Recently, I have been quite busy with work and travel. So, despite not being able to post recently, I was constantly making notes or taking photos for the last couple months with every intention to post!
Here's the first of more to come!
Sometimes, the most precious gems are found in our own backyard. There's an amazing art park in Houston called Smither Park that I stumbled across as I was out and about.
A Photo to Show Scale
More Urban Art Please
According to their website, the art park was created as a tribute to the late John H. Smither, a collector of self-taught art and supporter of the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art.
In addition to being a local family gathering place, the centrally located park is also a fantastic venue for scheduled concerts, weddings, corporate events, and community theater.
The park backs into a field and in front of the park is a quaint old neighborhood with small single-story clapboard houses. Can you imagine growing up with such a colorful park across the street? All other parks would pale in comparison.
My Slideshow
Because I took so many photos, I felt it was best to upload a slideshow. Enjoy!
Community
Finally, the story behind the creation of the park is what I consider to be the real story. The park was a collaboration of hundreds of volunteers from all around Houston. Everyone would bring whatever they could to break up into small pieces. Artists were given sections of the wall and park to design and the volunteers could exercise their creative muscles and piece the vision together, one shard, glass, marble and random part at a time... what a fun way to spend a beautiful day outside! Think of all the friendships formed. As you can see by my video, there are still certain sections of the wall, as well as sidewalks, lamp posts and picnic tables still in the process of being beautified by the community.
If you would like to see more photos, feel free to click this link.
Final thoughts
Because Steem is all about community, I thought it would be great to see if anyone in Steem has or is collaborating to create an Urban Art Park with Steemians!
Much luv!
@karencarrens
Drawing by @fukako, fox whisperer.
An urban steemit artpark would be pretty awesome ! I like the collaboration aspect of this park in the post and how everyone brought random objects to combine into these colorful mosaic art pieces !
Nice to see you posting again :)
I know! I haven't had a chance to hear how you and Damira have been! It's good to be back! How are you all adjusting to Sweden? I think I would be missing the food!
We really enjoy life here - it's so nice now that summer is arriving and they days are really long. The sun sets at 9pm so you can Suntan after you get home from work haha
hehe Nighttime tanning. Wow! That's a LONG day!
We get some extra light after the dark winter
Thanks for sharing this. Resteemed.
Thank you @mikeill for the kind resteem!
Urban parks sound great activies for the teens. Could be another way to get them out of trouble and into something beneficial in many emotional and developmental ways.
Yes. You are so right about that! This gives kids a creative and collaborative outlet for all their energy.
So much colors and art. Community collaboration always has good results and it shows. If I were a part of that community what would I bring? Maybe some old broken electronic gadgets what art would it turn into?
@watersnake101, what a great way to recycle all our old electronics. And, it would definitely add interesting contrast to the art! Good to see you!
Anything to do with colors is always exciting. I have never seen anything like this before. Good post. Thanks for sharing. 😊
Thanks @bala41288 for popping by! I just happened to be in the neighborhood for work and happened to see the park. Pretty cool.
Oh! How colourful :D
Ps: It looks like this is a busy time for everyone :)
Lots of love to you always my dear.
LOL. I was just about to go to your blog to comment to reply to me being away for a bit. It's good to be back. In fact, it's good to see we're both back! YAY! Luv you more!
😘
I like the table with the Mosaic people having tea, the tiger seat, and just in general it's so cool to have such a cool community art project that's still growing. Very fun to see!
Hi there @eonwarped! 😀 I love reading your comments! Those "people" at the table are fun! They're sitting across the table from each other... I think on a date! It's a permanent fixture so I hope they like each other! There was even another table with a big dog with his front paws on top of the table stealing from a plate of food. So creative! And tiger seat is something else!
Hahaha the eternal date....
Aw doggy stealing food? Was that in your slides? I may have missed it
Ah, no! I didn't get a pic of the doggy. He was only partially complete. 😆
Great to see you! Sorry that it has been a while since I reached out. Always enjoy when people come together to make their communities better. I hope we do the same on Steemit.
Awww! Don't be sorry! I've been MIA lately too! How are you my dear friend?!?
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Urban art is such a necessity. Having lived in NYC most of my life it can totally transform any neighborhood to a warm welcoming place no matter how much concrete there is and how many trees it lacks. Thanks for a great post. Keep it up please!
Thanks for a different perspective @movement19! I can completely how collaborative projects like this can bring joy to so many, especially because of the color it adds to concrete jungles!
Amazing work! These kinds of community projects really bind the community, making the artists ( which I suspect were not all artists but regular people from the community) connect and work together.
Accurate insight @alexdory! In fact, it's my understanding, the majority of the volunteers were in fact regular folks... most with little to no experience with creating art. The artists involved apparently set the framework and let people draw upon their own creativity to choose what pieces used and where they were placed. 😁
Oh street or urban art are always a joy to see. Nice how you managed to take part on the piece haha!
They really are fun to see. My only contribution to it was stumbling upon it and blogging. 😆 And yes, I would totally jump at the chance to participate in a cool art project like this!
Working art with glass by the looks of it, is an art all of it's own. Captures the imagination, sharing in the outdoors, what a lovely way to celebrate a park @karencarrens
Absolutely @joanstewart! Something great will always come when creativity and community merge. Kinda like Steem!
great publication I liked a lot. regards
Thank you!
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