Fundraising is underway to create the capstone to the Sioux Falls Sculpture Walk: the "Arc of Dreams™," a 70-foot-high almost-arch spanning the Big Sioux River between 6th and 8th Streets. The design looks pretty cool. But in the spirit of leaping forth with our dreams, and at peril of incurring the wrath of Arc™ designer Dale Lamphere, I propose the following ten improvements to this mighty work of art:
- For a memorable welcome to Sioux Falls, make the Arc™ taller so planes approaching Joe Foss Field can fly under it.
- Draw Trekkie dollars: reshape the Arc™ into a bat'leth (or two dueling bat'leths! Qapla'!).
- Make it wide enough for joggers and bicyclists to get to the top. Leave the gap: let folks jump across to bring to life the dreamers' leap of faith the gap symbolizes.
- Close the gap and build one at every intersection as a non-motorized overpass so SUV drivers can rush into traffic without watching for annoying cyclists.
- Paint it rainbow colors, in celebration of the inevitable victory of Jennie and Nancy Rosenbrahn.
- Install sprinklers to create a soothing, shimmering curtain of mist making rainbows all day long.
- Make it a giant Tesla coil, with spark shows after sunset every evening.
- Hang a rope from each end into the water to promote fishing (pranksters are already designing 30-foot carp to hang from the ends in the middle of the night). Ropes can also catch boaters and tubers paddling underneath to cool off in the mist curtain on hot summer days.
- Add a natural-gas nozzle to the sprinklers, combine with the Tesla coil—Arc of Flame! Install a barge below, and host an outdoor KISS concert!
- Widen the gap and install a slingshot for kayakers (yes, I mean load the kayaker in the pocket and wheeeee!). Also use to celebrate outgoing mayors.
The sculpture fundraisers would prefer your dollars, not your wise-guy ideas. A thousand bucks gets you your own quartzite plaque in the surrounding Walk of Dreams; $50K gets you a quartzite-and-steel pillar. So how much will get me the Tesla coil?
Related: Speaking of Sioux Falls iconography, blogospheric neighbor Scott Ehrisman urges us to vote for his design for a flag for Sioux Falls. The Committee to Establish a Suitable Flying Banner for the City of Sioux Falls is conducting an online survey to pick a flag for our eastern Queen City. There appear to be 90 flags to rate. Uff da! (Yes, that's it! A nice sky blue field with UFF DA! in bold white letters... and the Arc of Dreams™ in the background.)
Cory, I am not surprised you would recommend the rainbow painting:
An essential part of the New Age Religion is the use of certain psycho technologies. They include the following practices: meditation, yoga, Zen, hypnosis, transpersonal psychology, and positive thinking. The growing feminism has some links with New Age spirituality.
While feminist theology endeavours to represent the God of the Bible as being both masculine and feminine or even as an exclusively feminine godhead, the radical vanguard of the New Age feminist movement is already demanding that the Christian faith be replaced by the myth of Gaia, "mother Earth," whose cult is now being revived and practiced. What is common among many New Age groups is a counterfeit religious experience such as contact with demons through drugs, meditation, psycho technologies, and other ventures. They also believe in UFO's and extra-terrestrial beings, from which they reputedly also receive messages. The symbols used by the Movement are notable. For example, the occult Indo-Germanic sign of good luck adopted by Adolf Hitler. The biblical number 666 (Apoc. 13.18) which according to Alice Bailey, possesses sacred qualities and which according to New Age teaching should be used frequently in order to accelerate the progress of civilization and the coming of the New Age.
One of its most widely used signs is the rainbow, which is meant to symbolize the bridge between man and the Great Universal Mind, in the final analysis, Lucifer. Indeed, it is remarkable how frequent the sign of the rainbow has become lately. You can find it, for instance, on promotional gifts, stationeries, clothing and toys.
http://www.bibleprobe.com/new_age.htm
Arrrggghhh! (I probably asked for that.)
Isn't this arch is just a rip off of the St. Louis arch? Isn't there some sort of spiral or other design that hasn't become iconically associated with a specific city? Heck construct a real water fall so the city can at least live up to its name.
Cory, feel free to delete what follows because it will get blown out of proportion soon.)
I find it interesting that Sibby doesn't want a South Dakota city next to a river to claim God's promise never to flood the earth again as its symbol because he's afraid of feminists.
Sibby, can't you hold your bible study somewhere else? This is about a damn arch. Seems like there is nothing in nature that mankind doesn't think they can improve upon. I used to fish those banks as a kid and I used to swim at the falls. Now the banks are concrete and someone thought they needed to cut a channel thru the natural rock formations of the falls so they could make a tourist attraction. OK, ya'll probably realize that I will not be making a contribution to this beautification project.
Sorry Cory, it was set up, so I could not resist. I will leave it alone for the rest of this thread. In regard to the issue itself. I think the money can be better spent on other things, so I am glad that it is not using public dollars. At least that was my take on the Keloland report.
I met the sculptor years ago at a meditation retreat so....
Sibby, you realize we all start out as female, right?
http://www.livescience.com/32467-why-do-men-have-nipples.html
If your god made us in "his" image, then your "he god" is a "she god".
Which I'm sure sure you will refute, because science is a big lie, right?
I like the arc
I like the snarc
More Sibby malarc
The only improvement I can see is if the Sanford name was somehow featured.
The arc will be designed with attachment points at the top in anticipation of later adding "SANFORD" to bridge the gap, at which time the sculpture will be re-named, "Dreams Come True".
How about another statue of fatheaded Sanford under the arc, walking on water? This time, put a wad of Benjamins in his hand.
http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking/6d4bce8d-e1b3-4180-be9b-444c6a30a937.JPG
R, hilarious! 96, we'll suspend the waterwalker with transparent wires from R's proposed attachment points.
Sibby, you're showing admirable restraint... possibly rendering your one shot more piercing.
And Kallis... arc... ark... double meaning?
When I first saw the picture I thought "broken" dreams. Took me a few seconds to realize that it means "incomplete" dreams.
Another attack on Denny Sanford. I sure wish he would stop donating money to the various organizations in South Dakota, including those in Sioux Falls. He should donate his money to any place but South Dakota.
A 3D hollogram of Evil Knievel jumping the Arc! No one else thought of this? Really? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOR8yHjxses
"because science is a big lie, right"
No, there is real science and there is apostate science. Macro evolution is apostate science. "The lack of evidence suggests not." per your link
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/07/19/bering-strait-theory-pt-6-dna-blood-types-and-stereotypes-155920?page=0%2C0
http://scienceblog.com/73443/marmoset-sequence-sheds-light-primate-biology-evolution/
I'm not attacking Denny Sanford, JeniW. I appreciate his generosity. His penchant for putting his name on everything offers a lot of opportunity for snarc (sp) as we do in this blog thread. Some people here take satire far too seriously.
Sanarc.
Or
Arc Of Sanford
The Blindman
WordPress apparently does not agree with brevity being the soul of wit.
"ERROR: Your comment was too short. Please try to say something useful."
I suppose by now this is long enough for
Sanford d'arc.
Being Sanford likes to throw his money around it would be nice if he would toss a really big wad to Paratransit. That being said the first time I saw a picture of this "wonderful" arch my thought was it looked like an imitation of the one in St. Louis. I don't see the necessity for having anything along that line. I also don't think the city needs a flag. It would be nice if all these rich people that seem to have money to burn would do things to helps the low income seniors and disabled.
Joan, someone needs to step up to the plate to organize a fundraiser to create a fund to help individuals who are seniors and/or have disabilities to help them pay for the cost of their transportation needs. They could use the funding to help pay for their bus fares, pay for taxi services and etc?
There are fundraisers conducted to assist individuals who have medical expenses, have lost their home due to fire or whatever, and other major crisis, so why not have a fundraiser specifically for providing assistance with transportation?
Would you be willing to be the first person to step up to the plate to make it happen? If so, I am willing to help the cause.
Thank you.
Oh, Douglas, that reminds me, when you visit the sculpture and need to use the bathroom, you'll have to go to the John d'Arc.
Yikes! I like it and think it's a good thing.
Oh well, better jump on the bandwagon and hate it already. (Oh please Mr. Sanford, donate money so we can make our hate personal.)
Of course we carve our bobble heads out of granite and cover community centers that host flea markets in corn.
So I should have known better. Dang.
Sorry for the interrupion. Please continue.
Jana, I will enjoy visiting when it's done. Heck, I'll enjoy visiting while it's being built and seeing how they engineer that thing not to fall into the river.
Between wasting millions on new arenas and now an arch from nowhere to nowhere, it appears that Sioux Falls must be collecting far too much tax in its many ugly heads.
There just must be better ways to make Sioux Falls memorable for something besides falls.
My first thought: Too much like the St. Louis arch.
What everyone said, except the loony. Funny!
The arc is not going to be paid for by the tax revenue. It is going to be paid for by the people who are willing to make a donation to help make it happen.
Whether the arc is a waste or not, is like "beauty," it is all in the eye of the beholder.
I give credit to the people who came up with the concept, then made the effort to find an artist, and made the effort to get people to donate to it.
Sioux Falls is known for more than the falls, it is also known for John Morrell's , the Pen, and the traffic congestion at 41st and Louise Ave that strikes fear in our out of town visitors! LOL :)
BTW R, I do not know you well enough to know if your style of writing is suppose to be satire, sarcasm, humorous, or serious. Since I misunderstood your intent, I offer my apologies.
"Indeed, it is remarkable how frequent the sign of the rainbow has become lately. You can find it, for instance, on promotional gifts, stationeries, clothing and toys."
And even up in the sky after a rain! Coincidence? Conspiracy? You decide.
My good friend Dale's design is both lovely and intriguing. The gap reminds me of a myriad of things from "leap of faith," inductive reasoning, synapse in neural networks, approaching closure, natural growth and unfinished business.
The graceful, mirrored curves and simplicity of form need no words, especially when the piece is fully realized. I can imagine just sitting there, awestruck. I hope it gets built. I want to go and be with it.
JeniW. One way or another taxpayers will be stuck with a bill related to this structure.
An elevated bicycle pedestrian loop in Sioux Falls could be a thing of beauty if designed well and would also be useful.
Doug, you sound like those guys who said the same thing about Mt. Rushmore and the Washington Monument before they were built.
The handful of hotel/motel owners in Rapid City were really opposed to building Mt. Rushmore because they were just sure all their future business would be going to Keystone. :-)
Oh no! Had coffee with a friend this morning who said that art has all the relevance of teaching French. She's a Republican though, so who knows.
My fear is that critics who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing will rule the day.
Bill brings up some good comparisons that public art will certainly invite critics.
I still like the concept and wish we had more. Unless of course someone will yell "squirrel" and distract my attention.
Heck, I even get a kick out of the skeleton man walking a dinasour off of I-90. Don't like it, don't dislike it...but it amuses me and makes me say hmmm.
Good comments, Jana.
Here's one of my favorite observations by a great artist:
“Art does not reproduce what we see. It makes us see.”
― Paul Klee
Here in SD, artists like Lamphere obviously have their work cut out for them. It could well be that we have one of the most willfully blind state populations per capita in the entire US.
The irony of this is that the majority of our tourists come here to look at the big mountain sculptures, American Indian artwork and the drop-dead gorgeous landscapes. Sigh.
When I see the sketch, I only think of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Arch
If the Iraqi structure is what comes to mind, then the terrorists have won and its why we can't have nice things.
To demonize the artist with the Fox inspired xenophobia displays the thought process of a mean-girl-junior-high clique laced with false patriotism...or just a level of pettiness that is usually reserved for the SDWC.
That's kind of goofy crap designers have to put up with every time they do someting, Jana. We call it getting 'pecked to death by ducks.' ;-)
OK, the topic may have grown cold by now, but I am compelled to comment. I would prefer not to tweak any Lamphere design, but the misty rainbow thing would be pretty cool. And if there's anything Soo Foo needs, it's some cool. The rope suggestion scares the crap out of me - considering what it may invite ... like maybe a new and novel method of execution SD could pioneer.