Sunday, August 13, 2006

Strip Pieced Wall at Sunrise

I photographed these tall, thick iron strips at sunrise. They comprise an award-winning sculptural wall by John Fleming next to the Gehry-designed EMP at Seattle Center. It was installed in 2002 and entitled The Grass Blades, but to my eye resembles strips of exposed film. The yellows and golds are rich and saturated, banded in black. I love the way the colors look with the silver of the EMP roof line. Each "blade" also very much reminds me of a rapid quilt construction method known as strip piecing where precision cut long strips of fabric are sewn together, then recut crosswise into segmented long strips for various design uses (click on the link and pass your mouse over the thumbnails to get a sense of how this is used). Posted by Picasa

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree these strips look great against the blue skies! They are really beautiful. But this photo gives me a feeling that they are quite high...are they?

Unknown said...

i liked the way the light emphasized the brown and gold colors - very nice!

Oleanderman said...

Art as nature, like it. You're right though, it does look more like film.

There's a easy teaser on my page today if you fancy a go...

Kim said...

Yes, Anne and Christina, they are quite tall. I don't know the exact height, but I would guess somewhere between 30 to 50 feet high, and about 8 to 10 inches wide--from memory's impression. Perhaps the link I included has more specific information.
Thanks everyone for your kind comments.
-Kim

Sally said...

Very intriguing; would love to see them.

Irredento Urbanita said...

I see harmony. Thanx!!!!

JaamZIN said...

this wall is really amazing and you caught the right moment:) Very nice