Hotel Bruce

These modern day landscape installations start up where the cultural gardens leave off. None of these necessarily should be installed. Rather the community should determine what collects in their garden. With that in mind, here are a few ideas.

This installation appears like a hoop dream poised on the hill above MLK Jr Drive. On hot nights, passing vehicles will catch a glimpse of the bright lights and then see cagers drenched in sweat.

When you drive MLK at night you see scores of people playing tennis late into the evening. Often, I am envious and occasionally return with a friend, balls and racket. Illuminated activity drops the idea into ones head to participate.

Located at the departure point from the Rockefeller Culture Garden, marking the beginning of the Counter Culture Garden. The purpose of this fountain is to breathe life into the myth of wealthy industrialist John D. Rockefeller. It is said he would give dimes on the streets to the children of Cleveland. Here is a fountain that continues this tradition, by giving visitors the opportunity to throw dimes into the shallow water, knowing the local children are free to use these dimes to buy ice cream or a pop at the corner store. The shape of the fountain should be circular with a stone surface that follows the enlarged contours of an actual dime.

For this installation we see a monumental pillar scrawled or etched with large type. Here are the numerous “inspirational” civic slogans that have come and gone (or never arrived).Slogans, which for the most part are ridiculous, but intend to help us reflect on who we really are as a community (or just beg us to not take ourselves too seriously). Here is a growing list: Cleveland, we stayed. Cleveland, we get our hands dirty. Cleveland, Gotta be tough. Cleveland, were no plum. Cleveland, better than bunions. Cleveland, spelled like it sounds. Cleveland, our nuts don’t rust. Cleveland, steel your heart.

This mythical beast undoubtedly will be a favorite with kids because of its nature - the well-suited man with the bull head. This sculpture will resonate quite differently for those with an understanding of the corporate culture.

A Stainless Steel staircase is positioned in the Counter Culture Garden. It serves several roles. At first site it is a compelling landmark reflecting the setting sun. Further investigation reveals a beautifully detailed staircase that ascends two-three stories. Children invent ball games at its base; an older couple climbs to a pavilion on top to look back at their neighborhood. This elevated vantage point helps them grasp the scale of their streets and the uniqueness of Glenville. Meanwhile, the sun is visible setting behind a silhouette of downtown. Later that evening several people gather for a performance at the base.

This bold landscape installation is centered around a slightly crowned oval field with a collared edge that provides seating and gates. Mothers sit comfortably on the edge while youngsters invent games.

Homage to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
(Glenville natives and co-creators of Superman)

Here we discover a pedestal that is vacant of the usual oversized bust of a VIP. Kids will be the first to discover what a great thing it is to climb and stand atop—encouraging them to occupy the position of the next super hero.

This Glenville native became fascinated with the subject of laborers and in 1921 he modeled the first of his sculptures for which he become famous: Workers at a Cleveland blast furnace. This installation is an industrial gate in the shape of an oversized nut perhaps fitted with a collection of (1/3 scale) Kalish sculptures such as his first laborer, The Stoker.

This draftsman of huge budgets and neighborhood-altering plans is frozen in time, a man in error with earnest intentions. He’s depicted as a cyclist riding an instrument that can only go in circles.

Antoine Fisher lived, for a time, on Drexel Avenue in Glenville. Homeless and mixed up in trouble at the age of 17, Fisher enlisted in the Navy where a sympathetic counselor helped him find a path. Fisher’s autobiography was made into a 2002 film starring Denzel Washington.

Demarcating the seam between garden, Shoreway and rail lines, Trumpet vines hang like laundry to create walls and an unusual room. Here local musical legends would be ennobled and remembered. The Sound Wall will counter the hum of traffic with the call of Kenny Davis' trumpet or the crescendo of Greg Bandy’s drums (both Glenville natives). Performed in the flesh or piped in, vibraphones, horns and percussion are audible at various points along the sound wall. The furious traffic disappears.

Tell us your ideas for a Counter Cultural Garden and we'll add it to the list...