Where the art lies

For as many times as I have watched the bats fly from under the bridge in Austin, I have never done it in Houston. So on Saturday night after welding class, Keith and I decided to check out the art in the montrose area while waiting for the sun to set and the bats to emerge from the bridge over the bayou at Waugh and Allen Parkway. I also had never seen the newest installments at the park up close, what a great thing to check out right after welding class!

I love this fountain, it reminds me of being a kid and blowing dandelions, making wishes

It was pretty toasty out, a few dogs jumped in to play :)

This is what happens when you weld without a UV mask on.

Just kidding, :) although I DID accidently look at the welding without a mask on once...eekk!

I like how it looks like they kind of melted out of the rocks

Now I know I just mentioned welding in 3 posts back to back but, here' is my last little interesting tid bit for now. We talked a little with John Barber about this art, and I found it pretty interesting that he mentioned he hasn't been able to find out who welded these guys, there is no mention of an artist anywhere on them. And being of the welding community I would think he could easily find out. Quite mysterious don't you think? 

I did not take any pictures of the bats flying out for the night, but it was a pretty awesome sight if you ever find yourself in the montrose area at dusk. Those little monsters circle under the bridge for a good half hour bouncing from cubby to cubby before emerging. I imagined impatient mothers trying to wake their kids up and get them ready for school. "did you brush your teeth? go back and brush them!" "where are your shoes? oh lord, no clean socks?? We are going to be late!" Here's a video I found of them.

High heat

Now I notice the welds on EVERYTHING! On Saturday Keith and I took a welding class. It was a lot of fun, we actually got to do 4 different kinds of welding, arc, mig, plasma cutting, and brazing. Our class taught by John Barber, was very thorough, he gave us a great history and health lesson on welding. He taught at his adorable house in the heights decorated with some of his artwork. John and his wife were amazingly interesting, both artists John has worked for the zoo, and museums, scuplting artwork for them, and welding the cages for the dinasour bones at the museum of natrual science! 

Can you tell how excited I am?

better?

Keith brazing

Shop kitty, she closed her eyes when we welded.

A piece John was working on

Look at all of that excitement (he really was excited)

Our mig weld and plasma cutting examples

John's site http://www.johnbarberstudios.com/. If you have a chance to take the class, I recommend it, it was fun, challenging, requires patience and maybe a dust mask!