Remembering Ing & John’s Street Art 2019 before the COVID-19 arrived, New York Times, AXIOS, PBS News, and NBC News

Remembering Ing & John’s Street Art 2019 before the COVID-19 arrived, New York Times, AXIOS, PBS News, and NBC News

Remembering Ing & John’s Street Art 2019 before the COVID-19 arrived

Ing & John’s Street Art 2019, Downtown Newark, New Jersey, USA

Kai, The Artist, and Ing and John’s Artwork

July – December, 2019

Photographs by Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts

My first day of Street art was on Friday, July 26, 2019.  I took some plants from our backyard garden to display in front of our shop.  I started my first display of artwork with “Elephants at the Water Lily Pond” I produced in 1999.  There are always people walking by our place, but more during lunch time.  Most of them are the office workers.  Also, in the evening, people walk by going home from work.  Some people are interested in the artwork, and ask questions, while others are oblivious to the artwork that I display.

I love plants and flowers.  It makes me happy when I see the freshness of green leaves and beautiful flowers blooming.   Our shop is closed temporally, and the window gate is down. I thought that if I display our artwork and some of the plants from our backyard garden in front of the shop gate, it would make it more pleasant for the people who pass by.  I am happy to do it, and I hope the artwork and the plants will help the downtown office workers or others feel fresh and lively.    

I love street art for many reasons. First of all, the artwork is there for the public.  It is for everyone who passes to their destination.  Without spending time visiting art galleries or museums, they can see art while they are going to work or getting lunch.  Some may pay attention to the artwork and some may not.  Some may ask questions about the artwork.  I hope, at least the artwork will activate the thought process of those passing by.

This artwork of mine titled, “I Have A Dream – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr”, I displayed from, Wednesday, August 14, 2019, to August 21, 2019.  I produced this work in 2010.  I also added more plants to fill the front of shop space.

My Thai classical artwork was displayed on Thursday, August 22, 2019.  I produced this artwork in1994.

For more photos and information, please visit the following link:

Ing & John’s Street Art and International Street Art-Part 1

https://ingpeaceproject.com/ing-and-johns-street-art-and-international-street-art/ing-and-johns-street-art-and-international-street-art-part-1/

On Monday, August 28, 2019 John added his work to the display.  John’s artwork is on the far left, “Impossible Dreamer”.  “Gandhi Man of Peace”, in the middle is my artwork, which I produced in 2010.  The far right is John’s artwork “Beneath the Lake”.  Thanks to John Watts, my husband, for helping to display the artwork in a better presentation.

I am happy to display our artworks in public.  There seems to be a positive reaction from the people who view them.  People comment about the beautiful plants and unique artwork.

Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts and John Watts, Monday, October 7, 2019

I am very happy to have an opportunity to display our artworks in public.  There were people asking some questions about our artwork.  Some people took pictures of our artwork.   It seems to be a positive reaction from the people who view them.  People comment about the beautiful plants and unique artwork.

Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts and John Watts, Tuesday, October 22, 2019

For more photos and information, please visit the following link:

Ing & John’s Street Art and International Street Art-Part 3

https://ingpeaceproject.com/ing-and-johns-street-art-and-international-street-art/ing-johns-street-art-and-international-street-art-part-3/

Kai, our grandson, who love to do painting.  He volunteers to do artwork in front our shop.

This is the nature of life.  One minute we are here and the second minute we are gone.  What remains’ is what we did with the minutes before, while we are still alive on earth.

On Tuesday, September 24, 2019, while we were taking our artwork down at night time, a homeless man asked me, “Do you sell the paintings?”.  “No, I said, we put our artwork up for people to see, and it makes the sidewalk more pleasant to walk by.”   Then he pointed to my Gandhi artwork and asked “Who is this man?” I explained to him that “His name is Gandhi.  He helped his country of India to gain independence from the 200-hundred-year rule by the British Empire.  He achieved this by non-violent mean.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who fought for human rights in this country, USA, followed Gandhi’s non-violent philosophy.  I felt very glad that the homeless man asked me the questions. 

I do not think that homeless people or working-class people will have a much of an opportunity to visit art galleries or museums. This is one of the reasons that I love Street Art.  The artwork is in public view.  Some might like the artwork or some might not, but it can create inter action and activate the viewers to think.  This thinking process helps create learning and reasoning about what others show or tell you to believe. 

There are some people asking us about our artwork that we display in front of our building.  So, we decided to post a sign to let people know who did the artwork along with my Peace Poem.

Little one on mother’s bosoms

Happy to hang along

Where ever she goes

Ride, ride, ride

Happy mother and happy child

I am a lucky one

Ride, ride, ride

Mommy, Daddy I love you

Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts, Sunday, November 10, 2019

I wish some of the homeless children that I saw in the parks or the public library will have comfort and be as well provided for as this child.

This past summer I took our grandson, Kai to Newark Museum, I found out that it is free admissions for Newark residents, for others it cost $15.00 for an adult and $7.00 for a child.  I took Kai to Military Park to play.  I met a woman who has seven children and is not a Newark resident, so she can only bring the children to the park and cannot afford to pay for the Museum entrance tickets.  I think the working-class, poor, and homeless children, need as much as education as they can possibly have.  Museums and libraries are good places for children to learn.  They can form good habits of learning and be able to do well in school and have ambition to get higher education, such as college or university.  Education can help people get out of poverty. The cities nearby Newark, such as Irvington, Jersey City, and others cities have poor and working-class children.  These youngsters will be left out of the experience and enjoyment of seeing the fantastic artwork collections that Newark Museum offers to Newark residents, and well to do families out of town that can afford the price of admission.

Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts, Thursday, November 14, 2019

For more photos and information, please visit the following link:

Ing & John’s Street Art and International Street Art-Part 5

https://ingpeaceproject.com/ing-and-johns-street-art-and-international-street-art/ing-johns-street-art-and-international-street-art-part-5/

Left:        Midnight – John Watts’ Artwork

Middle: Vincent van Gogh and his letters to his brother – Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts’ Artwork

Right:    Homage to the Dragon – John Watts’ Artwork

Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts and John Watts, Saturday, November 30, 2019

Kai, The Artist our grandson, who just turned four years old.

It was time for the four-year-old artist to relax and play.

I have a better chance to learn human behavior and development from our grandson than our only daughter when she was young.  This was because we were so busy with working and now, we have more time to observe our grandson’s interaction with other children, including his behavior as a baby and his progress up to now.

Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts and John Watts, Saturday, November 30, 2019

For more photos and information, please visit the following link:

Ing & John’s Street Art and International Street Art-Part 7

https://ingpeaceproject.com/ing-and-johns-street-art-and-international-street-art/ing-johns-street-art-and-international-street-art-part-7/

I am done, Grandma!

Time to run

And have fun

Catch me

If you can

Run Grandma run

Fun, fun, fun

You can’t catch me!

It’s great fun to

Run, run, run

Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts, Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Emerging Cinderella from pink flower    

Modified Artwork by Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts

Vincent van Gogh admiring flowers

Artwork by Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts

Hi! Mr. Kai!

How are you?

Hello Mr. Snake!

I am fine

Thank you

How are you, Mr. Snake?

I miss you Kai

I was alone in the box last night!

Can I kiss you?

No! You might bite me!

I am not going to bite you

See! I have no teeth

I only have long tongue to smell you

OK! You can kiss me

And you are going to sleep with me tonight

Can I hug you, Kai?

Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts, Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Kai was talking to his mother about the Magic Dragon.

Now, the Magic dragon has appeared.  Trick or treat anybody???

For more photos and information, please visit the following link:

Ing & John’s Street Art and International Street Art-Part 9

https://ingpeaceproject.com/ing-and-johns-street-art-and-international-street-art/ing-johns-street-art-and-international-street-art-part-9/

Left:        Midnight – John Watts’ Artwork

Middle: Vincent van Gogh’s Broken Frames– Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts’ Artwork

Right:    Homage to the Dragon – John Watts’ Artwork

John Watts’ Sculptures

Kai’s Painting on Friday, September 13, 2019

After working very hard with his painting, the artist spends time to exam the flowers.

For more photos and information, please visit the following link:

Ing & John’s Street Art and International Street Art-Part 11

https://ingpeaceproject.com/ing-and-johns-street-art-and-international-street-art/ing-johns-street-art-and-the-international-street-art-part-11/

The reason I am re-posting some parts of, Ing & John’s Street Art of 2019, is because I miss our life and activities before COVID-19 arrived.  I enjoyed posting our artwork on our shop window shutter.  I had a chance to see people outside the house.  Especially, when I had conversations with people who were interested in our artwork.  We usually went to do our shopping, especially for food in different places.  We went to obtain our Chinese food at China Town in New York City.  After we had some food from China Town, we would head to Central Park, Washington Park.  John had some of his readings, and plays performed in NYC, which was his best opportunity to meet friends involved in theater. 

On March 10, 2020, I went to a hospital to support our daughter when she gave birth to our second grandson, Bodhi.  That is the last day I step outside our house until now.  It will be two years next month since that event.  Thanks to my husband, John Watts for doing all the grocery shopping and other necessary activities outside of the house.  When the weather is warm, I would go to the backyard and tend my garden, enjoying and seeing the flowers bloom.  Some butterflies and bees came to drink nectar from the butterfly bushes and other kinds of flowers.  Roses were blooming beautifully in Spring and Fall, when the weather was cooler.  Now, the weather is very cold, some plants dormant for the winter and others are completely gone.  On Saturday, December 29, 2021, I looked at my backyard, and I saw snow over the garden.  I took photos of the backyard.  John took photos of the front of our shop and the street, before he had to clean the snow from our sidewalk.    

Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts, Sunday, February 6, 2022

I took photographs from our backyard garden.

John took photos of the front of our shop and the street, before he had to clean the snow from our sidewalk.    

The New York Times on January 30, 2022

By Remy Tumin

Snow removal outside the Federal Courthouse in Boston yesterday. Katherine Taylor for The New York Times
1. The East Coast is digging out from a major winter storm.
After dropping a blanket of snow over parts of New York and New Jersey yesterday — as much as 18 inches on some parts of Long Island — the “bomb cyclone” marched northeast, bringing gusting winds, flooding and near-record snow accumulation in New England. Thousands of flights were canceled up and down the coast.
Nearly 70,000 households were without electricity in Massachusetts, especially on Cape Cod and the nearby islands, where heavy winds made restoring power difficult. As much as 30 inches of snow had fallen in some parts of Massachusetts, while Boston had about two feet. The storm drew comparisons to the nightmarish Blizzard of ’78, which buried the city under more than 27 inches of snow.
Parting shot
Photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images

Manhattan’s Chrysler Building (center), as seen yesterday from the observation deck of Summit One Vanderbilt.

AXIOS AM on January 30, 2022

By Mike Allen

4.  Epic nor’easter

Photo: Nantucket PoliceSeveral streets on Nantucket, the fabled island off Cape Code, “flooded with seawater during high tide … as the powerful nor’easter brought with it storm surges of over 3 feet,” The Boston Globe reports.·  Go deeper: Historic bomb cyclone blizzard slams New England, may break records, Axios’ Andrew Freedman reports.Photo: Andrew Kelly/ReutersA person ski over the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday.Photo: Julio Cortez/APSpotted in Ocean City, Md.

·  Storm latest.

PBS NewsHour Weekend Full Episode January 29, 2022

Jan 29, 2022  PBS NewsHour

On this edition for Saturday, January 29, major winter storm in the Northeast brings blizzard conditions to some areas, Burmese people continue their fight for democracy, and in remembrance of the Holocaust, a message for future generations. Hari Sreenivasan anchors from New York. Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG Find more from PBS NewsHour at https://www.pbs.org/newshour Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6

PBS NewsHour Weekend Full Episode January 30, 2022

Jan 30, 2022  PBS NewsHour

On this edition for Sunday, January 30, the Northeast digs out after the first winter storm of the year, President Biden backs NYC Mayor Eric Adams on his crime policy after two police officers were fatally shot, and in our signature segment, singer-songwriter Tori Amos on loss, grief and regeneration. Hari Sreenivasan anchors from New York. Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG Find more from PBS NewsHour at https://www.pbs.org/newshour Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6

#NightlyNews #WinterStorm #Covid

Nightly News Full Broadcast – January 30th

Jan 30, 2022  NBC News

Northeast recovers from blizzard aftermath, Covid cases falling nationwide, and the List of Supreme Court Justice candidates grows. » Subscribe to NBC News: http://nbcnews.to/SubscribeToNBC » Watch more NBC video: http://bit.ly/MoreNBCNews NBC News Digital is a collection of innovative and powerful news brands that deliver compelling, diverse and engaging news stories. NBC News Digital features NBCNews.com, MSNBC.com, TODAY.com, Nightly News, Meet the Press, Dateline, and the existing apps and digital extensions of these respective properties. We deliver the best in breaking news, live video coverage, original journalism and segments from your favorite NBC News Shows. Connect with NBC News Online! NBC News App: https://smart.link/5d0cd9df61b80 Breaking News Alerts: https://link.nbcnews.com/join/5cj/bre… Visit NBCNews.Com: http://nbcnews.to/ReadNBC Find NBC News on Facebook: http://nbcnews.to/LikeNBC Follow NBC News on Twitter: http://nbcnews.to/FollowNBC #NightlyNews #WinterStorm #Covid #SupremeCourt

Across the U.S., a sprawling winter storm brings snow, ice and tornadoes

Feb 3, 2022  PBS NewsHour

Crews and residents across the Midwest are digging their way out as a sprawling winter storm pushes further across the country. Some places have reported over a foot of snow, creating dangerous driving conditions in several states, while more than 4,000 flights were canceled Thursday alone. Nicole Ellis has our report. Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG Find more from PBS NewsHour at https://www.pbs.org/newshour Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6 Follow us: Facebook: http://www.pbs.org/newshour Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/newshour Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/newshour Subscribe: PBS NewsHour podcasts: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/podcasts Newsletters: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/subscribe

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Ing & John’s Street Art & The International Street Art Part 17 & 18

Ing & John’s Street Art & The International Street Art Part 17

The Halsey Street Festival, Part 3, Thursday, September 19, 2019,

On Halsey Street between Bleaker Street and New Street, Downtown Newark, New Jersey, USA

John Watts demonstrated pottery,

Ing’s Peace Project, Ing & Johns Artwork,

A lot of Merchants, Food, Music and Fashion Show

Photographs by Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts

More people came to enjoy the activities that The Halsey Street Festival presented.  I brought my Peace Poster offering to the participants of the festival to express their thought on “What does Peace mean to You?” or to them.

I brought Kai’s books for the boy to look at in case he got tired of adult business.

I was very glad to see more people were willing to record their thoughts on Peace.

People were lined up to see john throwing a large pot.

I was glad to see the group of young women who are studying at NJIT (New Jersey Institute of Technology) where I graduated with a master’s degree in Polymer Chemistry in 1980.

This artwork is my – Finished “Peace” artwork 8

Shadow of Peace and  La Asociación de Barranquiteños de NJ Inc., Puerto Rican Festival in Newark on August 6, 2011, organized by Carlos Maldonado Pastrana, President of La Asociación de Barranquiteños de NJ.  Finished artwork, after the written comments by  Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts

Link to Peace Comes to 5th Annual Arts Music Fair Elwood Park Page:

“Miss. Newark, New Jersey”, & Other people were watching John demonstrate pottery.

I brought Kai, our grandson’s desk chair, and an Alphabet spelling board to the boy and offered him some drink.  He seemed to enjoy playing with the Alphabet spelling board.

Please continue to view The Halsey Street Festival Part 4

Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts and John Watts, Thursday, February 16, 2020

Link to Ing & John’s Street Art & The International Street Art Part 17

Ing & Johns Street Art & International Street Art Part 18

International Street Art Part 18

TOP 100 Urban Art 2019 – Best artworks and street artists of the year

Published on : January 2, 2020 Published by : laurent jacquet

TOP 100 Urban Art 2019 – Best artworks and street artists of the year

TOP 100 Urban Art 2019 – Best artworks and street artists of the year P 3, 4 & 5

We’re at the beginning of 2020 and its time for the Streetart360 team to do a retrospective on the most beautiful urban art murals painted in 2019. We’ve selected 100 murals from around the world, some by renown artists and others by new talents. We based our selection on the number of likes and shares they have received on the StreetArt360 social network pages (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest) Please use the comment section to give us your feed back and remember to visit the artists social networks or websites. Thanks for sharing this Top 100. We wish you all the best for 2020.

41. Den Extralargos aka Eva Mena in Puerto Del Rosario, Canary Islands, Spain

Eva Mena links: Website | Instagram | Facebook  page

Den Extralargos aka Eva Mena in Puerto Del Rosario, Canary Islands, Spain

Eva Mena

42. Leticia Mandragora in Cochabamba, Bolivia

Leticia Mandragora links: Instagram | Facebook page

Leticia Mandragora in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Best urban art 2019

Leticia Mandragora

45. GÔMEZ in Naples, Italy

Gomez links: Instagram | Facebook page

GÔMEZ in Naples, Italy

GÔMEZ

46. Murales Lian in Leitza, Spain

Murales Lian links: Blog | Instagram | Facebook page

Murales Lian in Leitza, Spain

Murales Lian

47. Ozmo in Rieti, Italy

Ozmo links: Website | Instagram | Facebook page

Ozmo in Rieti, Italy

Ozmo in Rieti, Italy

54. Ella & Pitr in Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Ella et Pitr links: Tumblr | Instagram | Facebook page

urban artwork by Ella & Pitr in Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Ella & Pitr

55. DEIH in Casablanca, Morocco

photo: M3ayzo.

Deih links: Website | Instagram | Facebook page

DEIH in Casablanca, Morocco

DEIH

56. Iljin in Decazeville, France

photo: m.arya.lv.

Iljin links: Website | Instagram | Facebook

best urban artists 2019 Iljin in Decazeville, France

Iljin

59. Herakut and Nuno Viegas in Berlin, Germany

Links Herakut: Website | Instagram | Facebook page

street art masterpiece by Herakut and Nuno Viegas in Berlin, Germany

Herakut and Nuno Viegas

62. Jacoba Niepoort in Halifax, Canada

photo: Stoo Metz

Jacoba Niepoort links: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Jacoba Niepoort

Jacoba Niepoort

63. Bikismo in Odintsovo, Russia

photo: Maria Shkineva

Bikismo links: Instagram | Facebook page

Bikismo in Odintsovo, Russia

Bikismo in Odintsovo, Russia

67. Wasp Elder in Olomouc, Czech Republic

Wasp Elder links: Tumblr | Instagram | Facebook page

Wasp Elder in Olomouc, Czech Republic

Wasp Elder

69. Dourone in Rotterdam, Netherlands

Dourone links: Website | Instagram | Facebook page

Dourone in Rotterdam, Netherlands

Dourone

70. Carlos Callizo in Istanbul, Turkey

photo: Michael Larsson

Carlos Callizo links: Website | Instagram | Facebook page

Carlos Callizo in Istanbul, Turkey

Carlos Callizo in Istanbul, Turkey

71. Miramar Moh’d & Dalal Mitwally  in Amman, Jordan

Links  Miramar Moh’d:
Instagram | Facebook
Links dalal Mitwally:
Instagram | Facebook

Photo: Emad

urban art best of 2019

Miramar Moh’d & Dalal Mitwally

73. KAY2 in “Korean Demilitarized Zone”, South Korea

KAY2 links:  Website | Instagram | Facebook page

best street art in Korea

Kay2

74. Case Maclaim in Cancun, Mexico

Case Maclaim links: Instagram | Facebook  – Photo: Instagrafite

Case Maclaim in Cancun, Mexico

Case Maclaim

75. Dmitry Levochkin in Odintsovo, Russia

Dmitry Levochkin links:  Instagram | Facebook page

urban art mural by Dmitry Levochkin in Odintsovo, Russia

Dmitry Levochkin

77. Henri Lamy in Boulogne Billancourt, France

Henry Lamy links: Website | Youtube | Instagram | Facebook page

Henri Lamy in Boulogne Billancourt, France

Henri Lamy

78. Cee Pil in Bexhill-on-Sea, UK

Cee Pil links: Instagram | Facebook

best of street art in England Cee Pil in Bexhill-on-Sea, UK

Cee Pil

79. Lula Goce in New Rochelle, New York, USA

Lula Goce links: Website | Instagram | Facebook page

Credits photo: just_a_spectator

Lula Goce in New Rochelle, New York, USA

Lula Goce

80. Piet Rodriguez  in Kramatorsk, Ukraine

Piet Rodriguez links: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook page

Photo: Artem Getman

Piet Rodriguez  in Kramatorsk, Ukraine

Piet Rodriguez

81. Inti  in Santiago, Chile

INTI links: Website | Instagram | Facebook page

Inti  in Santiago, Chile

Inti

82. Mabel Vicentef in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Mabel Vicentef links: Website | Youtube | Tumblr | Instagram | Facebook

Mabel Vicentef in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Mabel Vicentef

83. L7matrix in Sao Paulo, Brazil

L7M links: Website | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook page

L7matrix in Sao Paulo, Brazil

L7matrix

84. Evgeni Sosiura aka Mutus in Minsk, Belarus

Mutus links: Instagram | Facebook page

Evgeni Sosiura aka Mutus in Minsk, Belarus

Mutus

85. Daniel Eime in Nazaré, Portugal

Daniel Eime links: Website | Vimeo | Instagram | Facebook page

Photo: Nelson

Daniel Eime in Nazaré, Portugal

Daniel Eime

86. Case Maclaim in Tbilisi, Georgia

Case Maclaim links: Instagram | Facebook page

Case Maclaim in Tbilisi, Georgia

Case Maclaim

87. Telmo Miel in Ghent, Belgium

Telmo Miel links: Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook page

Photo: M_FRENCHI

Telmo Miel in Ghent, Belgium

Telmo Miel

89. Swed Oner in Nouméa, New Caledonia, France

Guido Van Helten links: Website | Instagram | Facebook page

Guido Van Helten in Leiria, Portugal

Guido Van Helten

93. Paola Delfin in Tampere, Finland

Paola Delfin links: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook page

Paola Delfin in Tampere, Finland

Paola Delfin

94. Andres Cobre aka NDC media in Modesto, California, USA

photo: Ricardo Ontiveros

Andres Cobre Links: Instagram | Facebook page

Andres Cobre aka NDC media in Modesto, California, USA

Andres Cobre

95. Pichi & Avo in Boras, Sweden

Pichi & Avo links: : Website | Youtube | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook page

Pichi & Avo in Boras, Sweden

Pichi & Avo in Boras, Sweden

97. Rogue One in Glasgow, UK

Rogue One links: Instagram | Facebook page

Rogue One in Glasgow, UK

Rogue One

98. Smates in Geel, Belgium

Smates links: Website | Instagram | Facebook page

street art mural by Smates in Geel, Belgium

Smates

100. Manomatic in Patos, Albania

Manomatic links : WebsiteInstagram |  Facebook page

Festival Internaciona de Street Art Albania I.S.A.F.A. Mural Proyect by Urbanact.gr & VIZart

Manomatic mural artwork in albania

Manomatic

8th Annual Light Festival Illuminates Amsterdam with Glowing Sculptural Installations

December 10, 2019  Laura Staugaitis

“Butterfly Effect” by Masamichi Shimada. All photographs, unless noted, © Janus van den Eijnden

This year’s Amsterdam Light Festival, running November 28, 2019, to January 19, 2020, lights up the European city with illuminated art installations. The festival, now in its eighth year, attracts tourists and engages locals at a time when the city is cloaked in darkness for about sixteen hours each day. Visitors to the Light Festival use a phone app to guide themselves through Amsterdam’s city center, perusing twenty light works by artists from around the world. This year’s show theme was “DISRUPT!” and artists reflected the concept in pieces that ruminate on climate change, national history, technology, and more. See some of our favorites here, by Masamichi Shimada, UxU StudioSergey Kim and others. You can explore the full line-up and programming on the Amsterdam Light Festival website.

“Neighborhood” by Sergey Kim. Photograph courtesy of the artist

“Nacht Tekening” by Krijn de Koning 

“Atlantis” by Utskottet

“Surface Tension” by Tom Biddulph and Barbara Ryan

Link to Ing & John’s Street Art & The International Street Art Part 18

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Ing & John’s Street Art & The International Street Art Part 15 & 16

Ing & John’s Street Art & The International Street Art Part 15

The Halsey Street Festival, Part 2, Thursday, September 19, 2019,

On Halsey Street between Bleaker Street and New Street, Downtown Newark, New Jersey, USA

John Watts demonstrated pottery,

Ing’s Peace Project, Ing & Johns Artwork,

A lot of Merchants, Food, Music and Fashion Show

Photographs by Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts

More people came to enjoy the activities that The Halsey Street Festival presented.  I brought my Peace Poster offering to the participants of the festival to express their thought on “What does Peace mean to You?” or to them.

Thanks to this person who was willingly to record her thoughts on Peace.

John started his performance with a pottery demonstration.

People love to take John’s pictures as he is making his magic pottery.

I love the way John produced his pottery or anybody who can have control and discipline enough to achieve making beautiful objects.  I love to work with clay making my sculptures where I do not have to follow the rule and be well disciplined.  One of these days I am going to ask Master John to teach me how to throw on the wheel and produce the controlled pottery.

More people were interested in recording their Peace comments on my Peace Poster.

People seemed to enjoy taking pictures and watching John demonstrate pottery.

It is so lovely to see a mother holding her child, who shows the happiness and comfort of being embraced by his mother with joy.

“Miss. Newark, New Jersey”, stopped her tour to write her comments about Peace.

Beautiful flowers and beautiful people made the atmosphere of the festival vibrant and Peaceful.  This is the kind of harmony we need when people get together to celebrate life.  (No Fighting, No Conflict and No More Wars)

Please continue to view The Halsey Street Festival Part 3

Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts and John Watts, Sunday, February 2, 2020

Link to Ing & John’s Street Art & The International Street Art Part 15

Streetart360, TOP 100 Urban Art 2019, Toronto Light Festival,

Ing & John’s Street Art & International Street Art Part 16

International Street Art Part 16

Published on : January 2, 2020 Published by : laurent jacquet

TOP 100 Urban Art 2019 – Best artworks and street artists of the year P 1 & 2

We’re at the beginning of 2020 and its time for the Streetart360 team to do a retrospective on the most beautiful urban art murals painted in 2019. We’ve selected 100 murals from around the world, some by renown artists and others by new talents. We based our selection on the number of likes and shares they have received on the StreetArt360 social network pages (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest) Please use the comment section to give us your feed back and remember to visit the artists social networks or websites. Thanks for sharing this Top 100. We wish you all the best for 2020.

2. SimpleG in Athens, Greece

SimpleG links: Website | Behance | Youtube | Instagram | Facebook page – Photo: John Spinoulas

best of Urban art

SimpleG

3. Nick Napoletano in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

photo: Dave Lee

Nick Napoletano links: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Nick Napoletano urban artwork

Nick Napoletano

4. Owen Dippie in Los Angeles, CA, USA

photo: Impermanent Art.

Owen Dippie links: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Owen Dippie in Los Angeles, CA, USA

Owen Dippie

7. Saype in Decazeville, France

Saype links: Website | Instagram | Facebook page

Saype in Decazeville, France

Saype

9. JEKS in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

JEKS links: Instagram

best street art in USA - Nasa and street art

Jeks

10. Federico Zenobi aka Kor1 in Marotta, Italy

Kor1 links: Website | Instagram | Facebook page

Federico Zenobi aka Kor1 in Marotta, Italy

Federico Zenobi aka Kor1

14. Noe Two in Havana, Cuba

Noe Two links: Website | Instagram | Facebook page

Noe Two in Havana, Cuba

Noe Two

15. Sef in Buenos Aires, Argentina

photo: Agustin Silva.

Sef links: Instagram

Sef in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Sef

19. El Mac in Los Angeles, CA, USA

El Mac links: Instagram | Facebook page

El Mac in Los Angeles, CA, USA

El Mac

26. Xi de Sign aka Die Dixons in Berlin, Germany

photo: Jörn Reiners.

Die Dixons links: Website | Instagram | Facebook page

Xi de Sign aka Die Dixons in Berlin, Germany

Die Dixons

28. Sonny Sundancer in Johannesburg, South Africa

Sonny Sundancer links: Youtube | Instagram | Facebook page

Sonny Sundancer in Johannesburg, South Africa

Sonny Sundancer

31. Fanakapan in Berlin, Germany

photo: Nika Kramer

Fanakapan links: Instagram | Facebook page

Fanakapan in Berlin, Germany

Fanakapan

40. Chisme in Benaguasil, Valencia

Asier: Instagram | Facebook page

MUS: Instagram | Facebook page

Chisme in Valencia

Chisme in Valencia

Local and International Artists Produce 21 Light Installations For the Inaugural Toronto Light Festival

February 10, 2017  Kate Sierzputowski

Images via Thane Lucas/Toronto Light Festival

Set within a district of Victorian industrial buildings, the Toronto Light Festival is a free 45-day festival occurring during this year’s winter months as a way to creatively draw the city’s inhabitants out of their homes. Featuring 21 diverse light installations built by local and international artists and thousands of glowing bulbs, the festival covers a total of 13 acres in the city’s Distillery District. Installations range from a series of lit figures appearing to jump from the roof of one of the historic buildings to two red, geometric cats prowling an included alleyway, with several multi-colored works in-between.

You can catch Toronto’s first ever light art festival until March 12, or follow the festival on Instagram to catch snapshots of the glowing installations.

 Link to Ing & John’s Street Art & The International Street Art Part 16

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Ing & John’s Street Art & The International Street Art Part 13 & 14

Ing & John’s Street Art & The International Street Art Part 13

The Halsey Street Festival, Part 1, Thursday, September 19, 2019

On Halsey Street between Bleaker Street and New Street, Downtown Newark, New Jersey, USA

John Watts demonstrated pottery,

Ing’s Peace Project, Ing & Johns Artwork,

A lot of Merchants, Food, Music and Fashion Show

Photographs by Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts

Thursday, September 19, 2019 the music stand came in the early afternoon to begin decorating The Halsey Street Festival with, logo, and music equipment for the event.

John put up my large artwork on our alleyway door with a helping hand from our neighbors.

We were very lucky to have the festival right in front of our shop.  We joined in by adding more artwork and activities to celebrate The Halsey Street Festival.

Some merchants started displaying their merchandise.

John displayed his two tall sculptures and large hand build pottery.  I posted my artwork, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I Have A Dream.

Left: Impossible Dreamer – John Watts Artwork

Middle: Two of John Watts Sculptures

Right-Inside: Birth of a dragon – John Watts Artwork

I displayed one of my finished Peace Project Artworks and Peace Project Poster for people to write theirs comments on, “What does Peace mean to you?”.

This lady was the first person who wrote her comment on, “What does Peace mean to you?” on the Peace Project Poster.

By the early evening people started to arrive.

Merchants offered a variety of merchandise.

Please continue to view The Halsey Street Festival Part 2

Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts and John Watts, Thursday, January 18, 2020

Link to Ing & John’s Street Art & The International Street Art Part 13

Ing & Johns Street Art & International Street Art Part 14

International Street Art Part 14

street art, graffiti and contemporary art in Russia

I discovered the Russian street art scene a few years ago, when some murals by P183 were becoming popular on social network sites More recently I met Zmogk in Vitry sur Seine while he was busy painting an amazing mural for a small urban art event.

I have also had the pleasure of interviewing both Yulia Vanifatieva and Julia Volchkova, two up-and-coming Russian street artists. They impressed me with their creativity and originality which was so different to anything I had seen before.

Russia is currently one of the most creative urban art hotspots in Europe. It is such a shame that so little is known about many of these artists outside of Russia. I have therefore decided to publish a list of the most interesting and creative artists. I Hope it will help you discover and fall in love with their art, follow their social networks and promote their work around the world. They deserve it!

Pavel P183

Pavel or Paul (P183) was born in Moscow in 1983 and died aged 29 on 1 April 2013. P183 is probably the best known Russian street artist and has been dubbed as the ‘Russian Banksy’ by the British press. This artist was one of the creators of the street art movement in Europe and his untimely death was a major loss to the urban art scene.

RIP P183 you wrote some amazing letters on the wall of Street Art and graffiti history. True art lovers will never forget you.

P183 artwork in Russia Moscow

street art in Russia by P183

Marat “Morik  Danilyan

Marat ‘Morik’ Danilyan is a street artist, graphic designer and illustrator from Russia. He went to art school but then went on to complete degrees in philology and economics from the Novosibirsk State University. With the rise of the Internet in the late 90’s, Morik developed a passion for graffiti through Hip-hop culture. He started to develop spray-painting skills and a love for experimenting with letter forms.

Instagram

Morik street artist from russia. portraits

Morik

Petro

Piotr Gerasimenko (Petro) was born in Zhukovsky in 1984 and is a member of the crew called Aesthetics. He’s been painting on walls for more than a decade and, while developing his style, has gone through many different stages to become one of the most prominent and respected artists on the Russian graffiti scene.

InstagramFacebookFlickr

building painted by Petro Aesthetics

Petro

Dmitry Aske

Dmitri Aske is a versatile artist from Moscow. He started his artistic career in 2000 as a graffiti writer and later moved on to graphic design, typography, illustration, murals and contemporary art.

InstagramWebsiteFacebook

building painted by famous russian urban artist dmitri aske

Dmitry Aske

Alexey Luka

Alexey Luka was born in 1983. He graduated from Moscow Architectural Institute in 2006 and lives and works in Moscow.

InstagramWebsite

graffiti masterpiece in russia by alexey luka . moscow urban art scene

Alexey Luka

VITALY TSARENKOV aka SY

Vitaly Tsarenkov (SY) was born in 1987 and lives and works in St. Petersburg. With a background in street art, he focuses on creating large-scale paintings, murals, and sculptures.

Instagram

abstract geometrical graffit art . Russian contemporary art

SY

Ivan Ninety

Ivan Ninety was born in Protvino. He was initially interested in street art and gradually developed his interest in large-format painting, collage, sculpture or photography, grew.

In his works, a mix of geometric abstraction and figurative realism can be seen. The technique he uses most often is collage.

Instagramfacebook

russian mural artwork by ivan ninety

Ivan Ninety

Nikita Nomerz

Nikita Nomerz lives in Nizhny Novgorod. The Media started getting excited about this young artist, after seeing just two of his murals in 2011.

InstagramWebsite

street art masterpiece by nikita nomerz

Nikita Nomerz

Sergey Akramov

Sergey is a Russian graffiti artist from Ekaterinburg, who specialises in abstract lettering. He paints complex murals showcasing many techniques. He loves to paint vegetation combined with abstract lettering and typography.

InstagramBehanceFacebook

huge murals in Russia .

Sergey Akramov

Vova Nootk

Vova Nootk started out as a graffiti writer 20 years ago and has now developed his work into large scale murals.

FacebookInstagramWebsite

moscow murals street art

Vova Nootk

Vitae Viazi

Vitae Viazi are a street art crew (art-collective) from Moscow. The name “Vitae Viazi” comes from the Latin word “vitae” (“of life”) and “viazi,” which is the name of a special ornamental Cyrillic (old slavonic) script. This decorative script was their initial source of inspiration. The name of the crew should be written with characters of two keyboard layouts “VITAE ????” but it is too tricky to google, so they choose – “Vitae Viazi”.

InstagramFacebook

modern art and urban art in Russia

Vitae Viazi

Julia Volchkova

Discover Julia Volchkova’s artwork in the article I published a few month ago:Artist of the week: Julia Volchkova” 

street art masterpiece by julia volchkova

Julia Volchkova

MalenkieLydi

Ivan Simonov. Artist from Russia

Instagram

street art in street of moscow

MalenkieLydi

Ilya Slak

Urban artist from Russia

Instagram

huge mural by russian urban art

Ilya Slak

Link to Ing & John’s Street Art & The International Street Art Part 14

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Ing & John’s & International Street Art, TED Talks, Thisiscolossal, & More

Ing & John’s Street Art and International: Ing and John’s Street Art, Downtown Newark, New Jersey, USA- Part 3 and International Street Art – Part 4 The Audubon Mural Project Attracts 314 Endangered Birds to the Facades of Manhattan and Figures of Birds Emerge from a Kinetic Flurry of Spray Paint

TED Talks: Abhishek_Gopalka_How_motivation_can_fix_public_systems?

Go the Fork to Sleep: 4K Blooming Flowers Time Lapse for Relaxation Soft Piano Music

Melania Anghel: Butterflies and Flowers – 1 Hour Nature Meditation with Soothing Music

 Thisiscolossal: All 435 Illustrations from John J Audubon’s ‘Birds of America’ Are Available for Free Download and Gorgeous Macro Photographs of Butterfly and Moth Wings by Linden Gledhill

Ing & John’s Street Art and International Street Art-Part 3

Ing and John’s Street Art, Downtown Newark, New Jersey, USA- Part 3

Photographs by Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts

On Monday, August 28, 2019 John added his work to the display.  John’s artwork is on the far left, “Impossible Dreamer”.  “Gandhi Man of Peace”, in the middle is my artwork, which I produced in 2010.  The far right is John’s artwork “Beneath the Lake”. 

9

I am very happy to have an opportunity to display our artworks in public.  There were people asking some questions about our artwork.  Some people took pictures of our artwork.   It seems to be a positive reaction from the people who view them.  People comment about the beautiful plants and unique artwork.

Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts and John Watts, Tuesday, October 22, 2019

For more information please visit the following link:

Ing & John’s Street Art and International Street Art-Part 4

International Street Art – Part 4

The Audubon Mural Project Attracts 314 Endangered Birds to the Facades of Manhattan

December 14, 2015  Christopher Jobson

Endangered Harlem, by Gaia

Since October 2014, the streets of Upper Manhattan have become an unexpected destination for rare sightings of some 314 endangered birds. The Audubon Mural Project is a collaboration between the National Audubon Society and Gitler &_____ Gallery to commission murals of climate-threatened birds surrounding the old neighborhood of John James Audubon.

So far 20 artworks have been painted on storefronts, building facades, window panels, and retractable security grates. The number of species depicted isn’t arbitrary, it reflects a report from last year highlighting 314 birds most threatened by climate change. The growing list of involved artists includes Gaia, Iena Cruz, Hitnes, Lunar New Year, and many others. You can learn more about the artworks and the birds depicted in them, including a map of where to find them, on the Audubon Mural Project Website.

Photo: Mike Fernandez/Audubon

The Swallow-tailed Kite mural contains 12 other climate-threatened species. The church tower to the right of the mural is the location of John James Audubon’s final resting place.

Black-chinned Hummingbird, by Ashli Sisk. Photo: Mike Fernandez/National Audubon Society

Figures of Birds Emerge from a Kinetic Flurry of Spray Paint

May 2, 2016  Christopher Jobson

Brazilian artist L7M (previously) depicts owls, ducks, sparrows, and other birds materializing from a chaotic swirl of dripped paint and flourishes of spray. The graffiti birds not only contrast urban and natural elements, but also depict a distinct clash of both abstract and figurative techniques. According to Street Art News the artist was recently in Rome where he completed several of the pieces you see here. Check out more of his latest mural work on Facebook.

For more information please visit the following link:

How do you fix broken public systems? You spark people’s competitive spirit. In a talk about getting people motivated to make change, public sector strategist Abhishek Gopalka discusses how he helped improve the health system of Rajasthan, a state in India home to more than 80 million people, using the powers of transparency and public accountability. “Motivation doesn’t just appear,” Gopalka says. “Something needs to change to make you care.”

This talk was presented at a TED Institute event given in partnership with BCG. TED editors featured it among our selections on the home page. Read more about the TED Institute.

About the speaker

Abhishek Gopalka · Public sector strategist

BCG’s Abhishek Gopalka advises governments on innovative approaches to deliver better outcomes for citizens.

About TED Institute

Every year, TED works with a group of select companies and foundations to identify internal ideators, inventors, connectors, and creators. Drawing on the same rigorous regimen that has prepared speakers for the TED main stage, TED Institute works closely with each partner, overseeing curation and providing intensive one-on-one talk development to sharpen and fine tune ideas. The culmination is an event produced, recorded, and hosted by TED, generating a growing library of valuable TED Talks that can spur innovation and transform organizations.

Learn more about TED Institute

359,278 views

TED@BCG | September 2019

4K Blooming Flowers Time Lapse for Relaxation Soft Piano Music

Sep 4, 2018  Go the Fork to Sleep

Watching a flower bloom is peaceful and calming. Relax while watching a stunning 4K time lapse of blooming flowers, while listening to soft, gentle piano music. Blooming flowers are mesmerizing to watch, especially in 4K. Piano music is wonderful for stress relief, meditation, relaxation, and sleep.

Butterflies and Flowers – 1 Hour Nature Meditation with Soothing Music

Feb 27, 2014  Melania Anghel

Ho creato questo video con l’Editor video di YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/editor)///////… GORGEOUS BUTTERFLIES AND FLOWERS FOR MORE THAN 1 HOUR NATURE RELAX, JOY AND HAPPINESS ////////////////////////////////////// SOOTHING MUSICS FOR RELAX, YOGA, MEDITATION, TAI CHI, HEALING, REIKI, DEEP RELAX =

Category   Entertainment

All 435 Illustrations from John J Audubon’s ‘Birds of America’ Are Available for Free Download

October 22, 2019  Laura Staugaitis

Pinnated Grouse, plate 186

If you’ve been looking for an opportunity to download free high resolution images of 435 bird illustrations, you’re finally in the right place. The National Audubon Society has recently made John James Audubon’s seminal Birds of America available to the public in a downloadable digital library (signing up for their email list is a prerequisite).

Birds of America was printed between 1827 and 1838, and was filled prints created from hand-engraved plates based on Audubon’s original watercolor paintings. In addition to the prints, each bird’s page also includes a recording of the animal’s call, plus extensive written texts from the period of the book’s printing.

Audubon is widely lauded as the individual who brought an awareness and appreciation of birds’ beauty and fragility; the National Audubon Society has been active since 1905. Explore more of the Society’s current conservation efforts, as well as ways to get involved, on their website. (via Open Culture)

Roseate Spoonbill, plate 321

American Magpie, plate 357

Sharp-tailed Finch, plate 149

Sooty Tern, plate 235

Summer, or Wood Duck, plate 206

Spotted Grouse, plate 176

American Flamingo, plate 431

Gorgeous Macro Photographs of Butterfly and Moth Wings by Linden Gledhill

March 26, 2014  Christopher Jobson

A biochemist by training, photographer Linden Gledhill is fascinated by the beauty of infinitesimally small aspects of nature and science, from capturing the flight of insects to exploring the beauty of magnetic ferrofluid. Among his most jaw-dropping images are macro photographs of butterfly wings that reveal complex patterns that look like perfectly organized flower petals. These tiny protrusions are actually scales, similar to what you would find on reptile, though extremely small and fragile. Gledhill’s photography recently inspired an episode of Smarter Every Day where Destin Sandlin learns how to shoot similar photos. (via awkwardsituationist.tumblr.com)

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Wars Of America Sculpture at Military Park

Wars Of America Sculpture at Military Park

Downtown Newark, New Jersey

On Thursday, May 5, 2016

Photographs by Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts

Military Park (Newark) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Park_(Newark)

Military Park is a 6-acre (24,000 m2) city park in Downtown Newark, Essex County, New Jersey … Military Park Commons Historic District … A statue of Monsignor George Hobart Doane, for whom the park is named, was unveiled in 1908.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wars_of_America

Wars of America

U.S. National Register of Historic Places

New Jersey Register of Historic Places

Wars of America located on Military Park,

614-706 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey

Area        less than one acre,   Built        1926                  

Architect     Borglum,Gutzon

MPS              Public Sculpture in Newark MPS

NRHP Reference #      94001257[1] , Added to NRHP  October 28, 1994

NJRHP #                       1338[2]Designated NJRHP  September 13, 1994

Wars of America is a “colossal” bronze sculpture by Gutzon Borglum containing “forty-two humans and two horses”,[3]located in Military ParkNewarkEssex CountyNew Jersey, United States. The sculpture sets on a base of granite fromStone Mountain.

The sculpture was erected in 1926, eight years after World War I ended, but its intent was broadened to honor all of America’s war dead. In describing it, Borglum said “The design represents a great spearhead. Upon the green field of this spearhead we have placed a Tudor sword, the hilt of which represents the American nation at a crisis, answering the call to arms.”[4]

The sculpture was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 28, 1994.

 Military Park
Broad St. and Park Pl.

Map / Directions to Military Park
Map / Directions to all Newark Revolutionary War Sites       Washington’s troops camped here during the retreat of 1776. It is believed that        Thomas Paine began writing The American Crisis while camped here. [4]       One end of the park has a liberty pole, in the spot where the original stood in the 1700’s.          In the park is The Wars of America sculpture, depicted soldiers from all of America’s wars,         including the Revolutionary War. It was sculpted in 1926 by Gutzon Borglum,         who also sculpted Mount Rushmore.

For more information please visit the following link:

https://www.revolutionarywarnewjersey.com/new_jersey_revolutionary_war_sites/towns/newark_nj_revolutionary_war_sites.htm

The following article is written by Linda Stamato | Star-Ledger Guest Columnist:

https://blog.nj.com/njv_linda_stamato/2015/05/wars_of_america_newarks_triump.html

Wars of America: Newark’s triumphant memorial sculpture

By Linda Stamato | Star-Ledger Guest Columnist 
on May 25, 2015 at 11:17 AM, updated May 26, 2015 at 7:07 AM

Among Newark’s gems, are the public works of Gutzon Borglum, the extraordinary sculptor whose most famous work, of course, is Mount Rushmore. In Newark, far from South Dakota, and situated downtown, just across from the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, sits one of the most compelling of Borglum’s works: Wars of America. He created this magnificent sculpture over the course of six years, completing it in 1926. It memorializes all the major conflicts in which Americans participated up to and including the First World War.

 

On Memorial Day it seems more than fitting to reflect on why we build memorials and what this one, in particular, signifies. It was commissioned several years after the end of the World War, but its intent was not solely to honor the courageous men who fought in that war but to honor all of America’s war dead.

The bronze masterpiece consists of forty-two human beings and two horses and commemorates America’s participation in the Revolution, War of 1812; Indian Wars; Mexican War, the Civil War, Spanish American War and World War I.

It is in Military Park, which dates back to 1667–when the park was a training ground for soldiers and, later, a drill field for the Colonial and Continental armies–where the colossal Wars of America statue stands in striking relief. It is the centerpiece of the park.

 

Gutzon Borglum inspecting his sculpture: 1926 Amazon.com

In describing it, Borglum said: “The design represents a great spearhead. Upon the green field of this spearhead we have placed a Tudor sword, the hilt of which represents the American nation at a crisis, answering the call to arms.” (The New York Times; November 7, 1926.)

From John Taliaferro’s “Great White Fathers: The Story of the Obsessive Quest to Create Mount Rushmore”:

“The statue is fronted by four nameless officers, one dressed in the uniform of the Revolution, one from the union army, one from World War I, and a fourth figure representing the navy. Behind them come thirty-eight more full-size figures, plus two very restive horses. Only a half dozen of the men carry weapons and the Revolutionary officer carries a sword, yet the composition still manages to evoke, in Borglum’s words, ‘an entire nation mobilizing under great pressure of war.’ The group is leaning forward en masse, a concerted thrust of citizen soldiers. Borglum wanted to express the “indignation, fear….physical distress, and pathos “ of war. He achieves all of these and more.”

 

“Wars” is a brilliant sculpture, that, to Taliaferro, complements all Borglum’s talent and experience. Many of the warriors were actually Borglum’s friends and acquaintances. Easiest to spot are the sculptor himself and his son, Lincoln, depicted halfway down the left flank of the sculpture as the anxious father sends his young son off to battle. His wife, Mary, also appears.

The sculpture represents a“sincere nationalism, with great faith in the United States,” according to Rosa Portell, the curator of theStamford Museum & Nature Center in Connecticut:

“Borglum was living in the era of American manifest destiny, when the United States was becoming a world power, and he felt awe for the men who created, preserved and expanded the country.”

 

The sculpture was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 28, 1994.

Newark has a collection of treasures waiting to be discovered over and over again. Prior to “Wars”, for example, Borglum created three other bronze sculptures that grace the city’s streets and parks: The magnificentSeated Lincoln (in 1911); theIndian and Puritan (in 1916), and a bas-relief, First Landing Party of the Founders of Newark (in 1916.)

 

It is in art that we capture best, I think, the spirit and courage of the brave people who fought, and those who supported them. War memorials provide symbolic, social and historical experiences that are so compelling that they can impose meaning and order beyond the temporal and chaotic experiences of life. (Ben Barber: Place, Symbol and Utilitarian Functions in War Memorials :1949)

 

On Memorial Day, especially, Wars of America is a sculpture to visit, to gaze upon and reflect, to give thanks for those who fought and died for the nation. But, it is also just the place to be as we hope the day comes when there is less need for more memorials.

Wars of America: A tribute to those who fought and died for the nation Pam Hasegawa 

This is the end of Linda Stamato’s article.  Thanks for her article; her conclusion is exactly the way I wish the world to be “We hope the day comes when there is less need for more memorials”.

Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts, Sunday, May 22, 2016

Gutzon Borglum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutzon_Borglum

John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum (March 25, 1867 – March 6, 1941) was an American artist and sculptor. He is most associated with his creation of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial at Mount Rushmore, South Dakota. He was associated with other public works of art, including a bust of Abraham Lincoln exhibited in the White House by Theodore Roosevelt and now held in the United States Capitol Crypt in Washington, D.C..

The son of Danish-American immigrants, Gutzon Borglum was born in 1867 in St. Charles in what was then Idaho Territory. Borglum was a child of Mormon polygamy. His father, Jens Møller Haugaard Børglum (1839-1909), had two wives when he lived in Idaho: Gutzon’s mother, Christina Mikkelsen Borglum (1847-1871) and Gutzon’s mother’s sister, who was Jens’s first wife.[1] Jens Borglum decided to leave Mormonism and moved to Omaha, Nebraska where polygamy was both illegal and taboo; he left Gutzon’s mother and took his first wife with him.[2] Jens Borglum worked mainly as a woodcarver before leaving Idaho to attend the Saint Louis Homeopathic Medical College [3] in Saint Louis, Missouri. Upon his graduation from the Missouri Medical College in 1874, Dr. Borglum moved the family to Fremont, Nebraska, where he established a medical practice. Gutzon Borglum remained in Fremont until 1882, when his father enrolled him in St. Mary’s College, Kansas.[4]

After a brief stint at Saint Mary’s College, Gutzon Borglum relocated to Omaha, Nebraska, where he apprenticed in a machine shop and graduated from Creighton Preparatory School. He was trained in Paris at the Académie Julian, where he came to know Auguste Rodin and was influenced by Rodin’s impressionistic light-catching surfaces. Back in the U.S. in New York City he sculpted saints and apostles for the new Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in 1901; in 1906 he had a group sculpture accepted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art[5]— the first sculpture by a living American the museum had ever purchased—and made his presence further felt with some portraits. He also won the Logan Medal of the Arts. His reputation soon surpassed that of his younger brother, Solon Borglum, already an established sculptor.

In 1925, the sculptor moved to Texas to work on the monument to trail drivers commissioned by the Trail Drivers Association. He completed the model in 1925, but due to lack of funds it was not cast until 1940, and then was only a fourth its originally planned size. It stands in front of the Texas Pioneer and Trail Drivers Memorial Hall next to the Witte Museum in San Antonio. Borglum lived at the historic Menger Hotel, which in the 1920s was the residence of a number of artists. He subsequently planned the redevelopment of the Corpus Christi waterfront; the plan failed,[why?] although a model for a statue of Christ intended for it was later modified by his son and erected on a mountaintop in South Dakota. While living and working in Texas, Borglum took an interest in local beautification. He promoted change and modernity, although he was berated by academicians.[6]

A fascination with gigantic scale and themes of heroic nationalism suited his extroverted personality. His head of Abraham Lincoln, carved from a six-ton block of marble, was exhibited in Theodore Roosevelt‘s White House and can be found in the United States Capitol Crypt in Washington, D.C. A “patriot,” believing that the “monuments we have built are not our own,” he looked to create art that was “American, drawn from American sources, memorializing American achievement,” according to a 1908 interview article. Borglum was highly suited to the competitive environment surrounding the contracts for public buildings and monuments, and his public sculpture is sited all around the United States.

In 1908, Borglum won a competition for a statue of the Civil War General Philip Sheridan to be placed in Sheridan Circle in Washington. D.C. A second version of General Philip Sheridan was erected in Chicago, Illinois, in 1923. Winning this competition was a personal triumph for him because he won out over sculptor J.Q.A.Ward, a much older and more established artist and one whom Borglum had clashed with earlier in regard to the National Sculpture Society. At the unveiling of the Sheridan statue, one observer, President Theodore Roosevelt (whom Borglum was later to include in the Mount Rushmore portrait group), declared that it was “first rate;” a critic wrote that “as a sculptor Gutzon Borglum was no longer a rumor, he was a fact.” (Smith:see References)

Borglum was active in the committee that organized the New York Armory Show of 1913, the birthplace of modernism in American art. By the time the show was ready to open, however, Borglum had resigned from the committee, feeling that the emphasis on avant-garde works had co-opted the original premise of the show and made traditional artists like himself look provincial. He lived in Stamford, Connecticut for 10 years.

Borglum was an active member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons (the Freemasons), raised in Howard Lodge #35, New York City, on June 10, 1904, and serving as its Worshipful Master 1910-11. In 1915, he was appointed Grand Representative of the Grand Lodge of Denmark near the Grand Lodge of New York. He received his Scottish Rite Degrees in the New York City Consistory on October 25, 1907.[7]

Borglum was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.[8] He was one of the six knights who sat on the Imperial Koncilium in 1923, which transferred leadership of the Ku Klux Klan from Imperial Wizard Colonel Simmons to Imperial Wizard Hiram Evans.[9] In 1925, having only completed the head of Robert E. Lee, Borglum was dismissed from the Stone Mountain project, with some holding that it came about due to infighting within the KKK, with Borglum involved in the strife.[10] Later, he stated, “I am not a member of the Kloncilium, nor a knight of the KKK'”, but Howard and Audrey Shaff add that, “that was for public consumption.”[11] The museum at Mount Rushmore displays a letter to Borglum from D. C. Stephenson, the infamous Klan Grand Dragon who was later convicted of the rape and murder of Madge Oberholtzer. The 8×10 foot portrait contains the inscription, “To my good friend Gutzon Borglum, with the greatest respect”. Correspondence from Borglum to Stephenson during the 1920s detailed a deep racist conviction in Nordic moral superiority, and urges strict immigration policies.[12]

Borglum died in 1941 and is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale in California in the Memorial Court of Honor. His second wife, Mary Montgomery Williams Borglum, 1874–1955 (they were married May 20, 1909), is interred alongside him. In addition to his son, Lincoln, he had a daughter, Mary Ellis (Mel) Borglum Vhay (1916–2002).

Borglum was initially involved in the carving of Stone Mountain in Georgia. Borglum’s nativist stances made him seem an ideologically sympathetic choice to carve a memorial to heroes of the Confederacy, planned for Stone Mountain, Georgia. In 1915, he was approached by the United Daughters of the Confederacy with a project for sculpting a 20-foot (6 m) high bust of General Robert E. Lee on the mountain’s 800-foot (240 m) rockface. Borglum accepted, but told the committee, “Ladies, a twenty foot head of Lee on that mountainside would look like a postage stamp on a barn door.'”[13]

Borglum’s ideas eventually evolved into a high-relief frieze of Lee, Jefferson Davis, and ‘Stonewall’ Jackson riding around the mountain, followed by a legion of artillery troops. Borglum agreed to include a Ku Klux Klan altar in his plans for the memorial to acknowledge a request of Helen Plane in 1915, who wrote to him: “I feel it is due to the KKK that saved us from Negro domination and carpetbag rule, that it be immortalized on Stone Mountain”.[10]

 

After a delay caused by World War I, Borglum and the newly chartered Stone Mountain Confederate Monumental Association set to work on this unexampled monument, the size of which had never been attempted before. Many difficulties slowed progress, some because of the sheer scale involved. After finishing the detailed model of the carving, Borglum was unable to trace the figures onto the massive area on which he was working, until he developed a gigantic magic lantern to project the image onto the side of the mountain.

 

Carving officially began on June 23, 1923, with Borglum making the first cut. At Stone Mountain he developed sympathetic connections with the reorganized Ku Klux Klan, who were major financial backers for the monument. Lee’s head was unveiled on Lee’s birthday January 19, 1924, to a large crowd, but soon thereafter Borglum was increasingly at odds with the officials of the organization. His domineering, perfectionist, authoritarian manner brought tensions to such a point that in March 1925 Borglum smashed his clay and plaster models. He left Georgia permanently, his tenure with the organization over. None of his work remains, as it was all cleared from the mountain’s face for the work of Borglum’s replacement Henry Augustus Lukeman. In in his abortive attempt, Borglum had developed necessary techniques for sculpting on a gigantic scale that made Mount Rushmore possible.[14]

His Mount Rushmore project, 1927–1941, was the brainchild of South Dakota state historian Doane Robinson. His first attempt with the face of Thomas Jefferson was blown up after two years. Dynamite was also used to remove large areas of rock from under Washington’s brow. The initial pair of presidents, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson was soon joined by Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.

 

Ivan Houser , father of John Sherrill Houser, was assistant sculptor to Gutzon Borglum in the early years of carving; he began working with Borglum shortly after the inception of the monument and was with Borglum for a total of seven years. When Houser left Gutzon to devote his talents to his own work, Gutzon’s son, Lincoln, took over as Assistant-Sculptor to his father.

 

Borglum alternated exhausting on-site supervising with world tours, raising money, polishing his personal legend, sculpting a Thomas Paine memorial for Paris and a Woodrow Wilson one for Pozna?, Poland (1931).[15] In his absence, work at Mount Rushmore was overseen by his son, Lincoln Borglum. During the Rushmore project, father and son were residents of Beeville, Texas. When he died in Chicago, following complications after surgery, his son finished another season at Rushmore, but left the monument largely in the state of completion it had reached under his father’s direction.

 

In 1908, Borglum completed the statue of Comstock Lode silver baron John William Mackay (1831–1902). The statue is located at the University of Nevada, Reno.

In 1909, the sculpture Rabboni was created as a grave site for the Ffoulke Family in Washington, D.C. at Rock Creek Cemetery. [16]

In 1912, the Nathaniel Wheeler Memorial Fountain was dedicated in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

In 1918, he was one of the drafters of the Czechoslovak declaration of independence.[17]

One of Borglum’s more unusual pieces is the Aviator completed in 1919 as a memorial for James R. McConnell, who was killed in World War I while flying for the Lafayette Escadrille. It is located on the grounds of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia.[18]

Four public works by Borglum are in Newark, NJ: Seated Lincoln (1911), Indian and Puritan (1916), Wars of America (1926), and a bas-relief, First Landing Party of the Founders of Newark (1916).[19]

Borglum sculpted the memorial Start Westward of the United States, which is located in Marietta, Ohio (1938).

He built the statue of Daniel Butterfield at Sakura Park in Manhattan (1918).[20]

He created a memorial to Sacco and Vanzetti (1928), a plaster cast of which is now in the Boston Public Library.[21]

 

Another Borglum design is the North Carolina Monument on Seminary Ridge at the Gettysburg Battlefield in south-central Pennsylvania. The cast bronze sculpture depicts a wounded Confederate officer encouraging his men to push forward during Pickett’s Charge. Borglum had also made arrangements for an airplane to fly over the monument during the dedication ceremony on July 3, 1929. During the sculpture’s unveiling, the plane scattered roses across the field as a salute to those North Carolinians who had fought and died at Gettysburg.

Popular culture[edit]

Publications[edit]

The following article is from PBS, American Experience: Biography Rushmore-Borglum

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/rushmore-borglum/

John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum liked to tinker with his own legend, subtracting a few years from his age, changing the story of his parentage. The best archival research has revealed that he was born in 1867 to one of the wives of a Danish Mormon bigamist.  When his father decided to conform to societal norms that were pressing westward with the pioneers, he abandoned Gutzon’s mother, and remained married to his first wife, her sister.

In 1884, when Gutzon was 16, the family moved to Los Angeles. His father, unhappy in California, soon returned to Nebraska, but Gutzon stayed behind. He studied art and met Elizabeth Jaynes Putnam, a painter and divorcee 18 years his senior. Lisa Putnam became a teacher and mentor to Gutzon, helping manage his career and advising his education. They were married in 1889. While in California, Gutzon painted a portrait of General John C. Fremont and learned the value of having a wealthy and socially connected patron. Although the general died a few years after sitting for his painting, his widow provided Borglum with contacts to men such as Leland Stanford and Theodore Roosevelt.

 

The Borglums traveled to Paris to work and study, and there Gutzon met sculptor Auguste Rodin. As much as he admired Rodin, more than one historian has suggested that the reason Gutzon gave up painting was to compete with his brother Solon, who had been making his name as a sculptor. Gutzon’s talent was immediately apparent and he found a few commissions (certainly the fact that Solon had already associated the name Borglum with fine sculpture didn’t hurt). At the same time, Gutzon’s marriage was falling apart. He left Paris alone in 1901 and aboard ship met Mary Montgomery, an American who had just completed her doctorate at the University of Berlin. He and Mary wed as soon as Lisa granted him a divorce. They bought a house and farm in Connecticut and named it “Borgland.”

 

Borglum’s major work back in America included a bust of Abraham Lincoln, which he was able to exhibit in Theodore Roosevelt’s White House. The Lincoln portrait and other much admired works gave Borglum a national reputation, and he was invited by Helen Plane of the United Daughters of the Confederacy to some of the techniques that would later be used on Rushmore.

While at Stone Mountain, Borglum became associated with the newly reborn Ku Klux Klan. Whether this accorded with a racist world view, or if it was simply one way to bond with some of his patrons on the Stone Mountain project, is unclear. Frankly, Borglum had little time for anyone, white or black, who was not a Congressman or millionaire, or happened to be in his way. There is no indication, for example, that he treated his long-suffering black chauffeur Charlie Johnson any differently than any white employee — he owed him back pay just like everyone else. Stone Mountain was not finished by Borglum, but it inspired his next job: Mount Rushmore.

 

When South Dakota state historian Doane Robinson read about Stone Mountain, he invited Borglum out to the Black Hills of South Dakota to create a monument there. Borglum, perhaps realizing that Stone Mountain had only regional support, immediately suggested a national subject for Rushmore: Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson were added to the program soon afterward. Borglum had met and campaigned for Roosevelt, and by invoking that president’s acquisition of the Panama Canal and Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase, the Rushmore monument became a story of the expansion of the United States, the embodiment of Manifest Destiny.

Work on the mountain was not constantly supervised by Borglum. When he was at Rushmore, Borglum would be climbing all over the mountain and all over the hills, to determine the best angle for each feature, and advising the carvers on how to create the nuanced details that might not even be visible from below. But after creating the models, siting the sculpture, and developing methods for transferring the image to the mountain and carving the rock, there were long periods during which Borglum’s presence was not required. He would often leave his assistants, including his son Lincoln, to supervise the work and then travel. He would go to Washington, D.C. to lobby for more money, and he also traveled around the world, finding and completing other commissions, sculpting a Thomas Paine for Paris and a Woodrow Wilson (for Poland, and meeting politicians and celebrities such as Helen Keller. (Helping her feel pieces by his old friend Rodin, he recalled her comment: “Meeting you is like a visit from the gods.” He sometimes felt the same way about himself, writing in his journal: “I must see, think, feel and draw in Thor’s dimension.”) When he returned to the Dakotas, a rock might have been roughly blasted into an egg shape and he would be back to looking over every detail.

Borglum’s stubborn insistence on having things done his way led to numerous confrontations with John Boland, who chaired the executive committee of the Mount Rushmore Commission. His temper and perfectionism caused him to fire his best workmen (who then had to be hired back by Borglum’s son Lincoln). Borglum’s ambition and hubris motivated him to recreate a landscape in his image (a tableau of prominent white men) rather than for the Native Americans who held the Black Hills sacred. Borglum was stubborn, insistent, temperamental, perfectionist, high-reaching, and proud — but these were also the characteristics that were required to carve a mountain. Big, brash, almost larger than life, only a man like Gutzon Borglum could have conceived of and created the monument on Mount Rushmore.

 

On March 6, 1941, Borglum died, following complications after surgery. His son finished another season

at Rushmore, but left the monument largely in the state of completion it had reached under his father’s

direction.

 

“Beauty is like a soul that hovers over the surface of form. Its presence is unmistakable in Art or in Life. The measure of its revelation depends on the measure of our own soul- consciousness, the boundaries of our own spirit.” — Gutzon Borglum

Before he created Mount Rushmore, Gutzon Borglum already had a productive and successful career as an artist.

The Stamford Museum and Nature Center organized a 1999 exhibition titled “Out of Rushmore’s Shadow: The Artistic Development of Gutzon Borglum (1867-1941).” Selections from that exhibit illustrate some of the influences Borglum incorporated into his work. Frequently, Borglum favored muscular, dynamic poses for his subjects, and he also liked to make art on a large scale.

The following article is written by Mark Di Ionno | The Star-Ledger The Star-Ledger
on February 16, 2009 at 8:34 PM, updated September 01, 2009 at 2:52 PM

https://blog.nj.com/njv_mark_diionno/2009/02/four_score_and_18_years_ago_sc.html

Four score and 18 years ago, sculptor left his mark on Newark

In this, the season of presidents, the story of Mount Rushmore is often retold. It took 14 years and 400 men to carve in stone the vision of sculptor Gutzon Borglum. A sheer mountain face of South Dakota’s granite Black Hills was shaped into a 60-foot-high monument to four great American presidents.

Borglum, born in Idaho two years after Abraham Lincoln’s death, had believed in creating art “drawn from American sources, memorializing American achievement,” he said in 1908.

Borglum’s public works reflected his sense of a big, expansive America. They were grand in scale, not absorbed by either the cityscapes of the Northeast or the mountains of the West.

 

Two works of such magnitude are here in Newark: “Seated Lincoln” in front of the Essex County Historic Courthouse, and “Wars of America,” the centerpiece of Military Park.

There are also two smaller Borglums in the city. A stone sculpture, known as “Puritan and Indian,” is on the north end of Washington Park, and a marble relief carving of the founding of Newark is on Saybrook Place.

Long before Mount Rushmore, Borglum exercised his artist’s vision of “American achievement” here.

“He had a sincere nationalism, with great faith in the United States,” said Rosa Portell, the curator of the Stamford Museum & Nature Center in Connecticut. Borglum had his studio in Stamford, and the museum has a large Borglum collection.

“He was living in the era of American manifest destiny, when the United States was becoming a world power, and he felt awe for the men who created, preserved and expanded the country.”

In this season of presidents, the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln is being celebrated. Perhaps no other artist is as closely associated with Lincoln’s image as Borglum.

“He was dedicated and devoted to Lincoln,” Portell said. “He named his son Lincoln. He studied every available image of Lincoln, and had his own death mask made.”

 

His “Colossal Lincoln” was commissioned by Teddy Roosevelt and now sits in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol.

“The images of Lincoln that impressed him the most were of the anguish on his face when he was getting the daily casualty reports from the battlefields,” Portell said. “He would go the White House gardens to hear these reports, and they impacted him deeply. The Newark statue, I believe, reflects that anguish.”

“Seated Lincoln” was commissioned 100 years ago by a group of Newark citizens for the century anniversary of Lincoln’s birth. (A wealthy Newark resident, Civil War veteran Amos Hoaglund Van Horn, contributed $250,000 for both Lincoln and the “Wars of America.”)

 

President Theodore Roosevelt came to dedicate “Seated Lincoln” on Memorial Day 1911, as thousands jammed the streets around the new courthouse.

Newark in the Gilded Age was a place of such wealth and prestige, it attracted the day’s greatest names in American public art and architecture.

Cass Gilbert, most famous for New York’s Woolworth Building, designed the Essex courthouse.

Stanford White, builder of the Washington Square Arch, the second Madison Square Garden and the New York Herald Building, did the High Street mansion of brewer Christian Feigenspan.

 

Landscape architect John Charles Olmsted, the son of Frederick Law Olmsted, laid out Branch Brook and Weequahic parks.

“Newark was the kind of city where wealth accumulated, but instead of buying art for their own salons, the wealthy sponsored public art,” Portell said. “That is a spirit the community should always treasure.”

Borglum’s granddaughter, Robin Borglum Carter, who lives in Corpus Christi, Texas, remembers coming to Newark “many, many years ago” to see the sculptures. She has photos of them in her book, “Gutzon Borglum: His Life and Works.”

Love Birds

“Seated Lincoln,” she said, is one of his best works. Maybe the best. And agrees with Portell that both “Seated Lincoln” and “Wars of America” are among the very best of Borglum’s inventory. Portells put them in the top five, and Carter says, “Absolutely.”

But “Wars of America” has a sentimental value to Carter, too.

In the faces of the soldiers and their families, Gutzon Borglum put himself, his wife, Mary, and son, Lincoln.

“I see my father (Lincoln), my grandfather and grandmother,” she said. “I think that’s why I’m so fond of it.”

 Public Service Electric and Gas Company’s Head Quarter  (PSE&G HQ)

All these glass buildings are great.  They act like canvases with artwork.  The artwork is changing every minute with time and climate, painting the image of the reality of sky and surrounding area at the vicinity of specific buildings.

Prudential Tower, Newark, New Jersey

I wonder why?????

These corporations such as PSE&G and Prudential are so prosperous.  They are able to build huge fancy buildings.  They get richer and bigger and bigger every year.  But the majority of customers who pay for gas and electric or insurance are saving every penny to pay for these bills.  There are so many homeless in every city and town.  These corporations are so smart to make good profit from millions of customers.  These millions of customers have to check their bills for the increasing rates every year.

I think these corporations should give their customers some reduction instead of increasing rates.  They can build houses for the homeless or give out food to needy people.  Fairness is the name of the game. If more and more people cannot pay for gas and electric or insurance bills these companies are going to lose their customers anyhow.  Corporations should run their business to serve people rather than greedily taking all that they can. 

Balance and fairness helps society go on smoothly so that peace and harmony can be with everyone.

Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts, Sunday, May 22, 2016, 3:35 A.M.

Students having pizza after school in the park           

Gutzon Borglum, The Sculptor (March 25, 1867 – March 6, 1941)

Below are some of Gutzon Borglum’s sculptures

1  Memorial to Charles Brantley Aycock, Noth Carolina State Capitol (1941)

2  Thomas Paine, Montsouris, Paris (1936)

3  Memorial to Henry Lawson Wyatt, North Carolina State Capitol (1912)

4  Rabboni, Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, D. C. (1909)

5  Statue of John Peter Altgeld, Lincoln Park, Chicago (1915)

6  Statue of John William Mackay, Mackay School of Earth Sciences and Engineering (1908)

General Philip Sheridan, sculpted by Borglum in 1908, in Washington, D.C.

Stone Mountain located near Atlanta, Georgia

9  Monument depicting North Carolinian soldiers at the Battle of Gettysburg

Mount Rushmore located in the Black Hills of South Dakota

Left:  Bust of Abraham Lincoln, Crypt of the U.S. Capitol (1908)

Right:  Seated Lincoln is a memorial sculpture by Gutzon Borglum located next to the Essex County Courthouse in NewarkEssex CountyNew Jersey, United States. The bronze sculpture of Abraham Lincoln seated at one end of a bench was dedicated by President Theodore Roosevelt on Memorial Day 1911.[3]

  Gutzon Borglum with his Colossal Lincoln, The Borglum Archives

Among the heroes being celebrated in public monuments, few were as prevalent as Abraham Lincoln. His popularity was particularly strong around 1909, the centenary of his birth. Artists vied with each other trying to prove that their version of Lincoln was the best. In 1907 Borglum had made a colossal head of Lincoln which, at Teddy Roosevelt’s urging, was shown at the White House and eventually donated to the United States Capitol Building by Eugene Meyer. Much admired by Lincoln’s son, Robert, this sculpture helped cement Borglum’s reputation as a monumental sculptor.”

Public Service Enterprise Group Inc.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Service_Enterprise_Group

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Type

Public

Traded as

NYSEPEG
S&P 500 Component
Dow Jones Utility Average component

Industry

Utilities

Founded

1903

Headquarters

Newark, New Jersey, U.S.

Key people

Ralph Izzo (Pres., CEO)
Caroline Dorsa (EVP, CFO)

Revenue

  • US$ 9.968 billion (2013) [1]
  • US$ 9.781 billion (2012) [1]

Operating income

  • US$ 2.299 billion (2013) [1]
  • US$ 2.278 billion (2012) [1]

Net income

  • US$ 1.243 billion (2013) [1]
  • US$ 1.275 billion (2012) [1]

Total assets

  • US$ 32.522 billion (2013) [1]
  • US$ 31.725 billion (2012) [1]

Total equity

  • US$ 11.609 billion (2013) [1]
  • US$ 10.781 billion (2012) [1]

Number of employees

10,352 (2009)[2]

Subsidiaries

PSE&G, PSEG Power,
PSEG Energy Holdings

Website

www.pseg.com

Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), founded as the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey and later renamed Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G), is a publicly traded diversified energy company headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. The company’s largest subsidiary retains the old PSE&G name. New Jersey’s oldest and largest investor owned utility, Public Service Electric and Gas Company is a regulated gas and electric utility company serving the state of New Jersey.[3]

The Public Service Corporation was formed in 1903 by amalgamating more than 400 gas, electric and transportation companies in New Jersey. It was renamed Public Service Electric and Gas Company in 1948. The transportation operations of PSE&G were purchased by New Jersey Transit in 1980, leaving PSE&G exclusively in the utility business. In 1985, Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) formed as a holding company, and in 1989 established Enterprise Diversified Holdings Inc. (now PSEG Energy Holdings), to begin consolidation of its unregulated businesses. In 2000, PSE&G split its unregulated national power generation assets to form PSEG Power, while PSE&G continued operating in New Jersey as a regulated gas and electric delivery company.[4]

In June 2005, the acquisition of PSEG by Exelon, a Chicago and Philadelphia based utility conglomerate, was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; however, the deal was never consummated and eventually dissolved after it became clear that it would not win state regulatory approval from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.[5]

In 2009, PSEG began installing solar panels on 200,000 utility poles in its service area in a project costing $773 million, the largest such project in the world.[6][7] The Solar 4 All project increased the capacity for renewable energy in New Jersey and was completed in 2013.[8] In addition, PSEG is building four solar farms in Edison, Hamilton, Linden, and Trenton.[9]

Public Service Enterprise Group consists of four companies:

  • Public Service Electric and Gas (PSE&G)
    • PSEG Long Island, LLC
  • PSEG Power
    • PSEG Fossil
    • PSEG Nuclear
    • PSEG Energy Resources and Trade
  • PSEG Energy Holdings
    • PSEG Global
    • PSEG Solar Source, LLC
    • PSEG Resources
  • PSEG Services Corporation[13]

Kearny plant

PSE&G serves the population in an area consisting of a 2,600-square-mile (6,700 km2) diagonal corridor across the state from Bergen to Gloucester Counties.[14][15] PSE&G is the largest provider of gas and electric service, servicing 1.8 million gas customers and 2.2 million electric customers in more than 300 urban, suburban and rural communities, including New Jersey’s six largest cities.

PSEG Nuclear operates three nuclear reactors at two facilities in Lower Alloways Creek Township. PSEG owns one reactor at Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station and operates two reactors at Salem Nuclear Power Plant where PSEG Nuclear holds a 57 percent stake (in partnership with Exelon Corporation). Exelon also operates two reactors at Peach Bottom Nuclear Generating Station in a 50/50 joint venture with PSEG.[16]

PSEG Long Island provides electricity to 1.1 million customers in Nassau and Suffolk counties, and the Rockaway Peninsula of Queens, part of New York City.[17] This system operates under an agreement with the Long Island Power Authority, the state agency that owns the system, that went into effect January 1, 2014.[18] PSEG was selected to essentially privatize LIPA, taking over near complete control of the system including its brand name, whereas before this agreement only a number of functions were performed by the private sector and the system was operated under the LIPA name.

System information

PSEG’s transmission line voltages are 500,000 volts, 345,000 volts, 230,000 volts and 138,000 volts with interconnections to utilities in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New York. The company’s subtransmission voltages are 69,000 volts and 26,000 volts. PSEG’s distribution voltages are 13,000 volts and 4,160 volts.

Environmental record

In 2001, PSEG received The Walter B. Jones Memorial and NOAA Excellence Awards in Coastal and Ocean Resource Management[19] in the category of Excellence in Business Leadership for its Estuary Enhancement Program.[20]

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have identified PSEG as the 48th-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States, with roughly five million pounds of toxic chemicals released annually into the air.[21] Major pollutants indicated by the study include manganese, chromium and nickel salts; sulfuric and hydrochloric acid.[22]

For more information please visit the following link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Service_Enterprise_Group

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Prudential Plant Wall Mural and Military Park

Prudential Plant Wall Mural and Military Park

Downtown Newark, New Jersey

On Thursday, May 5, 2016

Prudential Tower

I was happy to see the gardeners were working on the Plant Wall Mural.  I had a chance talking to Mr. Francisco Diaz, supervisor, exterior service of John Mini distinctive landscapes company, managing the Plant Wall Mural for Prudential Corporation.

Left: PSE&G new tall glass building

Military Park

I stopped to say thanks to the park gardeners.  I appreciate how they are cultivating the park garden so well.  I told them how downtown Newark is changing a lot, especially the buildings around Military Park.  About forty years ago during 1972-1976 I lived in Jersey City.   I took the Path train from Jersey City to Newark, Penn Station and  I walked on Raymond Boulevard from Penn station to Rutgers University on University Avenue when I studied for my undergraduate, Bachelor degree in chemistry.  There was no Public Service Electric and Gas Company ( PSE&G) new tall glass building, or Prudential Tower or New Jersey Performing Art Center ( NJPAC) at that time.  There was a small row of shops along Raymond Boulevard.  One specialty cheese shop located on Raymond Boulevard close to Broad Street sold goat milk; we usually bought goat milk for our daughter when she was a baby in 1979. 

After John read my writing he said “I remember I bought one kind of cheese that smell very strong, named Swedish Farmer’s cheese.  You did not like it I had to put it outside on the windowsill.”  I recall that moment.  I hardly knew much about cheese, at that time even cedar cheese or other ordinary cheese I still did not like.  But now I like them and can eat many kinds of cheese.  In the same token John did not like the smell of fish sauce.  So I use soy sauce to substitute for fish sauce.  We all like things we are accustomed to or dislike what we are not used to but we have to compromise and hope that time will allow us to try other culture to be able to understand the differences from one own culture in order to have a chance to live together in peaceful coexistence.

PSE&G new building complete in 1980, NJPAC building was completed in 1997 and Prudential Tower was completed in 2015.

War Memorial in Military Park, Newark, New Jersey

Beautiful Dogwood flowers in Spring

Military Park is a 6-acre (24,000 m2) city park in Downtown NewarkEssex CountyNew Jersey, United States.  It is a nearly triangular park located between Park Place, Rector Street and Broad Street, built in 1916, Architect Ely, Wilson and John; Guilbert and Betelle,  Architectural style Renaissance, Italianate.  From 1667, when the city was planned, until 1869 it was a training ground for soldiers. In 1869 it became the town commons.

The New Jersey Historical SocietyMilitary Park Building and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and the Robert Treat Center are located across Park Place from the park. A $3.25 million renovation led by Dan Biederman was announced in February 2012.[2][3] The reconstruction was expected to be completed in late 2013,[4][5] but due to harsh weather was postponed until spring 2014.[6] A restaurant, the first in the park, is planned.[7] The park reopened in June 2014.[8]   

Address: 51 Park Pl, Newark, NJ 07102

Year built: 1916

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Park_(Newark)

Military Park (Newark)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Military Park Commons Historic District

U.S. National Register of Historic Places

U.S. Historic district

Wars of America statue

Prudential Headquarters

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prudential_Headquarters

Prudential Plaza – headquarters on Broad Street – Newark, photograph by Hudconja…

General information

Completed        1956

Opening            1960

 Height:    Roof     114 m (374 ft)

Technical details:  Floor count   24 

Design and construction:

Architect Voorhees, Walker, Smith, Smith and Haines

 Prudential Tower

Night view of new Prudential Tower in Newark, Photograph by Deepen03

General information

Construction started    2013

Completed        2015 

Opening            2015

 Height:    Roof     45.73 m (150.0 ft)

Technical details:  Floor count 44  

Prudential Financial, as it is known today, began as The Widows and Orphans Friendly Society in 1875. For a short time it was called the Prudential Friendly Society, and for many years after 1877 it was known as the Prudential Insurance Company of America,[10] a name still widely in use. Based in Newark, New Jersey, the company has constructed a number of buildings to house its headquarters downtown in the Four Corners district.[11] In addition to its own offices, the corporation has financed large projects in the city, including Gateway Center and Prudential Center. Prudential has about 5,200 employees in the city.

Prudential Home Office[edit]

The original Prudential buildings from the turn of the 20th century were early examples of steel framing in Newark, clad in gray Indiana limestone with Romanesque Gothic styling, the work of George B. Post. The four buildings were known as the Main, the North, the West, and the Northwest and were the tallest in the city at the turn of the 20th century. They were demolished in 1956 to make way for the current headquarters. The proposed 45-story Prudential Tower would have been one of the tallest in Newark had it been built.[12]

Gibraltar Building[edit]

The Gibraltar Building, headquarters for the financial services company until 1986, is situated between two other office towers later built for the firm, all of which are connected by underground passage[13] The name is inspired by the company’s logo, the Rock of Gibraltar. The Gothic Revival structure was designed by the architect Cass Gilbert, renowned for many works including the Woolworth Building and the United States Supreme Court Building. Gilbert was also architect for the Kinney Building at the southeast corner of Broad and Market Streets.[14] Sold in 1987 and later renovated and restored, it now is home the Superior Court of New Jersey‘s Essex County Vicinage Family Court, Chancery, and Tax Court, as well as other government agencies and private enterprises.[5][15] [16]

Prudential Building[edit]

“Prudential Building” redirects here. For the building in Chicago formerly known as the Prudential Building, see One Prudential Plaza.

Shortly after Prudential Building was completed in 1942, it was taken over by the federal government for use by the Office of Dependency Benefits (ODB), which was moved to Newark from Washington during World War II. The ODB was responsible for payments to military dependents and their families. Work went on round the clock at 213 Washington Street until it was returned to Prudential in 1946.

Prudential Plaza[edit]

Prudential’s current headquarters, the Prudential Plaza, opened in 1960 during the New Newark era when modernist buildings were built downtown. The International style building is one the tallest and most prominent on the Newark skyline. The facade of Vermont marble includes 1600 windows set in aluminum frames. On August 1, 2004, the U.S. Office of Homeland Security announced the discovery of terrorist threats against the Plaza prompting large-scale security measures such as concrete barriers and internal security changes such as X-ray machines.[17]

The lobby of building was originally adorned with triptych of mosaics designed by Hildreth Meiere entitled “The Pillars of Hercules,” The panels had been removed and put in storage, Two were formally installed at the Center for Hellenic Studiesin Washington, DC and another in Newark Museum.[18][19]

Prudential Tower[edit]

In 2011, Prudential announced plans to construct an office tower for its headquarters complex. The company had received a $250 million urban transit tax credit, from the state, which required that it create new jobs and build within walking distance of a transit hub.[20] The site of the $444 million 650,000 sq ft (60,000 m2) tower is on Broad Street just west of Military Park.[21][22][23] Construction began in July 2013.[24][25][26] The exterior of the tower was completed as of January 2015 and the building opened in July 2015.<r[27]

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Left: Mt Maunganui installation designed by Tracey Peryman

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