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Design

A Grove of Petal-Like Sculptures by Snøhetta Shade the New Grounds of Blanton Art Museum

The home of Ellsworth Kelly’s iconic modernist chapel titled “Austin,” the Blanton Museum of Art has expanded its outdoor art environment with a sculptural installation by Snøhetta. The architecture and design firm (previously) began the project in 2018 with the ambitious task of reinterpreting an area of 200,000 square feet, containing two large buildings that are part of The University of Texas at Austin’s campus. Its downtown location provided an incredible opportunity to revitalize the space for public gatherings, civic events, and art installations, linking the university campus and city center and creating an architectural dialogue between interior and exterior.

A copse of Snøhetta’s “Petals” rise from the Blanton’s Moody Patio, which forms a gateway connecting Congress Avenue to the pedestrian spine of the university campus. The sculptures create an elegant arch, providing shade and dappling the pavement and surrounding buildings with specks of light that filter through perforated patterns. On not-so-sunny days, rain that falls into the petals is funneled into an underground collection system. The firm sought a design that “unifies the museum campus with the city’s prominent avenue through a choreography of planting, geometry, and art.”

The museum hosts an outdoor party in the courtyard patio every second Saturday of the month. Find more on Snøhetta’s website.

 

 

Craft Design

An Award-Winning Sand Sculpture by Damon Langlois Captures a Crumbling Abraham Lincoln

Since 1997, Texas SandFest has attracted thousands of visitors to Port Aransas on Mustang Island. For the 2019 iteration, the three-day-festival awarded British Columbia-based Master Solo competitor Damon Langlois first place for his illusionistic work Liberty Crumbling. The piece portrays Abraham Lincoln in the likeness of the 1920 marble statue in the Lincoln Memorial. However, this one is cracking at its foundation. With his hand to his face, Lincoln appears exasperated as he sits on his crumbling platform.

Other sculptures in the competition also had messages for the audience, although many were environmental. Todd Pangborn’s Out of Sight Out of Mind featured a giant sea turtle next to a coral reef, and Jeff Strong’s Continental Drip displayed an ice cream cone holding a melting Earth. You can see more winners and competitors from the United States’ largest native-sand sculpture competition on Texas SandFest’s website, and view more of Langlois’s sand works on his website. (via Twisted Sifter)

Photography

A Massive Rotating Supercell Filmed Near Booker, Texas by Mike Olbinski

On June 3rd of this year after four years of trying, Arizona photographer and storm chaser Mike Olbinski finally got the shot he’d been searching for: the formation of a gigantic rotating supercell. After four trips to the central plains since 2010, Olbinski and friend Andy Hoeland were tracking storms in northern Texas last week when they spotted this unbelievable cloud formation. The duo were actually forced to drive right through the storm system (which didn’t spawn a tornado) to obtain this unworldly footage that might as well have been shot on Jupiter, but in the end it was all worth it. Make sure to view it in HD, full-screen, and you can read more about the once-in-a-lifetime encounter over on his blog. (via vimeo)

Update: Olbinski is offering the photo above as a print.