Rocket is a public art piece located at the Boca Raton Innovation Campus. It is part of the Art in…read morePublic Places Initiative in South Florida. This office park used to be the research and development headquarters of IBM in 1970. It contains architecturally iconic historical buildings created by Marcel Breuer in the 1960s. The first IBM personal computer was invented here along with the first smartphone. This campus was at the forefront of early robotics technology and other tech inventions. Rocket is the creation of Virginia artist Hubert Phipps who is well known for his abstract sculptures and paint pigment drawings He is also a champion race car driver and aviator. He took inspiration for Rocket from his love of aero dynamic forms. First he drew the model and created it out of clay. It was then rendered in 3D using Maya, a software modeling program. The rocket design is meant to represent the intersection of science and art while celebrating modern engineering. The 30-foot, 9.8 ton corrosive resistant stainless steel rocket was manufactured in 2019 at the Tany Foundry in Hangzhou, China. From there it experienced several Covid related delays crossing the Pacific Ocean and traveling through the Panama Canal before arriving 8,000 miles away in Boca Raton through a partnership with the Boca Raton Museum of Art and developer CP Group. The rocket sculpture is valued at 1.5 million dollars will be here for a five year loan period. I loved discovering this public art. The park like setting adds even more beauty to the sculpture. You can walk through it and discover the perfect spot to take a picture or selfie of yourself making it interactive art. Come out and experience it before it jets off to galaxies unknown.

As I drove up towards the BRiC building, the art installation caught my eyes!…read more This once was a technology facility. Now, it is the Boca Raton Innovation Campus. To represent this forward-thinking presence, the Rocket sits in the very front as you drive through the round-a-about parking lot. Hubert Phipps' 30-foot stainless steel sculpture "Rocket" traveled over 8,000 miles to arrive as the new centerpiece at Boca Raton Innovation Campus, 5000 T-Rex Ave. Inspired by the artist's love of aerodynamic forms, the steel sculpture's full-scale fabrication began in 2019 at the Tany Foundry in Hangzhou, China. "The sculpture by Hubert Phipps was conceived as that intersection between art and science, and celebrates the heroics of modern engineering, as also seen in Marcel Breuer's historic building designs for IBM's North American Research and Development Headquarters," said Irvin Lippman, the Executive Director of the Boca Raton Museum of Art. The gleaming, stainless steel reflecting Rocket was two years in the making, with a nod to Sci Fi retro futurism. The Campus encourages visitors to walk around and underneath it, to enjoy their funhouse mirror images on the shiny surface. The monumental new sculpture Rocket by Hubert Phipps was been selected for an Art in Public Places initiative in South Florida, for the BRiC, the historic tech landmark where the first IBM Personal Computer was invented. This new public art program is part of a cultural partnership between the Boca Art Museum and CP Group, the owner of BRiC and a premier developer and operator of commercial real estate. South Florida officials heralded this announcement with an unveiling ceremony at BRiC, officially welcoming Rocket as one of the largest outdoor sculptures ever chosen for a public art initiative in Palm Beach County. The Phipps sculpture is valued at $1.5 million, stands 30-feet tall, weighs 9.8 tons, and took more than 7,000 square feet of stainless steel to construct. The Rocket sculpture towers alongside a waterfront panorama of iconic architecture designed by Marcel Breuer in the 1960s. This celebrated architectural style by Breuer is rarely seen at this grand of a scale, spanning so many acres. The new sculpture by Phipps and the historic buildings designed by Breuer marry each other well in the Brutalist style, creating a powerful visual impact.

On February 3, 2023, the City of Deerfield Beach dedicated this unique public kinetic art piece in…read morePastor Willie James Ford, Sr. Linear Park. It is the first art installation that I have come across that is not only art but is also functional fitness equipment. The fitness court was created by National Campaign Fitness Court, a nationwide consulting organization that partners with cities and schools to create fitness hubs to improve the well being of the community. This piece is a part of the NCF's art and culture series which was created in 2020. NFC trademarked this seven station fitness court in 2012. It is an open air wellness center and is adaptable to all fitness levels. Your own body weight is used to give you an optimal workout. On the side of the court is an app you can download that will help you use the court properly. The app takes you to videos of workouts you can do to strengthen every part of your body. The beginner workout is seven stations where you do exercise for 45 seconds and then rest for 15 seconds before moving on. it is like having a personal trainer in your phone. I found the videos to be clear and helpful. On the outside of the court is art work by world-renown 20th century modern artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. The piece is titled Boy and a Dog in a Johnnypump and it was created in 1982. The piece sold for over a 100 million dollars in 2020. Basquiat created art in the 70 and 80's as part of the Neo-expressionism movement. A common theme of his art was the portrayal of historically prominent black figures. He was active in the art world until his death of a heroin overdose at the age of 27 in 1988. I am always looking for new ways to exercise so I don't get bored. This fitness court definitely peeked my interest. I love how it is art but also a place to work out. The only thing I was disappointed in is that there isn't any legal parking here. It seems to be mainly for the people who live nearby. I hope that my town gets one of these cool fitness courts soon.

On Stage is a 30 by 60 foot mural across the stage doors of the Mizner Park Amphitheater In Boca…read moreRaton. It is one of the newest public art works commissioned by the city of Boca Raton. Artist Eduardo Mendieta know professionally as EMO was selected for the Mizner Park Amphitheater Stage Door Mural project. He has painted large-scale public murals for more than 10 south Florida cities and he was the featured artist in the XLVI Superbowl Indianapolis Mural Project. Submissions for the mural had to be ideas that would reflect the spirit of Boca Raton's art, history and culture. Mendieta's winning submission was chosen from the 29 submitted. The mural created with only cans of spray paint, features a yellow sun in between a musician playing a stand up bass and a ballerina whose tutu is morphing into ocean waves. In the background is Boca Raton's old historic city hall which is the nod to it's past. The mural has been here since January of 21 but with Covid I haven't been going to Mizner Park as often as I used to. Now that the shops and restaurants are alive again with people this colorful mural is the perfect anchor at the end of Plaza Real. I loved discovering it on this trip to Mizner Park. If you make to Mizner Park this month you can also see the new temporary art installation, Prismatica.

Prismatica is a free new art installation located along in Plaza Real in Mizner Park in Boca Raton…read more The art installation is 25 six-foot pivoting holographic prisms. Prisms have flat, polished surfaces that are designed to refract light. At least one surface must be angled to be considered a prism. I think of prisms as being glass but they can be made from any material that is transparent to the wavelengths for which they are designed. The panels of these prisms seem to be made out of some kind of plastic which reflect various rainbow colored lights that change color depending on the angle you view them. The installation is the creation of RAW Design, a Toronto-based architectural firm who had 30 architects and designers from the fields of applied science, technology, art and architecture come together to create Prismatica.. The installation is sponsored by Quartier des Spectacles Partnership of Montreal. After Boca Raton Prismatica will continue to tour the United States. The prisms are set up on the sidewalk in front of the shops. The interactive part of the art is you can spin them to see the colors change. You can also look through them to see the street change color. I tried to take a few pictures shooting through the prisms. At night the prisms light up making even more colors. I used to use a prism as a kid to make rainbows around my bedroom. Playing with these large prisms brought back those childhood feelings of wonder and discovery. I love what is happening in Mizer Park. First we get the world famous Machu Picchu and the Golden Empires of Peru exhibit at the Boca Raton Museum of Art and now that they have packed up these fun and colorful prisms made their debut on March 3rd in time for spring. If you want to see and play with the prisms though you will have to hurry. There are only here for one month and will be departing on April 3.

Home Sweet Home is a public art work in Worthing Park on East Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach. It…read morewas created in 2011 by artist William DeBlizan. DeBlizan has been exhibited worldwide. His paintings and sculptures are sought after for their visual and emotional impact. DeBlizan is known for elongated abstract figures, rich texture, and a Caribbean-inspired color palette. Once you have seen DeBlizan's work it is immediately recognizable. DeBlizan has an art gallery on Atlantic Avenue and one in Laguna Beach. Home Sweet Home is a sculpture of four elongated figures. DeBlizan was inspired to create the art piece by his love for his four children and his desire to keep them close to him. I love the family centered message of the work. A low wall surrounds the sculpture that serves as seating for the parks many visitors who need a place to rest amid shopping, strolling, and dinning. You often see people sitting in front of Home Sweet Home in a way becoming part of the art work. I had passed Home Sweet Home many times driving by on Atlantic Ave and actually thought it was candles. It was until today when I took the time to stop and actually look at it that I realized it was people. It was nice to become familiar with the art of the talented William DeBlizan.

The Palmetto Park Bascule Bridge carries Palmetto Park Road over the Intracoastal Waterway. It has…read morea vertical clearance of 19 feet when closed and there is a horizontal clearance of 91 feet. The current bridge was built in 1987 and has a total length of 520 feet. Two lanes in each direction with a center median and raised curbs on each side for pedestrian traffic. Unlike some other bridges that stop traffic pretty far back from the spans, the gates for the Palmetto Park Bridge are quite close. The bridge is in very good condition and we had no trouble crossing it in either direction. Silver Pal Park is located on the south side of the bridge on the west side of the Intracoastal and there are good views of the bridge from there. [Review 15842 overall - 1418 in Florida - 1346 of 2021.]

Built in 1917 Palmetto Park Bridge was the first bridge built to cross the Florida East Coast Canal…read morenow called the Intracoastal Waterway. The first bridge was a wooden manually operated swing bridge operated by William and Eliza Townsend who lived in a house near the bridge. In 1919 Lucas Douglas and his family took over operation of the bridge until 1947. A concrete drawbridge replaced the wooden bridge in 1928. The drawbridge you see today is a bascule bridge built in 1987 and it was dedicated to Lucas Douglas. It opens every half four to boat traffic. The Camino Real bridge is closed for repairs for a year forcing more traffic over to the Palmetto Park Bridge for the foreseeable future.

The first pavilion built here was in 1917 with a $214 contribution from the Deerfield Beach Woman's…read moreClub. It was eventually replaced with the North Beach Pavilion. I used to come here with my daughter for free surf lessons and camps sponsored by Island Water Sports. In 2020 the pavilion was renamed in honor of Island Water Sports founder Kirk Cottrell. Cottrell passed away at the age of 46 during a surfing accident in 2001 in South Africa where had taken his family to establish a chapel. He was a pillar of the community who brought a love of surfing to countless kids in the area. The Community Redevelopment Agency oversaw a 2.3 million dollar refurbishment of the pavilion. Improvements include an area dedicated to surfers with board racks, a cleaning station and showers, an ADA compliant ramp starts in the parking lot and ends on the sand, stadium seats that overlook the sand volleyball courts, fountains and water bottle filler, a large storage room for the beach rescue team, bike racks, a true-north decorative mosaic compass, and a large event room with shelving and check-in window for beachside charity events. The tables and benches are made from reclaimed hardwoods. Five years in the making, the pavilion was designed by architects Walters Zackria Associates and constructed by Danto Builders. The entrance sign was created by local surfboard artist Bird Surfboards. I love the pavilion improvements. This is one of my favorite places to park in Deerfield Beach when I can land a spot in the small lot. Kirk Cottrell Pavilion has great beach access, restrooms, and it is across the street from places to eat and shop. It is also within walking distance of Island Water Sports.

A cool place to chill and take in a great view while in Deerfield Beach in the Sunshine State of…read moreFlorida. The pavilion is named in honor of Kirk Cotrell (the name kind of gives that away) who was a South Florida native. He was a surfer who founded Island Water Sports, a Deerfield Beach retail icon. He was also a pastor who believed in serving his community. It appears that his spirit of community lives on as it said that Island Water Sports conducts surf camps to the children of the community. It is not a large pavilion by any means, there are only four little tables, but that just adds to the charm of the pavilion. Be warned that you do have to pay to park here. It is three dollars an hour for the privilege of parking, but there is extremely limited parking all around here, so it might not be a bad deal after all. They have public restrooms that are well-maintained. Communities need places like this, a place where the community can join together and make that community a living, breathing entity. I am glad that I found this place, I would recommend you seek it out if you find yourself in Deerfield Beach, Florida.

Guardian Towers is a large metal installation purchased by a private developer through the Coral…read moreSprings Public Art Program. You can find The colorful Guardian Towers on Wiles Road in front of Whispering Woods professional center. Since their first public art project, the covered bridge in 1963, Coral Springs has become one of the leading public art cities in south Florida. The art is paid for with fees for development and redevelopment in the city. Fees are collected from permits during building construction and renovations in the city. Guardian Towers was created by Columbian artist Gustavo Vejarano who said "Art is an instrument of knowledge, which not solely allows us to explore the inner and outer worlds and make them obvious, but also gives coherence to our vision." In addition to large scale installations like this piece, he also does paintings. This art installation is a triptych created in 2004 that represents elements of the universe, moon, sun. and fire. You may pass public art works every day and not even notice them. They are woven into the urban landscape and pop up in the most unexpected places. I will be running a mundane errand in the city and then suddenly spot one of these art pieces that always makes me stop and look. The large scale and bright colors of this piece makes Guardian Towers a stand out. There are even some inviting benches if you want to sit and contemplate the work. I really love the Coral Springs Public Art Program which seeks to not have art just be something you visit in a museum but is instead incorporated into our every day lives.