Two kinds of decoration, outside and inside the Albany Skatepark, photographed on Dec. 14, 2022. What’s this, a goose?
A week ago I found myself in the back parking lot of the Habitat for Humanity Restore off Santiam Road, and I glanced again at the folk art on the outside of the Albany Skatepark.
A couple of whimsical scenes had been added to the work since I last saw it in June 2021, when I wrote about it here. One of the additions looks like a yellow goose on top of a mountain. The other shows a fish catching a man.
If these images are supposed to mean something, I don’t know what it is. Both are in the style of similar surreal creations around town, mostly along the Willamette River.
They are the work of Nate Vanek, and most of what he does is temporary and fleeting.
For example, the last two or three years he used driftwood to make stick figures in Bowman and Waverly parks as well as on gravel bars in the river.
Those things don’t last, unlike what’s painted on the outside of the skatepark wall.
From where I was standing, I could see both the outside wall and the colorful splashes of paint on the interior of one of the bowls in the skatepark.
The skatepark graffiti are painted over from time to time, as far as I know. But the mountain scene on the outside wall is still the way it was last year. Except for the added scenes. (hh)
If fish could think, maybe this is what they would wish for when an angler pulls them up.
Good morning Hasso. Enjoyed today’s story. I don’t mind at all seeing this type of work around town. As you reported, this work, for the most part, is fleeting. These projects provide some individual quirkiness to our fair city and they can be interesting to view. Happy holidays and thanks for this enjoyable report. Steve Brown
It is comforting to read that Hasso has backed down from his largely unsupportable speculation as to the future of vehicular transport. In an attempt to calm the angered horde he awakened with two screeds based on fiction, Hering has instead chosen to feature on a puffball piece involving cute murals at a local skate park….hardly the stuff of choice for the political Right Wing.
The vitriol and shallow angst raised by Hering’s 2-day crucifixion of state government seems out of step with the holiday season. Fortunately, cooler heads have prevailed and Hering has returned to innocuous storylines. His decision to turn down the political temperature is welcome, especially when one considers that, according to some, Jesus is the Reason for the Season. Of course, the real reason for the season is to boost sales at the end of the fiscal year…but we’ll go along with the generally-accepted mythology if it calms the heavy breathing amongst the Reactionary Glitteratti.
Like yesteryear’s Tommy Flanagan, Hartman advocates unconditional support of state government action on global warming.
Yeah….that’s the ticket.
be the change.
I loved the stick figures in the Willamette over the last two summers.
It brings a bit art and whimsy-ness albeit in a temporary form… it’s just fun to admire… and wonder what forms will come!