Potato Man was sculpted by Susan Geissler. It was donated in 2008 by Tom and Tina Duffy in loving memory of Martin and Virginia Duffy.
Archives (page 88 of 119)
This work, by Randy Hand, is titled Need A Lift. (It’s called The Lifting Bench at the artist’s site.) According to the placard, it was installed in 2009 and was made possible by donations from the Fountain Hills One Percent For Public Art Fund and the Fountain Hills Cultural and Civic Association.
It’s a piece of functional art in that it can be used as a bench.
This sculpture is Joy of Music by George Lundeen. It was donated in 2007 by Jackie and Jerry Miles to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.
This sculpture, titled Good News, was created by George Lundeen. It depicts a paper boy in the company of his faithful and loving dog. It was donated in 2012 in honor of L. Alan Cruikshank, celebrating his 65th birthday, by numerous family and friends.
The Enduring Family was created by sculptor Jeff Laing. It can be seen at the east side of the community center courtyard. It was donated in 2003 by The Fountain Hills Civic Association, The Sunridge Foundation, and eight other contributors (see below).
Here is a close-up of the placard, showing all of the donators.
Friday’s hike started at the Wagner Trailhead. Ranger Amy introduced regulars Bob, Linda, Janet, and me to Bill and Kathy who recently moved here from Wisconsin. Also joining us was Jerry, who had been on one of our hikes in the past. Amy had to work at the visitor center and was unable to join us for the hike.
We hiked the Wagner Trail to Granite, turning right. We followed the Granite Trail until we got to the wash below the Bluff Trail. We hiked up the wash until we got to the Pemberton Trail, seeing two snakes along the way. From there we hiked a short ways on Pemberton, turned onto Bluff and followed the Bluff trail to the bottom where it intersects with the Granite Trail. From there we took Granite back to Wagner, which lead us back to the trailhead. Total distance was a little over seven miles.
A view of the McDowells from the Granite Trail.
Recent rainstorms have caused some flowers to bloom. I think these are Senna, but Jerry knew them by a different name (which I’ve now forgotten).
Bob and Sarge lead the way to the gap in the rocks where an easy scramble allowed us to continue on up the wash. Sarge tried to make it up the rocks on the own, but he needed a boost. He was a very good dog when I picked him up.
Easy scrambling was required further up the wash too.
We stopped for a group photo at a small wall built in the wash. We don’t know who built this wall or the purpose of it, save that it may prevent erosion to some degree. Perhaps it was a small dam at one time which filled in over time?
From left to right, and top to bottom, are Bill, Jerry, Bob, Sarge, Kathy, Janet, Kevin, and Linda.
Boulder-strewn hills form the banks of the wash.
This rattlesnake was well away from where we were walking, but made itself known to us by employing its rattle. It was kind of dark and difficult to see this snake. This is the best photo I got of it.
The upper parts of the McDowells can be seen from the wash.
More bouldery outcroppings…
Just before reaching Pemberton, we saw coachwhip snake, also known as a red racer. I tried to get close to it while it was still on the ground, but it raced away, disappearing into some brush. Moments later, Jerry noticed it slithering up into a tree. It took me a long time to see it because, to me, it looked like just another branch. Once I finally did see it, I was able to take the photo, below:
Here’s the uncropped version of the photo above. I like this one too because you can see the sky through the leaves and branches of the tree.
This is the palo verde (tree) at the top of the hill near the intersection of Bluff and Pemberton. There is a small bench, just barely visible, to the left of the tree.
Sarge and Bob pose for a picture.
We saw this snake during our hike today. It started out on the ground, but then raced off, climbing into the tree. Bob identified it as a red racer.
This work, The Great Arrow by sculptor Michael Jones, is just outside of the Community Center, which is the building to the left. The Fountain Hills Library is the well lit building off in the distance. The Great Arrow was donated in 2004 by Mayor Wally and Sheila Nichols.
This is my second edit of this photo. I had inadvertently used too much noise reduction on the first edit, leading to a lack of sharpness. In the second edit, shown above, I chose to deemphasize areas of the photos that are less important. The scene shown in these two edits appears to be differently lit, even though I used the same set of RAW files. The scene was lit by ambient light only.
In this new edit, there’s an exhibit that appears to be lit much better in front of the library. The sculpture depicts a mother cat carrying her kitten. I have edited the photo to make it appear that there is a spotlight on this exhibit. In my opinion, nearly all of the exhibits in the area would benefit from additional lighting.
In The Great Arrow exhibit, the end of the arrow with the fletching is very dark when viewed at night. The exhibit would be much more appealing, in my opinion, if it were lit in a manner similar to that depicted in the photo.
I took this photo from the Horse Staging Area at McDowell Mountain Park.
This work, titled “Fusion” by sculptor Shannon Owen, can be seen to the right immediately after driving into Cutillo Civic Plaza via the entrance nearest to the Town Hall.
I tried to get this shot on Sunday night. When I got home and processed it, I really liked the colors, but the focus was really off. I returned on Monday night and took greater care to get the focus right. I also used a grey card to ensure that the colors were accurate within the immediate vicinity of the sculpture. I think there are other light sources with different color temperatures nearby, however.
“Ceremonial Dance”, by Alan Hochman is next to the Town Hall. Water can be heard bubbling in this exhibit. When I looked closely, I could see the barest sheen of water running down the lowest panel to the left. There may have been water running down the other ones too, but I could not tell in the dark.
When I took this shot, I had no idea that the panels were that colorful. It’s possible, of course, that I didn’t account for the color temperature of all of the light sources and that some of the colors are off. I have not yet seen this sculpture during the daytime. The colors of the rocks, tree leaves, and agave plant all look reasonable though.
