Jiaxin W.
Yelp
Puddle Jumpers is located in the Transamerica Redwood Park at the 600 Montgomery Street. It is a group of bronze statues of children who jump hand in hand. It arouses the almost every passers-by to take photos of it. This group of statue lies near the stone benches that are in the central of the park. When people step towards the statues, they will notice a note associated with such the descriptions as name, artist and the time of this statues. It is made by the artist Glenna Goodacre in 1989. It seems that six children are running on the grassland, and the foot of three children of them remain suspended in the air. One of the children on the left even points to the sky happily, which makes him look very lively. It could be judged that all of these children are the white according to their facial features, each of whom holds hands together happily and tightly. Generally speaking, the Puddle Jumpers is a vivid artwork, which fully reveals the innocence and happiness of the childhood.
As for the surrounding environment around the Puddle Jumpers, there are full of the redwoods in this little park. The Transamerica Redwood Park concludes three gates, which respectively locate on the left, central and the right. There is no doubt that it is an open and transparent public park. People could enter and leave this park freely at any time so that there are a large number of people in the park throughout the whole day. When people pay attention to people in this public park, they could easily find there are some people spare their leisure time. Some people take a noontime snooze bathed in the warm sunlight. Some people read books carefully. Some people whisper with their friends intimately. And some people feel the cool in the summer around the fountain pool. In light of Judith L. Beca, "native people might look at the same landscape with a very different idea of beauty, a beauty without imposition. They might see a perfect order exemplified in nature itself, integral to a spiritual life grounded in place" (Beca) . And there is a frog pond near the Puddle Jumpers, I could feel the cool of the water fountain. And I could see an Asian old woman who is taking exercises. She is standing at the opposite direction of the fountain. Around the fountain, I do not find the related artwork. The patterns of the pond edge are not the regular square and circular, while, they are irregular graphics that are similar to ceramic tile spell. If people do not pay much attention, they will possibly trample empty by accident. However, this abnormal design of the pond reflects the unbridled and not stiff sense of reality of the nature in my mind.
What's more, there are also some jumping bronze frogs within the fountain, which make me can not help but reminds of the running six children. Such collocation of these jumping bronze frogs and six jumping children makes a mutual echo for the audiences, which fully expresses the vivid nature at the most extent. Under this environment, who can remember that this is the noisy financial district around the China town? In my opinion, it can be said that the only weakness of the park is that there are two piles of trash in the corner of the pond. In addition, everyone make their efforts to maintain the environment of this public park. In the essay "New York Has Solved the Problem of Public Art. But at What Cost", Jerry Saltz refers to his personal feeling of the central park in New York . He claims that "Take central park - as handmade as anyplace in the city, but one in which I still feel like I am in nature. Here I am inside myself, but feeling the rhythms of the city. Instinct kicks in, some other life takes over, something outside of time, made up of the present, the past, memory, unknown sensations" (Saltz) . Similarly, Martha Rosler also pays attention to more and more the natural pattern of public art . In his essay "Culture Class Part 3", he claims that the gardens, urban and rooftop farms, water slides, and climbable sculptures that have replaced the modernist model of artworks must be understood as of a piece with the increasingly suburban character of creative-class politics" (Rosler) .
I sit on the bench under the shade of redwoods and scan the entire park. I find that these redwoods are much taller than that I imagine. They surround the entire park and cover successfully the high-rise buildings behind the park. Even if only a moment, I perceive that I am sitting in a park in the suburbs. And there are also several stone trash cans in the park. The stone material of the trash cans and benches is also well engaged in the natural style of the park. People sit in the park could temporarily forget the oppression and tension of their busy works. This open and transparent public park near the noisy financial district and traffic blocking Chinatown appeals people can not help selflessly and greed breathing the smell of the nature.
