Hurrican Ike, which hit Galveston on September 13, 2008, destroyed, either directly by the gale-force wind and the tidal surge, or indirectly afterwards by the saltwater, many of the old magnificent oaks in town. But some of them came to a new life, so to speak, when artists used them to makes sculptures out of them. As of today, 35 of theses tree sculptures are spread around town, and there’s even a self-guided “tree sculpture tour“, maybe one could call it a “sculptour“. We did not do the whole tour but drove and walked around to find some of the sculptures:
Galveston 2017 – Eindrücke #2 [Baum Skulpturen]
Hurrikan Ike, der Galveston am 13 September 2008 heimgesucht hat, hat viele der prächtigen alten Eichen in dieser Stadt zerstört, entweder direkt durch die Winde von Orkanstärke und durch die Flutwelle, oder aber indirekt durch das Salzwasser. Aber einige dieser Bäume sind sozusagen wieder zum Leben erweckt worden, denn in den Jahren danach haben Künstler begonnen, Skulpturen aus diesen Baumstümpfen anzufertigen. Mittlerweile gibt es 35 dieser Skulpturen über die ganze Stadt verstreut, und es gibt sogar eine selbstgeführte “Baumskulpturen Tour“, oder sollte ich sagen “Skulptour”? Wir haben nicht die gesamte Tour unternommen, sind aber doch ein wenig herumgefahren und gelaufen, um einige dieser Skulpturen zu finden:
Next time in Galveston we’ll find more.
Bei unserem nächsten Besuch in Galveston werden wir mehr finden.
Pingback: Jo’s Monday walk : Vindolanda Roman Fort | restlessjo
That’s a beautiful thing to do with them. I was expecting a seafront walk so this was a good surprise. Sad for the poor trees, but they’ve been given new life. 🙂 🙂 Again- how did I miss this? Thanks for sharing, Pit!
We discovered that walk in a brochure of the visitors’ bureau there.
Diese Idee mit den Skulpturen aus Baumstümpfen finde ich ich super und ich hab das eigentlich erst hier in der Schweiz kennen gelernt, wo es auch üblich ist, die Baumstümpfe höher stehen zu lassen als ich es kannte und dann Skulpturen draus zu machen.
Es ist wirlkcih eine schoene Idee. Schade, dass es mit so viel Zerstoerung vorher Hand in Hand ging.
Ja, das ist in dem Fall schade. Ohne das Unwetter wären die alten Eichen wohl noch länger erhalten geblieben.
Sie waeren wohl heute noch da. Diese Hurrikane sind schn sehr zerstoererisch.
Amazing, great pics! 😉
Thanks! 🙂
Wow, these are just incredible. Such artistry. Out of tragedy, some beauty and creativity emerged.
It really is amazing, isn’t it? Works of art out of destruction.
There was a time when Galveston was the largest city in Texas. Other cities had surpassed it by 1900, when the disastrous hurricane hit. I like the way Wikipedia describes the following decades:
“During the 1920s and 1930s, the city re-emerged as a major tourist destination centered on casinos and other vice businesses. Featuring venues, such as the famed Balinese Room, the city became nationally known as the sin city of the Gulf. The illegal businesses were finally closed in the 1950s, leading to a long, stagnant economic period.”
Thanks for this information, Steve. I remember that Galveston once was the largest city in Texas.
Sometimes I think I should include more information about the subjects of my blog posts, but preparing/writing them already takes up quite some time. Thus I mostly put in a link or two. All the more happy I am that others like you provide more information in the comments! 🙂
What a great idea – they really made something good come out of a bad situation.
I agree!
Interesting, Pit. Thank you. Good to see these old trees remembered.
Some were really artistic.
It is a lovely way of remembering a terrible time.
It sure is.
That’s something a bit different and very interesting. Someone had to have a good imagination to do those.
There really are some highly imaginative ones. I’m looking forward to seeing more next year.
The tree sculpture idea is great. I like the dog sculpture. We went there the year after the hurricane. The city looked very sad. Thank you for the wonderful tour, Pit!
Thanks, Amy. I like the dog, too, but also the frog. I’m sure that next time down there we’ll see more of those sculptures.
Btw, if you want to read more about the hurricane and the sculptures, I suggest following the link Shoreacres gives in her reply above. She has an excellent article on her blog.
How cool! Especially the frog & dog, which is such a nice pose.
Sculptour 🙂
I like th frog, too.
I really enjoyed historic Galveston. Between the architecture and sculptures I was entertained while walking up and down the streets. I look forward to your next post on Galveston.
There’s a lot to see, I agree. We’re looking forward already to our next stay there.
Thanks for your interest in my posts.
I’m so glad you saw some of these sculptures. I wrote about them not long after the storm, and you might enjoy the post — not least because it shows the carvings when they were fresh and new. And, there are a couple of photos in the comments that show some of the models for the carvings, including one very handsome dog!
Of course they are weathering now, and a few could have done with better preservation techniques, but they’re still a wonderful token of the city’s recovery.
We really enjoyed them. They are unique. An as said in the post: next time we’ll try to find/see more.
Thanks for the link. 🙂