and the bears will play

These bears are the creation of sculptor Leo Mol and can be found in 

Assiniboine Park, Winnipeg.

playful cubs

these are but a tiny few I'm sharing for Jo's Monday Walk

polar bear and cub 

There are over 300 pieces of art in this sculpture garden dedicated to Leo Mol

rescued cub

It was his expressed wish that all his works of art be available to the public to enjoy, and he contributed his bronze sculptures, ceramic works and paintings to his adopted home of Winnipeg where he lived from 1949 until his death in 2009 at 94 years of age.

standing twin bears

cubs in a tree

cubs in a tree

standing twin bears

to bring a smile to your Monday morning

on top of the world

Sometimes you need to look up to find art 

I'm not sure what this creature is meant to be, nor how he got up there

goats are so agile

they're so cute when they're sleeping

sharing with Our World Tuesday

tree of light

Nuit Blanche is an all  night celebration of culture and contemporary art where the city becomes an open air art gallery

this daytime view of what turned out to be our favourite installation looked intriguing














but come the dark of night,
it all became clear

the light tree - or is it a cloud? - became a participatory event

and by pulling the chains the bulbs were turned on or off

it was all so enchanting

sharing with Our World Tuesday

a bridge to cross

The Osborne Street bridge in Winnipeg had a makeover recently and incorporated in its design was an art project that included phrases cut out (and lit at night by LED, which you can almost see in my dusk photos)  Here are a few of these balustrades as I walked across the bridge

                         

 Bridge ices over – slow down

The phrases all relate to the area

Osborne Village

It crosses over the Assinboine River

Winnipeg is known as a windy city, and the corner of Portage and Main is the windiest intersection in Canada

sharing with Sepia Saturday
and Jo's Monday Walk

polar bears in a park

These polar bears are now more than 10 years old, and showing signs of their age.
















They hang out on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislature and were enjoying the late evening sun when I stumbled upon them.

All of them were missing their name plates.








But, although faded, and a bit dirty, you could still get an idea of their design

At one time, they were part of a fundraising display for CancerCare.
62 of these 7 foot, 8,000 pound concrete bears were each sponsored by a corporation who was matched with an artist. They were then on display here and along the tree lined median of Broadway, thus the name Bears on Broadway (link where you can see pictures and names of all the bears)

The bears looked a little sad, I thought, in spite of their artistic, colourful coats.

 This one I could guess was called Loony Bear

and these two are known as Nanookshuk

combining two Inuit words - Nanook for polar bear and Inukshuk, a directional guide for a safe journey made of stacking stones.

The other bears have made a journey to various parks and gardens around Winnipeg.

I'm sharing this short journey with Jo for Monday Walks

junk art

This house near the Public Market in Rochester is almost a destination in itself. 

It's a bit difficult to describe - and almost as difficult to photograph well. But we met the owner as we were walking around the corner lot and he invited us in and walked us around his filled to the brim yard telling us the stories of everything in it. And trust me, there was a lot of stuff in his yard. Glass, metal, wood, granite, stones, plastic... As he said: one pink flamingo is sad, two or three is just tacky, but a couple dozen pink flamingos - or bowling balls - or croquet bats - or gnomes - is a statement. The roof of his shed was made from two dozen shower doors. And there are enough granite slabs to make any number of benches, statues or inukshuks.

an original 'mailbox' for junk mail, which it seems the mail carrier uses!









The place is owned by artist Antoni Eckmair

 who has lived here for 30 years and is constantly working at it by using castoff bits of scrap.

These wavy shingles and the asymmetrical door appeal to me










There are collections of stuff, some of which has been put to use as garden features

too many shovels can an acorn make

these stacked papasan chairs were obviously liked by at least one other Rochester resident as we later found a similar sculpture in another garden







The property is on a corner lot and as you walk around it you see it's completely surrounded by fences and gates 













all of it hand crafted from bits and pieces of scrap (those are old roller skates, bottom right, not quite sure what that is on the left)

this portion of the fence is topped with a bowling ball track, which he demonstrated to us before we even had a chance to ask about it. Actually, he was very willing to talk about all his pieces of sculptural art. Apparently, he is so well known that people often come by to drop stuff off for him - whether he might want it or not, is another issue. But he will likely find some creative use for it. If you are ever in Rochester, find your way to Hayward Ave.  

Here is a video found on youtube that demonstrates the track.


a walk around a yard for Restless Jo
and a sign or two for Lesley