Highway Beauty, part 1

Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything.      -Charles Kuralt

Interstate 695, MD 

Sometimes, when you're driving or commuting long distances, or even taking a road trip, things can start to look the same. Mile after mile, town after town, exit after exit, everything seems to run together with little visual reprieve. As you pass each stop, your brain starts to zone out. But while it is good to be concentrating on what is in front of you, there may be some sites on the side of the road that could awaken the senses, or at the very least, ease the monotony. If only for a brief moment, you could experience a little zen as opposed to road rage. Wouldn't that be nice?

Pic 4—Rt. 301, off 97, Crownsville, MD

Thanks to President Lyndon Johnson's love of his wife Lady Bird, the Highway Beautification Act of 1965 was presented and passed, ending some major eyesores, in addition to some blaring billboards that dotted our landscape in the 1950's and 1960's. This prettying up of America's roadways lasted for several decades, encouraging states to adopt beautification projects and increase highway plantings, which includes many of Maryland's mini forests that line Interstate 95, 695 and 495.

Manchester, MD

Unfortunately, loopholes over the last 20 years have allowed the signs to sneak back in and they seem to be multiplying with nearly 500,000 billboards along US major highways to date. East Coast cities are some of the biggest offenders, making Lady Bird's legacy seem like a antiquated pipe dream. (Learn more about what has happened since the 1965 Beautification Act, Lady Bird's Lost Legacy, the New York Times, July 20, 2007).

Rt. 301, Crownsville, MD

Despite the resurgence of the ugly billboard, there is still a lot to be seen on the side of the road. Thanks to some savvy environmental proponents, many regional and national highways have received continued funding (depending year to year) for landscaping which includes planned areas of micro eco systems, complete with small water reservoirs to attract wildlife, manicured median strips with native flowers and wildflower fields that can go on for miles. This gives the driver a blissful retreat from a bland highway filled with nothing but tires and asphalt.

Hampsted, MD

Smaller highways and local routes provide even better views. Fields of wild, native grasses and dense canopies of ash, sycamore and elm make the driving experience seem far more tranquil and even exotic compared to the good ole interstate. Choosing the view over speed means taking the road less traveled, which is not only more satisfying, but it is also stimulating, giving your brain that extra jolt it needs to keep it going for the long haul.

Ocean Highway, Ocean City, MD

So Mr. Kuralt was right, and wrong. We can drive through many interstate highways and have a monotonous view seeing little, or we can be lucky and catch some landscaped beautification. Or we can take the Camden/Philadelphia exit and feel like we're living in Pottersville wondering where Clarence is when we need him. The choices may not be up to you, but if you look closely, beauty can be found eventually, maybe even sitting right next to you.

Rt 50 East

Life's a road trip, always bring your iphone/camera, a journal, bottled water, and a sexy pair of shoes. If you can, take the scenic route. You’ll be amazed at what you'll find, after all, Charles Kuralt made a second career out of this. At the very least, you’ll get better food at locally owned, small town cafes than you will at the expressway's mediocre at best venues of artery clogging fare. For complete travel information on I-95 from Florida to Maine, including rest stops, construction and sites, visit the I-95 Guide.

Back road produce stand, Jersey Shore, NJ 

When we are sure that we are on the right road there is no need to plan our journey too far ahead. No need to burden ourselves with doubts and fears as to the obstacles that may bar our progress. We cannot take more than one step at a time.
-Orison Swett Marden

Crownsville, MD

All photos by: C.A. Langrall and Nathaniel Corn, Balance Photography

Yard art beauty

Hampden-Baltimore, MD

Getting lost in Baltimore has a certain charm. The well-established neighborhoods are old and sometimes a little shabby, with lush vines and shrubs covering telephone poles and lines, giving them a hidden and forgotten sort of feel. But if you lift up the kudzo, look past the abandoned cars and other unfinished projects in the front yard, you can discover the most unusual, wonderful things lurking, sometimes in full view. It's a trash to treasure sort of thing where discarded, overlooked items get a second chance, a new life, becoming a statement and ultimately an art form.

The following are some of the "neglected beauty" we encountered while trekking through hoods from the west to the east, both city and county. From bathtubs filled with bubble balls in Catonsville (ok I'll confess, it was mine), to rusty salvage yard materials popping up in Hampden, to hand-made mud sculptures in Greenspring Valley-- these yard arty things are not only eye-catching, they are making a statement, usually that "an artist lives here." Or a visionary. Or both. Whatever the case, nature's backdrop against these quirky objects in a place known as "Charm City" gives them a commanding presence that begs for a second glance.

Catonsville, MD

The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there. 
 ~George Bernard Shaw, The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God, 1932

Greenspring Valley, MD

Hampden-Baltimore, MD

In gardens, beauty is a by-product. The main business is sex and death.      ~Sam Llewelyn

Hampden-Baltimore, MD

Many things grow in the garden that were never sown there.    ~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

Charles Village-Baltimore, MD

Gardening is a kind of disease. It infects you, you cannot escape it. When you go visiting, your eyes rove about the garden; you interrupt the serious cocktail drinking because of an irresistible impulse to get up and pull a weed.    ~Lewis Gannit

Clipper Mills-Baltimore, MD

All my life as an artist I have asked myself: What pushes me continually to make sculpture? I have found the answer. art is an action against death. It is a denial of death.~Jacques Lipchitz

Charles Village, Baltimore, MD

Buy, buy, says the sign in the shop window; Why, why, says the junk in the yard.   ~Paul McCartney

Hampden-Baltimore, MD

Sculpture is the art of the hole and the lump.    ~Auguste Rodin

Catonsville, MD

A garden without its statue is like a sentence without its verb.      ~Joseph W. Beach

Dundalk, MD

Gardens are a form of autobiography.
~Sydney Eddison, Horticulture magazine, August/September 1993

Catonsville, MD

Charles Village, Baltimore, MD

PHOTOS BY C. LANGRALL AND BALANCE PHOTOGRAPHY

"Weirdgardens" Charles Village, Baltimore, MD

3 comments:

The Baltimore Babe said...

Yard art is the best.
August 1, 2008 8:37 AM
John McClellan said...

Wow! Great photos... I love the bathtub and bubbles combo. Trashy enough to make you shake your head-Interesting enough to make you want to knock on the door.
August 3, 2008 9:51 AM
GEWELS said...

Love the mosaic pieces. Now, maybe, after one of my temper tantrums I will have a use for all of the shards left in the aftermath.

Ouch, would hate to pop one of those bubbles in the bath.

August 7, 2008 5:58 AM
Fun Fotos!