Hello friends and Hivians! Hope all is going well. I'm doing great as I'm just coming off a 3 day weekend. I had the opportunity to do many things. One of those opportunities was having the time to search for a collection of painted art benches.
The particular set of benches I seeked are all located in Sarpy County, Nebraska. They represent the history of the area through art. These were created in 2007 to mark the 150th anniversary (1857-2007) of the county. There are numerous artist that painted these. The series is called, Plains to Planes.
In all there are around 40 of them. My search included looking for 11 of them in the city of Bellevue, Nebraska. Sadly 3 of them were not found either due to a business closure or there being moved elsewhere. Here we go let's get to it!
The title of this bench is The Hunt. The art work was done by Sharon Clawson. You can find this bench at Washington Park which is at the intersection of Franklin Street and 20th Avenue.
This bench really shows the truth how the Natives respected the Buffalo and the hard truth that the Frontiermans hunted them for sport. A huge difference as the Natives were very resourceful using almost every part of the Buffalo. The frontierman were the complete opposite as there were occasions they just hunted for the sole reason of just killing. They almost ran the Buffalo into extinction.
Here we have a bench named, Endangered. The artist of this piece is Leslie Bruning. You can find this bench at Bellevue Unversity which is at 1000 Galvin Road South.
Now seeing the previous Buffalo bench you have already guessed the Buffalo was once endangered. Now if you look closely or enlarge the photo you will notice a fish under the seat part of the bench. This is a Pallid Sturgeon which is currently an endangered species. I have fished in this area for quite a few years and have caught just one. The fish I caught was about 15 lbs but they can grow up to 85 lbs and live to nearly 100 years old.
This bench is titled, Soaring. It the same artist as above and is located just a few yards away from the other. This artwork showcases a P-51 Mustang (World War II aircraft) and some bird species that habit here or pass thru the area during migration. It's neat that artist used a lot of blue and white to represent the sky and clouds in the images.
Another Buffalo bench and not the last one. This one actually represents the more realistic look of one with its natural colors. This one is titled, Roam On Home, and the artist is Adam Weiss. It's located at the Fontelle Forrest Tree Rush Adventure Park located at 1111 Bellevue Blvd North.
Another P-51 aircraft and yes not the last one. This one is the work of the same artist above. It sits at the Offutt Collision Repair located at 10106 South 15th Street. Initially I thought this one rusty and began to think how can an auto body shop have rusty sheet metal displayed. It's all paint and is very smooth to the touch.
I have to say this one was my favorite one. The title of this Buffalo shaped bench is Settling the Plains. The work on this was done by Greg Holdren. It currently sits at Hillcrest Health Systems, a senior living center located at 4609 Hilltop street.
I really appreciate the subject matter and the early beginnings of this area. For me it shows a lot history with the cabin, barn, out buildings,farm house, tractor and the clothing worn by the homesteaders. I just wish I could have got a better picture of the back view. There was a tree really close to it casting shadows all over it.
Here we are the last of the P-51 aircraft benches I will share today. This one is titled, Planes at Play. The artist on this bench is Sue Gardner Fenster. It sits at Everett Park located near the intersection of Betz Road and Greensboro Avenue.
I like the front view as it show cases a painted patriotic look with my country's flag. The reverse view shows a plane completing a loop while flying over a small community. Off to the left of the community is a one room school house.
Here we are the last one I will share with you today. This Buffalo bench title is Homeage. The artists is Paula Yoachim. It sits on the property of McCallie Associates, Inc. located at 3906 Raynor PKWY. This one shows how the Native American held the Buffalo and birds such as the Eagle sacred. In some of thier cultures they were treated as spirits and they even prayed to them.
I hope you enjoyed seeing this unique bench art which circled around the history in this area. Out of curisity, which one did you like the most? Feel free to share below in the comments. Hopefully I'll get to see many more of them soon and share them with you again.
Take care, stay safe and have a great week ahead. Until next time!
Those are the most artistic and coolest benches that I have ever seen!!! Super beautiful!😍
It seems there are many interesting things where you are definitively!!!
Have a beautiful day too amigo!
!LUV
!LOLZ
Thanks Amiga and I look foward to the next time I check out some more. Doing this searching I ran into some other things I may partake in, jaja.
Have a great beautiful day as well!
!PIZZA
!LUV
@duvinca, @coolmidwestguy(1/4) sent you LUV. | tools | discord | community | HiveWiki | <>< daily
!HUG
!PIZZA
@coolmidwestguy, @duvinca(2/10) sent you LUV. | tools | discord | community | HiveWiki | <>< daily
lolztoken.com
In his sleevies.
Credit: reddit
@coolmidwestguy, I sent you an $LOLZ on behalf of duvinca
(1/8)
NEW: Join LOLZ's Daily Earn and Burn Contest and win $LOLZ
THey were all really neat, but I liked the Roam on Home as it looked like the most natural buffalo. The last one was cool too.
That's is a cool one just for its originality. The last one pops a bit with the bright colors and its spiritual meaning.
Agreed!
These benches in the shape of bison or aircraft painted by artists are a great idea. I really like the "cloudy bison". Thanks for sharing all these pics on The StreetArt Community.
Have a great day
Thanks for your appreciation and support. The bench you mention is in a great area as you can have a seat on it and witness a small fish pond 😃
Perfect for fishing 😅
Haha I may get hauled away by college campus security if I try.
Those benches are so cool. The last one is my favorite, very colorful.
It will be fun to check out the rest. The last one is indeed colorful and has special meaning to it.
Unique and beautiful. My favourite is same as you. One thing I noticed about the buffalo is their killer eyes😁😬. They look so angry that I would have a second thought before taking a seat.😬.
I enjoyed searching for these still many more to check out. Our favorite one, it is neat to see how people lived a few generations ago.
The Buffalo killer eyes 🤣 If I participated in Halloween I would dress up as blood thirsty Buffalo 😲 🤪 It would be a unique costume as I've never seen a trick or treater dress as one. I knock on your door in hopes I scare you and you drop all your candy for me to take, haha
😬😁😅. I'll give you all the treats, just don't scare me,😌😬
😆 😁 🍬 🍫 🍭
Art can tell such deep stories about history, especially when it comes to showing the respect Native Americans had for nature compared to how things changed with settlers. The buffalo benches really stand out because they remind me of how important it is to respect animals and the environment today. My favorite is Roam On Home it just feels so realistic
I found this to be a lot of fun and I so look forward to seeing more of them. I'm a big history fan and I can't get enough learning about different cultures. I have been to quite a few Native museums and they are people that have a keen respect for all of mother nature. If the settlers only learned from them there would be more of endangered and less extict species. There are a handful more of them that represent Native cultures.
Yes that one is the most realistic of all the benches. It's also in an area that just reaks of nature. Thanks for visiting and leaving a lovely comment 😃
Love those artworks, especially in the first and this photo
Thank you many more to track down yet when I get time. Wow we have the same taste my #1 and #2 hehe.
!LUV
!PIZZA
@jane1289, @coolmidwestguy(3/4) sent you LUV. | tools | discord | community | HiveWiki | <>< daily
That P 51 is a popular bench, but being so close to a major air base it's not surprising. The buffalo benches were a nice touch, the sturgeon for being cool as it is looked a little flimsy to ever really be a usable bench. And the rusty ones scream tetanus shot. Very nice array of decorative benches though. Very cool!
How's the week treating you?
So far they all have been one or the other (P-51 or Buffallo). I think the rest I will find will be too. Some look rusty but they really are not, I thought the same until I got closer and touched, haha. Some I noticed a clear overcoat on them but I didn't investigate all of them that closely.
Oh I'm doing alright were past the half way point in the week just one more wake up and one more shift! How are things your way?
Very nice and thoughtful art work reflecting local history. Things had changed so drastically over the century. All the wild buffaloes were gone and most of the natives were just memories.
I wondered if there would be any meaningful art work to remind people in next century of our culture and society.
Yes so many changes have happened unfortunately there are some sad ones.
Hopefully and let's hope it's done by humans!
$PIZZA slices delivered:
coolmidwestguy tipped duvinca
duvinca tipped coolmidwestguy
@coolmidwestguy(3/5) tipped @jane1289