The weather has been all over the place. Most mornings are chilly, a reminder that it’s still winter, but some are warm, and as the sun rises the days come close to summer temperatures. Or they hover in fall and spring ranges. Seedlings are popping up in the pots that haven’t had anything new planted in them since last year. They may be safflower plants, sprouting where the seeds from my feeder have been dropped by birds.
I can’t explain why but this takes me to the giant bunny at Cheekwood. If there’s a place—a park or a building or even a city—you like to go to there’s probably one part of it that you’re always drawn to, that you can’t leave without seeing. At Cheekwood, for me, it’s the giant bunny. It’s a nice place and I love to walk every part of the grounds there, from the main building down to the model trains, and also the bamboo garden, and the ponds where horsetail plants grow. I was sorry when they tore down the greenhouses that had rows and rows of orchids, but there’s still a lot to see.
The giant anthropomorphic rabbit—actually the piece’s title is Crawling Lady Hare–is the one thing that defines the place for me. It’s the one thing I want to go to as soon as I get there and I always try to make it so I walk back by it at least once more before I leave.
It’s obviously a sculpture made of twisted wire but, since its installation in 1997, moss has covered it so it looks like it grew up out of the ground. And every time I look at it I think I should find some meaning in it. Now, though, I think it just is. It changes with the seasons, or from day to day, or even minute by minute, like the weather.
That’s fantastic!
Cheekwood is one of those places I recommend to anyone who comes to Nashville. There’s the mansion which preserves the history and art pieces of the family that owned it as well as rotating art exhibits, but the real reason to go is the gardens which are an extensive outdoor art exhibit themselves.
That bunny is simultaneously beautiful and terrifying! Imagine that crawling towards you in your room at night!
mydangblog recently posted…One Thing After Another
I have another picture of it somewhere that I took when we were there for a night exhibit. Lit up it really is kind of eerie, especially since it’s larger than life. During the day, though, I feel like the bunny is just moving along, or maybe looking for a contact lens.
That looks like something you would see on BoJack Horseman.
Arionis recently posted…Churned Out Another One
Somehow I never thought of that but, yeah, now that you say it, I do get serious BoJack vibes from that bunny.
I want to see that the next time I’m in Nashville!
I can’t believe I didn’t think to recommend, or take you to, Cheekwood when you were here. It’s really a cool place with extensive gardens and art exhibits. And the giant bunny is part of the outdoor art.