Columbuz on Banks

Why, no offishur, I haven't been drinking at Ernie's.  That wuz some other tall, bronze Italian.  He went thatta way!

This Christopher Columbus was sculpted by Joe Incrapera in 1992, commemorating the 500th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of the New World.  You remember the childhood saying, right:  in fourteen-hundred-ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue?  The statue graces Bell Park, in Montrose--right across the street from the bar Ernie's on Banks.

Fairly unassuming, right?  Wrong!

Where the rooster crows, there is a village.

Circle of Animals, by Ai Weiwei.  10-foot tall, 1000 pound Chinese Zodiac heads, Hermann Park, March 2012.

So sayeth the chronicle.  Check out the artist here and here. Ai Weiwei is a prolific artist and ballsy social activist in China.


Houston was one of eleven locations world-wide to display this exhibit. Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads is a recreation (on a grand scale) of Chinese zodiac sculptures that were once part of a remarkable fountain at the Yuanming Yuan palace outside Beijing in the 1700s.  The heads of the fountain sculptures spouted water to mark the time.  In 1860, British and French troops raided the palace and looted it.  To date, only seven of the original heads have surfaced.








Which sign are you?

Crafty much?

There's a pocket park, just behind Main and nearby the long ribbon of concrete that's the Southwest Free-for-All.  Belonging to the Houston Center for Contemporary Crafts, the Craft Garden started in 2003 as a collaboration among artists and gardeners.  Divided into sections for plants to make baskets, textiles, dyes, and papers, it's part and parcel of the craft process. After a drought year and a subsequent hot summer, it's not looking too bad.   Plus, the fountain, shade, and deck are a welcome respite in any slog between Med Center/Hermann Park and Downtown. 

Wearing greenery befitting a less-arid summer.

It's free to visit here.  Rosedale at Travis, in the Museum District.