Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Garden - I

 I visited PepsiCo's global headquarters in Purchase, New York, for a tour of the Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens.  Kendall was the PepsiCo CEO in the late 1960s and 1970s.  He conceived this sculpture garden as creating an atmosphere of stability, creativity and experimentation.

Il Grande Disco (The Big Disc) is a striking work by Arnaldo Pomodoro.  Completed in the 1980s, this large bronze disc features intricate engravings and a polished surface that reflects its surroundings and the sky. The sculpture's design symbolizes the interplay between technology and nature.

Grizzly Bear is a 26 ton sculpture by David Wynne out of Belgian marble.  The pose is unusual for a Grizzly Bear because Wynne, a keen sculptor of all wildlife, has modeled the bear as if it is standing on the edge of a cliff, on the precipice of extinction.

Alexander Calder's 1969 stabile called Hats Off is 31 feet high.

Kiosque l’évidé, a painted outdoor fiberglass-reinforced phenoxy resin sculpture by Jean Dubuffet, was made in 1970.  The surface didn't weather well in New York, so in 1984 it underwent a very difficult preservation and conservation effort.

Auguste Rodin's Eve, sculpted in 1881, was designed as part of Rodin's high relief work, The Gates of Hell.  Rodin envisioned Adam and Eve as standing on opposite sides of the gates.

Another David Wynn work on PepsiCo's grounds in Girl with a Dolphin, a statue that is a picture of movement. It elegantly shows a diving girl playing with a curious dolphin.

More PepsiCo sculptures tomorrow.

PepsiCo

Until 1970 PepsiCo's global headquarters were on Park Avenue in Manhattan.  When the beverage company (PepsiCo) and the snacks company (FritoLay) combined in the late 1960s, they moved to a new suburban campus on a former polo field in Purchase, New York.

The building was designed by noted architect Edward Durrell Stone. 

I visited Pepsico to see the 42 large sculptures on the 112 acre campus,

some of which I will show in the coming days.

New Pond Farm Education Center

 

I recently drove past an educational farm in Redding, Connecticut, and pulled in for a few minutes.

There were several pens.  This one had sheep.

When I turned around, a woodchuck was scampering across a field before ducking into a hole under a barn.  Folks in other parts of the country call these critters groundhogs.

And, in a more remote field, cattle grazed.

Saint Bartholomew's Episcopal Church

When I was in Manhattan recently, I walked down Park Avenue toward Grand Central Station.  

Saint Bartholomew's Episcopal Church was on the other side of the street and stood out beautifully with sun on its face.

Stonington

 Returning from Cape Cod, we stopped to visit another friend in the lovely borough of Stonington, on a peninsula jutting out from the Connecticut shoreline.  

We had lunch in a friendly local place.  We learned that the former owner is a photographer whose works provide local color on the walls.

Down a side street, an odd tower is from a decommissioned church that has become a private home.

Water Street has a delightful mix of shops and homes, all in the distinctive architecture of the area.

Hydrangea

 Yesterday I went with friends to the Heritage Museum and Gardens in Sandwich, Massachusetts, to see its annual hydrangea show.  

They have hundreds of different hydrangeas around the land.

And day lilies.  And trees and perennials and annuals.

Beautiful place.

Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary on Wellfleet Bay

 Walked with longtime friends yesterday.

The air is poor.  Smoke from Canadian wildfires has blown down here on Cape Cod.

Fiddler crabs are everywhere.

Sandpipers were among the only birds that were visible.

Still, it was an enjoyable walk.