That Inward Eye Which Is the Bliss of Something
And then the News with letters fills, that criticize the daffodils. A2 wouldn’t be A2 without some daffodil controversy. It seems that Susan Skarsgard’s daffodil installation in the Arb hasn’t been a universal hit. One skeptic sniffed that “the view was cut by the row of growing daffodils.” Skarsgard agrees that “there already are too many lines defining our environment,” but also feels that drawing a line on paper changes it. Yeah, we’re confused too.
Does anyone else ever get the sneaking suspicion that Art is just a big sham?
posted by Brandon on April 19th, 2004 at 11:17 pmI know, those daffodils must be so tall. I can understand why one’s view would be impeded.
posted by RDS on April 19th, 2004 at 11:55 pmNext spring I hope to get my project approved for the arb - a half mile line of bricks. Maybe I can use the bricks from the road near Kerry Town.
posted by Ben on April 20th, 2004 at 12:26 amBrandon, yes, Art with a Capital A usually is.
posted by Boris on April 20th, 2004 at 1:20 amNot a sham, but perhaps… overrated?
posted by Micah on April 20th, 2004 at 1:30 amPeople, a little empathy is in order here. Some people actually reside in A2 (shudder), can you blame them for disliking daffodils?
posted by Engineer Guy on April 20th, 2004 at 1:49 amThis is for her Master’s work? Is there an official office where I can call bullshit? I feel like watching someone get lauded for reproducing a Thomas Kincaid picture on a mural scale. (”But… it’s much larger than usual.” “Yes, yes, and that makes it worthwhile.”)
posted by js on April 20th, 2004 at 3:30 amToo many lines of coke, I say.
js
those are the best kind of lines
posted by Alex on April 20th, 2004 at 7:55 amThey claim that 3 groups had to “come together” to make the daffy line: the university, the community, and GM, who supplied 150 volunteers. All of this coming togetherness is really special. Too bad the host of goldens is in a line rather than a peace symbol.
Now, back to the usual squabbles.
posted by Mike Gorund on April 20th, 2004 at 12:19 pmYeah, a bunch of flowers in the shape of a peace symbol would have been SO profound. And so original too. I mean, I never thought about associating flowers with peace, but they’re, like, both so peaceful….
And you know what else is peaceful? Doves. Doves are also really, really peacefull. Yeah.
posted by torONTo on April 20th, 2004 at 3:29 pmtorONTo’s sarcasm detector is malfunctioning! must recalibrate…
posted by ann arbor is overrated on April 20th, 2004 at 3:50 pm“come together?”
*shrug*
posted by Engineer Guy on April 20th, 2004 at 3:55 pmRIght now, over me.
posted by js on April 20th, 2004 at 6:16 pmWouldn’t mind seeing a beautiful line of peaceful doves shitting on torOnto
posted by Anonymous on April 20th, 2004 at 7:35 pmthe daffodil line is supposed to refer to the Israeli wall, according to the artist. as the daffodil line gets gaps over the coming years it’s supposed to show how walls between people are a bad bad thing.
posted by Anonymous on April 20th, 2004 at 8:29 pmMy apple trees will never get across
posted by Robert Frost on April 20th, 2004 at 8:38 pmAnd eat the cones under his pines, I tell him. He only says, “Good fences make good neighbors.”
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
“Why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down!”
There are two errors in the News article. One is that Skarsgard bought 20,000 bulbs. She bought 10,000. The species is one that produces two flowers per bulb. The other error is that the line goes “through woods.” I’ve walked the daffodil line several times, and at no point does it go through woods. It ends *near* woods at both ends, but that’s it. It’s mostly in the open lawn area of the Arb. Can it be that this journalist actually wrote the story without even bothering to visit it? Last, I can’t help but note, as a gardener, that if they mow it after the blooms stop, they’ll kill most or all of the plants before the foliage has a chance to soak up energy for the bulb to make it through winter.
posted by Laura on April 20th, 2004 at 9:03 pmMy guess is that it will probably take several years of mowing to completely kill them, but they’ll be weaker and more ragged each year. I’d expect almost all of them to be back next year, but that few if any will have the energy to bloom. It’ll just be a weedy looking line in the grass. I’ve lawn stranded tulips go on forever like that.
Is anyone else geeked about the new butterfly garden going in in front of the Exhibit Museum? You can never have too many butterflies. No you can’t.
Too many fucking doves, but not too many butterflies.
Is anyone else geeked about dove hunting? I’m sick of driving to Indiana; I wanna be able to shoot them right off my neighbors’ bird feeders.
posted by torONTo on April 21st, 2004 at 10:03 amLaura, I normally reserve my gardening questions for your blog, but since you’re now the garden advisor for AAIO, too, I wonder, why would the bulb line scatter over time as mentioned in the AA News? Do bulbs sprout other bulbs? Curiously, Anna
posted by Anna on April 21st, 2004 at 10:08 amAnna, so nice to see you again! And I’m happy to hear you talking about gardening. It’s so restful, and surely just what you needed. And thank you for asking that question about the scattering. I myself was wondering the same thing. And isn’t there such a thing as a bulblet–a little offshoot of a bulb?
Don’t we all feel better in the spring! I’m going out right now to get my hands good and dirty!
posted by Jon on April 21st, 2004 at 10:53 amAnna, as far as “scattering,” whatever that means, a few plants will die every year, but daffodils don’t aggressively spread/scatter like, say, daylilies. The line shape will stay pretty much intact, although I think torONTo’s right about no/few blooms next year. Yep, lots of “true bulb” plants (amaryllis, tulip, narcissus) produce bulblets that may be separated off every few years & replanted.
posted by Laura on April 21st, 2004 at 12:55 pmI find it amusing that no one bothers to tell the art students about this alleged art project. It’s like they don’t want us to see it.
A pity that my concentration is in scientific illustration, and I could never get away with something that simple for a big project. Sigh.
posted by art student on April 21st, 2004 at 2:29 pmCheer up art student. At least you are not me.
posted by Engineer Guy on April 21st, 2004 at 8:01 pm