Lens-Artist Challenge: Geometry

/ Pat

I took plane geometry in high school close to 60 years ago and remember it as one of my favorite classes – I remember feeling a sense of accomplishment as I learned the rules and worked my way through the exercises. Maybe I need to take a refresher course on-line or buy a book about plane geometry. I still love learning through reading.

When I saw that this week’s photography challenge was “Geometry” I got all excited but then thought, “What am I looking for when I want to photograph “geometry?” Well, maybe squares and triangles and trapezoids and a few circles.

Summer Night Tree (1978) by Louise Nevelson

This sculpture by Louise Nevelson was paid for ($152,000 in 1978 – appraised in 2013 at $2,000,000) and donated by some good person in the city but not everyone appreciates it. Jackson has long been a blue-color community of people working in the auto-industry supply chain. People working hard at good paying jobs that provide a decent lifestyle, people who don’t have much of an appreciation for abstract art. The sculpture has had a hard time finding a home where it is appreciated. First it was in front of the brand new downtown hotel and conference center that never did very well and has since been torn down. People laughed about the sculpture, made bad jokes about it, and someone even accidentally ran into it with their car – scratching the paint on the sculpture.

It was moved to a small park in the center of town, a short but expensive move. People complained about the cost of moving it (weighs 10 tons and is 30 feet high) and more jokes were made. Then it was moved out to the edge of town to a new home at the community college, probably with the hope that aspiring college students would appreciate the modern lines of this aging beauty. Either before or after having the college as its home, it was on the grounds of the Sharp Park museum complex. Then it was moved to its present location – back to downtown Jackson a block from where it first rested. I have always liked it and believe it is a perfect specimen of geometry.

It looks like a lot of geometry is used in designing hot air balloons. Does accurate geometric calculations help keep the balloon in the sky?

The labyrinth below is in the Naples Botanical Garden. The meditative walk through it begins here, but…

I would guess building it began here at the center fountain. It has a very interesting pattern that had me thinking that I couldn’t get there from where I was standing, and especially if I turned the way the path went. I wish I could show you the layout but it is impossible to photograph without a drone.

If you would enjoy some fun with geometry, you can learn more by following this link: Lens-Artist Photography Challenge #141

16 thoughts on “Lens-Artist Challenge: Geometry”

  1. Excellent examples. I’d love to ‘go back’ and take algebra and plane geometry again. Solid geometry started to lose me, trig and calculus were a total loss. I’m glad the sculpture has outlasted its surroundings. Something has to!

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  3. Hi, Pat. I enjoyed your story about finding a home for the sculpture. Sometimes public opinion is unjust! Nevelson was highly praised and respected, but “to each his own” in terms of artistic tastes! The balloon and the geometric path are great additions, too. Glad you added them to our “collection” this week!

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  4. That’s a lovely story about the beautiful piece of sculpture.

    About the shape of hot air balloons, I suppose you need to maximize the volume to provide lift, and minimize the surface area to decrease the cooling effect of the air around the balloon. So the ideal shape would be a sphere, with a heater right at the center!

    Drone photography is a thought. It’s becoming easier, isn’t it?

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  6. Terrific post Pat – loved the story of the moving statue! Laughed that it ended up near where it started. When I lived in Philadelphia years ago there was a very large statue in one of the most prominent city squares. It was called the clothespin, and was indeed a humongous lifelike copy of a clothespin. At least your statue’s sculptor is inventive!!! Loved the labyrinth images as well.

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    • Thanks, Tina. Louise Nevelson is a world renowned artist and was very prolific. The museum here in Naples has several of her sculptures – with a new on a display this season.

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