With Spring breaking out all over, our attention has turned to sprucing up the yard a bit. We burned a couple of weeks ago and yesterday I began to spray the weeds which can easily, and usually do, get out of control quicker than I have time to take care of them. While cleaning things up, Kathy and I commented that we needed some yard art.

On Saturday we rode the Harley up to Grand Junction to take care of a few things and on the way back we stopped in Whitewater and visited with her brother Tim and his wife Donna. We caught them in the shade enjoying a cold one and the conversation turned to going down to Santa Fe for some more yard art to add to their collection. They’ve got some mobile copper wind spinners that I have always admired as well as some kind of neat handcrafted pieces to include a metal Roadrunner that bobs up and down depending on how the breeze catches his tail feathers and a couple of black metal Raven sculptures on their fence.

Yard art can take various forms, some of it quite expensive and some of it just repurposed junk. I’ve seen sculptures of dinosaurs in the area made from horseshoes welded together. On a ride through Kansas one time we came across the corner of some farmland out in the middle of nowhere in some small burg that had all kinds of metal sculptures up and down the fence line. It was so interesting that I turned the bike around and we went back to photograph and video the place. Sometime after we were there I saw a bit on TV about it. It has some fame attached to it.

Of course an old wheelbarrow with flowers in it is a common standby you can see all around. Old wagons and wagon wheels sometimes too. A yard down the road from us has the chassis of an old car in the front yard with a tree growing through it. Lots of times, the “yard art” is merely old farm implements or junk that got left and it stayed there for whatever reason, but I’m sure not going to say whether it’s tasteful or not. Call it what you like.

I think some of the most interesting yard art is the wind driven spinners. I saw some in the yard of a gallery  on Canyon Road in Santa Fe http://www.markwhitefineart.com/kaleidoscope/kaleidoscopeone time that were a real accomplishment as a cross between art and engineering. They were absolutely mesmerizing the way different colored facets would spin in different directions with the slightest breeze. I could’ve sat there for hours. Great entertainment for sure. Here’s a phot of said pieces:

Here’s a link to a short video of one of these pieces http://www.markwhitefineart.com/kaleidoscope/kaleidoscope

If you see some interesting pieces. Let me know. I’ll see you downtown and thanks for stopping by.