Gogh
Look deep into nature and then you will understand everything better.
~Albert Einstein
Enjoy your week, the sculpture sounds interesting.
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