Spring break fun Part II

The North Carolina Museum of Art has sculptures located outside along some walking paths. You can take the 1/2 mile route or the 1 1/2 mile route depending on how much time you have and how far little legs can go. This is our second springtime adventure on the pathways. This year we went a little farther than last and saw some of the same works of art and a few that were new to us. We packed a lunch both times and actually ate it in the same spot both times.  As the sun rose higher in the sky, there was a grumpy kid or two both times as well, but we had fun and will probably make this outing a tradition!  Here are some pictures from our 2011 adventure (with the stroller) and our 2012 adventure (this time without!)

Above (2011):  Gyre - three giant, circular steel bars placed in the ground

2012 close-up

(2011) Collapse I is an enormous human form lying on its side, made of steel and concrete.  The kids posed next to the legs and then sat on the feet too!

(2011)  Crossroads is a column-like sculpture that has glass tile, stones and shattered bricks embedded in its surface - very fun to touch!

This work, called Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky is probably everyone's favorite.  Here's a 2011 picture of Caleb in front of the hut-like structure.  You actually open a door and go inside to experience the art.  It operates as an oversized pin-hole camera - a small hole in the roof projects an image of the sky onto the floor.  So you sit in the dark and ghostly images of what's in the sky above start to appear on the ground - soooooo cool!

(2011)  This was our lunch spot both times we've gone.  It's a bench built along the side of a bridge on one of the shady pathways.

Because we ventured a little farther this time, our 2012 fun discovery was Whisper Bench.  Two benches on either side of the trail are linked by a hidden sound pipe that makes it so you can talk back and forth to one another.  You can even hear whispers!

(2012)  The Conversationalist - a web of rubber that fans out in both directions and comes to a point in the middle:  a potential for understanding that may result from a conversation about different styles, beliefs and values.  Interesting and more importantly, fun to sit on and smile :)