Showing the Way

I went exploring in downtown Jacksonville yesterday. It was a Sunday, so there was very little traffic. This meant that I could make mistakes, drive slow, peer down roads before I turned and not cause a ruckus to the people traveling behind me. I literally saw about 20 cars during my two hours and didn't get lost once :)  Always a good thing.

I decided to take one of the roads that I knew (Riverside) and then take every every right turn and see what was down at the end of that road, along side the river.  My goal was to take photos, but to also explore my city.

One of the first places I saw was a YMCA (which was very crowded with cars and families - it was good to see) and behind that, near the water, was this sculpture.

Here is the shadow that the sculpture made on the ground.

 

When I first saw this picture I wanted to say - Missed One!
Do you see one of the holes that doesn't have a screw and nut through it?  Silver, Yellow, Red and Blue.  It all looks so pretty.

 

Here's where we see the title, artist and date.  A family walked by on the river trail and the woman said that she thought this was brand new, as she hadn't seen it before and they've lived in downtown Jacksonville for years now and walked the river trail often.  A few moments after they left I found this plaque and I can see now that this sculpture is dated 2009.

This sculpture is called "Showing the Way" by Brower Hatcher in memory of the life and work of U.S. Representative Tillie Kidd Fowler.   "The three orbs represent the levels of energy of Tillie's spirit:  Family, Community and Country." 

 

Here's a another closeup of the three orbs.  You can click on this picture to make it larger - which makes for an interesting abstract of colors.

 

Downtown Jacksonville really is a beautiful city and being able to catch a couple of the buildings next to this sculpture was pretty cool.  I didn't even need to teeter close to the river to get this shot!

 

Brower Hatcher came up with a lovely piece of art and I'm so glad that in my travels yesterday I found "Showing the Way."

If you have been thinking about exploring a part of your city, but don't want to mess with the traffic or crowds, figure out a time when the traffic will be slow.  I know that when I go to downtown during the week, I'm so frazzled just getting off the expressway that all I want to do is go home!  Now I go to the RAM (Riverside Arts Market) on Saturdays and if I'm not getting drenched like this week, I have been exploring a new neighborhood after I leave the market.  This week, since I was SOAKED after leaving the market, I decided to go back on Sunday and do my exploring then.  I'm making a point of getting to know this city.  The joke is that I only know 5 streets in Jacksonville.  If what I need isn't on those 5 streets, then I don't go.  Now that isn't necessarily true, but I really am limited in my knowledge of this big city and I'm sunk if I get lost.  I'm a candidate for a GPS, that's for sure!

It's the new camera that has prompted this exploration...but maybe it was the blog, that prompted the photography, that prompted the exploring.  So that's it!  It's my blogging thats helping me expland my world.  Cool.  Very Cool.

Kristin