A recent comment that I made re: the Chinese Lantern Festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens (2012):
The background story:
A *lot* of large, silk Chinese lanterns and sculptures have been placed throughout the Botanical Gardens in preparation for this event. However, in doing so, they have removed or replace a large number of water lilies, rose bushes, and otherwise invaded areas that plantings originally occupied.
My memo to them is such:
"Where can I see beautiful water lillies in the Gardens this year?
(Hint: The back of the Japanese Lake, in that one little corner of the lake, and the smaller pond located in the grassy area just a few feet from the Climatron reflection pools doesn't count!)
My original question:
Where can I see beautiful water lillies in the Gardens this year?
Spoiler:
The world's most famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright built both Taliesin's, East and West. "Taliesen means "shining brow" or "radiant brow', and for good reason. He built both Taliesens on the side of a hill - on the brow of the hill - rather than on top of the hill. Why would he do this? (Listen closely! The man was a genius, and it would behoove most folk to listen to the voice of genius, rather than to fight it!) Frank Lloyd Wright built both these famous buildings 'on the brow' of the hill, rather than on TOP of the hill for one reason: If you build on top of the hill, you LOSE THE HILL. You lose the beauty of the hill. His buildings were built to work with the natural beauty, and not to fight it or destroy it. (Many of these silk structures replaced iconic water lilies.)
I can see that whoever had the idea of replacing beautiful, natural iconic water lilies with silk, man-made structures were obviously not tuned into the wisdom of such genius, eh?
Please don't misunderstand the intent of this post.
I shop at Global International Food Market and Jay's International Foods more than I do the local Schnuck's and Dierberg's grocery stores.
I attend every cultural festival that I can possibly can. Over half of the furnishings in my entire home are the Chinese antiques from SuttonWood Antiques (the same vendor who supplied the Chinese antiques to the Botanical Garden's Gift Shop). I have had these antiques for 7 years, and I know the people that own SuttonWood Antiques on a personal level. Another example would be that I can cook Indian food better than many Indian people that I know on a personal level.
It's not the Lantern display that I have an issue with. It is the fact that, in many cases, they are replacing or disrupting live plantings that have been, at least seasonally, in their places for many years. That, my friends, is just bad decorum, bad taste, and probably - bad karma!
(I, for one, do not suffer from a bad case of "The Emperor's New Clothes", and I am not afraid to speak up, and go against the grain, the general "Oh, it's ALL BEAUTIFUL!" group-think that people exhibit soley because that is the way people are programmed to react, rather than to buck the system and express their true feelings. When, in fact, if these people were not afraid of the reaction that they would receive, they, too, would speak up, and they agree that these sculptures would serve a better function if they were placed in areas of the Garden that disrupt the plantings! In fact, in a round-about way, a couple people have been brave enough - but not forceful enough - to already do so.)"
- Michael
The background story:
A *lot* of large, silk Chinese lanterns and sculptures have been placed throughout the Botanical Gardens in preparation for this event. However, in doing so, they have removed or replace a large number of water lilies, rose bushes, and otherwise invaded areas that plantings originally occupied.
My memo to them is such:
"Where can I see beautiful water lillies in the Gardens this year?
(Hint: The back of the Japanese Lake, in that one little corner of the lake, and the smaller pond located in the grassy area just a few feet from the Climatron reflection pools doesn't count!)
My original question:
Where can I see beautiful water lillies in the Gardens this year?
Spoiler:
The world's most famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright built both Taliesin's, East and West. "Taliesen means "shining brow" or "radiant brow', and for good reason. He built both Taliesens on the side of a hill - on the brow of the hill - rather than on top of the hill. Why would he do this? (Listen closely! The man was a genius, and it would behoove most folk to listen to the voice of genius, rather than to fight it!) Frank Lloyd Wright built both these famous buildings 'on the brow' of the hill, rather than on TOP of the hill for one reason: If you build on top of the hill, you LOSE THE HILL. You lose the beauty of the hill. His buildings were built to work with the natural beauty, and not to fight it or destroy it. (Many of these silk structures replaced iconic water lilies.)
I can see that whoever had the idea of replacing beautiful, natural iconic water lilies with silk, man-made structures were obviously not tuned into the wisdom of such genius, eh?
Please don't misunderstand the intent of this post.
I shop at Global International Food Market and Jay's International Foods more than I do the local Schnuck's and Dierberg's grocery stores.
I attend every cultural festival that I can possibly can. Over half of the furnishings in my entire home are the Chinese antiques from SuttonWood Antiques (the same vendor who supplied the Chinese antiques to the Botanical Garden's Gift Shop). I have had these antiques for 7 years, and I know the people that own SuttonWood Antiques on a personal level. Another example would be that I can cook Indian food better than many Indian people that I know on a personal level.
It's not the Lantern display that I have an issue with. It is the fact that, in many cases, they are replacing or disrupting live plantings that have been, at least seasonally, in their places for many years. That, my friends, is just bad decorum, bad taste, and probably - bad karma!
(I, for one, do not suffer from a bad case of "The Emperor's New Clothes", and I am not afraid to speak up, and go against the grain, the general "Oh, it's ALL BEAUTIFUL!" group-think that people exhibit soley because that is the way people are programmed to react, rather than to buck the system and express their true feelings. When, in fact, if these people were not afraid of the reaction that they would receive, they, too, would speak up, and they agree that these sculptures would serve a better function if they were placed in areas of the Garden that disrupt the plantings! In fact, in a round-about way, a couple people have been brave enough - but not forceful enough - to already do so.)"
- Michael
No comments:
Post a Comment