Art In the Wild

On our way back from White Star Quarry after watching my son take his SCUBA certification testing, my daughter and I drove through the small town of Gibsonburg, Ohio (pop. about 2500.)

You wouldn't expect all that much from a town that size so I did a double take when I noticed a group of sculptures alongside a small lake in the middle of town. We decided to turn around and see what it was about. The few I'd noticed from the road lead to more and more, maybe 2 dozen encircling the lake, all by different artists. It was like happening upon a small roadside museum, just...there, with no explanation at all. In this little War Memorial Park in this tiny town. It was amazing and very cool.

Apparently it started a few years ago when one local artist was asked to display more of his work, and he invited others and it's gone on since then. I'm not sure it would be worth making a long drive but if you're out that way at all, it's definitely worth stopping to see. I'm really glad we came across it.
Small Town, Big Art

Something Whimsical

I don't know why it's here, or who created it. It sits alongside a fairly busy, yet rural road (Crissey Rd north of Angola.) I smile every time I see it. How could you not? Today I finally brought a camera along and stopped to take pictures. It's on a vacant corner lot, far enough from any of the nearby houses it's hard to tell who owns it. I figure it's not all that different than planting flowers, or adding a decorative fence, or even a concrete goose with clothes to your yard. They built it because they enjoyed doing so and hoped it might brighten the day of the people driving by.

It started with the big tree stump, which became a "house," and the other details came long over time. It's far enough back from the road I didn't want to walk up too closely to get pictures but now that I think about it, perhaps next time I'll go leave a note in the mailbox and thank them.