You can do all sorts of things with metal if you put your mind to it, but it helps if you adapt your design to the material. You can make an artificial Christmas tree with realistic steel branches and needles, and it won’t look nearly as artistic as this simple but effective stack of hamster balls, which is currently sitting in one corner of the refurbished Diamond.
The Diamond is a short walk from the Wood Street subway station.
0 responses to “Christmas in the Steel City”
I must say you’re crazy, the tree in Market Square is a beautiful piece of Art. It transcends being just a “artificial Christmas Tree” and becomes a unique and original piece of Art, that can not be found in Everywhere America town square, mall, downtown, etc.
If everyone in Pittsburgh looked at things your way, we would never have the beautiful tree on the side on the former Horne’s Department store. I can only imagine your comments about that tree; if you would have been around when it was first installed.
Why did they slap a two dimensional tree on a side of the building instead of placing a full scale “traditional” (my quote) tree in the plaza across the street.
I’m just sorry that Alcoa didn’t get involved as a corporate citizen and have the tree made of aluminum, to really make it an even more special and creative Pittsburgh tradition.
Father Pitt really liked this tree, and he is sorry he didn’t express himself more clearly. What he hoped to say was that, by using the material for what it is, the artist created something much more interesting and elegant than he would have done if he had attempted a realistic depiction of a natural tree. Metal like this lends itself to abstraction, not realism, and this artist understood perfectly how to use the material in an abstract way to build something that nevertheless says “Christmas tree” to the most casual passer-by.