CHICAGO PUBLIC ART #19 - BODARK ARK - 1982

THIS IMAGE ON THE LEFT IS FROM THE AIR, TAKEN OFF THE SIGN.

THIS ONE IS FAR, FAR FROM ME, 40 MILES TO BE EXACT, ONE WAY, IN UNIVERSITY PARK, A FAR SOUTH, HARDLY EVEN, SUBURB. AT GOVERNORS STATE UNIVERSITY AS PART OF THEIR EXTENSIVE SCULPTURE PARK.

DONE BY MARTIN PURYEAR, IT IS REALLY BETTER APPRECIATED FROM THE AIR, AS THE WHOLE THING IS MEANT TO CONVEY A BOW AND ARROW.

BUT FIRST - WHEN I GOT THERE, IT TOOK SOME DOING TO FIND (AND IT WAS A REALLY COLD DAY). THE PARK IS RATHER EXTENSIVE, WITH NO SIGNS POINTING TO THIS PARTICULAR PIECE, FOR IT IS MORE THAT THAN AN ACTUAL SCULPTURE, ALTHOUGH THERE ARE CERTAINLY SCULPTURAL ASPECTS IN IT.
SO, NATCH, AT FIRST I TOOK THE WRONG PATH AND HAD TO DOUBLE BACK. THEN WHEN I THINK I SPOT PART OF IT (AN ARCH) ACROSS A POND SIMPLY SATURATED WITH GEESE, MORE THAN I HAVE EVER SEEN IN ONE PLACE BEFORE, AND THE SAME WITH ANOTHER LARGER POND ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PATH, I COME ACROSS A SIGN THAT SAYS THE BODARK ARC IS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC INDEFINITELY. GREAT. IN ONE PLACE IT SAYS FOR CONSERVATION; IN ANOTHER BECAUSE SOMETHING IS HAZARDOUS. YOU CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS.
AND I DIDN'T COME 40 MILES FOR NOTHING. AHEAD OF ME, THE PATH WAS MOWED AND I JUST WALKED BEYOND THE SIGN TO A SMALL SNOW FENCE ACROSS THE PATH. OTHERS BEFORE ME HAD OBVIOUSLY WALKED AROUND IT, SO I FOLLOWED THOSE OTHER TRAIL BLAZERS.

IT IS VERY HARD TO DESCRIBE THIS, IF YOU HAVEN'T ACTUALLY BEEN THERE, AND I HOPE MY PICTURES WILL GIVE YOU SOME IDEA. I ALREADY KNEW THAT THERE WAS A KIND'VE HEDGE ROW OF OSAGE ORANGE TREES AND THAT IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT ROW WAS A CHAIR FROM WHICH TO VIEW THE LANDSCAPE, INCLUDING THAT POND, IN FRONT OF YOU. PURYEAR HAS PUT A SMALL WOODEN ARCH AT THE END OF THAT PATH, FRAMING THE POND. THE PATH FROM THE SEAT, OF SOME HARD METAL, TO THE POND, COMPRISES THE ARROW PART OF THE PIECE, THE OSAGE ORANGE TREES PART OF THE BOW, AND THE SEMI-CIRCLE FROM ONE END OF THE TREE ROW TO THE OTHER, THE ARC OF THE BOW. IT REALLY IS QUITE THE CONCEPT, AND ITS STARK OUTLINES IN EARLY MARCH ARE VERY CLEAR.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED THERE IS A NICE EXPLANATION AT THE GOVERNORS UNIVERSITY WEB SITE.

AS I WALKED THE PATH TO THE CHAIR, THERE WERE LOTS OF SMASHED OSAGE ORANGES ON THE GROUND. I MOST DEFINITELY DID SIT IN IT AND TOOK IN THE VIEW OF THE GEESE. BUT WHEN I LEFT I WALKED DOWN THE ARROW PATH TO THE POND, AND HARDLY HAD I TAKEN THREE STEPS WHEN ALL THOSE THOUSAND GEESE AROSE AS ONE MASS AND TOOK WING. I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT, AND THE SOUND! I WISH I HAD CARRIED WITH ME SOME SORT OF SOUND RECORDER. WHEN I CAME BACK AROUND TO THE FRONT OF THE POND AGAIN, IT WAS TOTALLY EMPTY. AND BELIEVE ME, I AM NOT EXAGGERATING WHEN I SAY 1000 GEESE.

AND THAT IS THE REASON FOR THE CLOSURE, I THINK. GEESE CAN BE VERY NASTY ESPECIALLY IN MATING SEASON. I HAVE KNOWN A FARM THAT USED GEESE AS WATCHDOGS, VERY EFFECTIVELY. YOU DON'T WANT TO GET IN THE WAY OF MALE GEESE PROTECTING THEIR MATES. AND WHILE THE CHAIR IS NOT TOO CLOSE TO THE POND, BECAUSE THE PATH LEADS TO IT, NATURALLY YOU WANT TO WALK THERE. I CAN TOTALLY EMPATHIZE WITH GOVERNORS STATE BEING CAUTIOUS ABOUT THIS UNTIL THEY CAN FIGURE OUT A WAY TO ELIMINATE ALL THOSE BIRDS, IF THAT IS THEIR REASON FOR THE CLOSURE.

The "bodark" of the title is an English corruption of the American-French "bois d'arc," or wood of the bow, that is, Osage orange used for bows by the Native Americans of the Southeast and Midwest.

DEFINITELY WORTH THE DRIVE. BUT I DON'T THINK PURYEAR EVER ENVISIONED THE PROBLEM WITH THE GEESE.












AND THE CELL PHONE TOWER DOES NOTHING TO ENHANCE THE AMBIANCE OF THE PIECE EITHER.