Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge Photo

Photographer’s Note

Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge - Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

The idea of passage became decidedly more functional with Armajani's full-scale commission forthe Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge, which allows pedestrians to cross the sixteen lanes of streets and highway that had severed the Garden from neighboring Loring Park for many years. The artist's design incorporates the three basic types of bridge structure: beam (across its fir-planked, horizontal span), arch (for the eastern portion), and suspension (for the western portion). To underscore the sense of transition from one part to the next, Armajani painted each half a different, atmospheric shade: pale blue for the upward arching portion and yellow, recreated from the hue that Thomas Jefferson used at his home, Monticello, for the inverted arch. Affixed to the upper lintel of the span and running in each direction across the bridge are the words of a poem--a meditation on movement, place, order, and crossing--which Armajani commissioned specially from the renowned American poet John Ashbery.

Paolo, maderlock, apache, carper, pamastro, orme has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Paolo (40818) 2005-05-02 12:48

Wonderful perspective Archana!
good focus and light too.
and thanks fot the note.
ciao

joebatista (133) 2005-05-02 13:12

Simply beautiful is all i can say.
Great shot Archana Bhimasen

maderlock (171) 2005-05-02 13:14

This makes a great graphism, though it might have been cleaner without the person further along the bridge. They give a sense of scale, but they are too small to be interesting as a feature. I like the entirely central convergence point. That's very strong. I find the slight bowing of the bar at the top, caused by the wide angle, a little distracting. There are packages that will let you remove these sort of distortions. Otherwise, nice shot. Good note too!

apache (1426) 2005-05-02 14:27

Wow Archana,
Feels like i am in a box and looking towards the opening on the top...! Nicely taken...perfect symmetry (except for the biker, that is).
I like the way the bridge turns blue half way through.
Cool capture
Ranjith

hijeng (48) 2005-05-02 14:38

Yah.simple but cool.u r so brave to take.it 's a similar composition but u can make it so sharp and more imagination...i like.

Cruize (0) 2005-05-02 16:53

The geometry of this is very good Archana. You have leveled the image nicely.

Regards

abozdemir (404) 2005-05-02 17:57

the picture is excellent
I like the bridge
Good work

jinju (14265) 2005-05-02 23:34

Superb try. The convergence of the lines makes for a very interesting geometric composition. It looks almost three dimensional.

sarju (5308) 2005-05-03 14:53

very interesting photo Archna
It almost looks like a view at the end of the tunnel ... very good exposure you have here, it was a very good idea to take this photo on a shady day ... the person with the bike at the far end also adds to the photo .... and ofcourse the symmetry of the photo is astonishing too(i would say that it still needs a tiny bit of clockwise rotation though)

carper (67302) 2005-05-06 14:21

very good photo,
I like the very good perspective in the shot, the end of the tunnel, the blue colours, very nice details, good point of view very good composition, very good job, I like it a lot.
gr. Jaap

pamastro (7215) 2005-05-10 0:48

Great perspective down the bridge. From this view one would not guess that it was crossing a 16 lane highway. It seems to be in a quiet, park like, wooded area over a river. The trees filling the end with their fall foliage gives it a feel that there is a painting at the end. The colors of the bridge look great, too. I also like the glimpse of a few skyscrapers off to the left, giving it the city feel but yet appearing to be so far from it. I think it could use a little rotation or skewing to get the lines all vertical and horizontal. They seem to be tipping to the left. But I really like this sharp and clean looking image that I think captures what they were trying to create, a feel of being separated from the city while being right over it.

orme (6746) 2005-06-29 5:10

Excellent perspective in this shot, Archana. The change in colour in very interesting and unusual. I like the fact that you managed to catch someone in the frame. Good note. Well done.

tjanze (5674) 2005-09-16 8:41