Ice Sculpture?

This is another sculpture in the 'Intersections' public art campaign.  Dennis Kowal, a popular artist here in Sarasota created it and calls it 'Fractured Migration', although many people just refer to it as the "Ice Sculpture' because, well, it looks like one, particularly when lit at night.  This was taken at Selby Five Points Park shortly before the 'Intersections' kickoff party got underway with a jazz trio, hors'dourves and public art discussion.  I couldn't help but notice the guy in the background sitting on the park bench, enjoying the music and watching the event unfold.  He's homeless.  More on him tomorrow.

Buffalo Sighting

This fun sculpture is also part of the 'Intersections' public art project.  The concept is for people to take self guided tours of all 12 pieces, and that's exactly what these folks were doing after the kickoff party.  This piece is known to people in downtown as 'The Buffalo'  -- you're looking at his face and pointy ears and his snout is pointed leftward -- but it's officially called 'Point Defiance' and was created by a young artist named Beth Nybeck.  I love how these people were huddled around the buffalo touching it and reading their brochure to learn about it.  I also was quite tickled this shot came out as well as it did, since I was about 30 yards away using my 200 mm lens sans tripod at dusk.

It's That Way

This is one of my favorite new pieces of public art in downtown Sarasota.  It's called Freedom-Sky and  was created by someone named Ofra Friedman.  (Yes, it's a person bending backward pointing their leg, from this view, toward the Opera House.) No matter what time of day or night, or the direction you view it, it's just an incredibly captivating sculpture.  It's one of twelve new pieces in downtown which are part of a new project called "Intersections".  The idea was to install sculptures near prominent intersections to help attract people downtown.  Next fall, one will be purchased by the city and put on permanent display.  I attended the kickoff event and I plan on posting a few pictures.  Usually, I shy away from series of photos from the same event, but this, I think, will be worthwhile.  Stay tuned!