I went out to the Tulsa History Center to check on the revamped installation of the Oklahoma’s Five Moons. The installation had been damaged by some dummy who stole one of the metal sculptures and then tried to sell it at a metal recycling place. To their credit the recyclers called the police and the guy was apprehended. The sculpture took some time to be repaired and the History redesigned the installation.
The Five Moons are five Native American ballerinas from Oklahoma who achieved worldwide fame in the late 1940’s and 1950’s. After their performing days were over they became instructors and promoters of their art. Here is a good summary of their careers.
I brought along my drone this day. I have many photos of the ballerinas but they are all on stands and up in the air so I thought that with the drone would provide a new perspective. And I think it worked pretty well.
It was a windy day and my little featherweight drone was struggling to stay in one place but I made it happen.
The lady in the background in the photo above showed up in the middle of my flight and asked what I was doing in a friendly manner. We got to talking and turns out that she is an Urban Sketcher. Which I have come to find out means to sketch on location. So kind of like being an instagrammer except on paper. I thought it was very interesting. You can find out more about Urban Sketching here. She is on instagram as well so we followed each other. We also talked about the Five Moons. We both agreed that not five Oklahoman’s out of hundred know who the Five Moons are. Which is a shame.
So buoyed by my experience with the Five Moons I headed over to nearby Woodward Park and launched the drone on the “Appeals to the Great Spirit” Sculpture. It is really tall.
I think the overhead shot adds to the effect of the sculpture here as well.
It just goes to show that you don’t have to fly way high to use a drone effectively.
I am linking with Skywatch Friday and My Corner of the World.
Here is a previous post on the Five Moons
That is really interesting seeing them with your drones. You’re pretty good with it.
Lindas estatuas. Te mando un beso.
…you found fabulous sculptures, let’s dance for joy!
the top picture reminds me Degas’ little dancer. All these statues seem to invoke heaven. It’s amazing
I love the overhead shots and am fascinated by the story of the 5 ballerinas. Yeah dance!
The Five Moons sculptures are beautiful! I knew of one of the ballet dancers, Marie Tallcheif, but I did not know about the others. Sadly, a similar thief happened here in Denver when a thief stole a piece of a statue honoring Martin Luther King, and he also tried to sell it to scrap metal. Thankfully, the artist was able to repair the statue afterward.
I also liked your drone view of the Appeal to the Great Spirit sculpture. I’m looking into that group that sketches urban statues –thanks for the link!
They are beautiful. Nice use of a drone! You have an awful lot of shadows here to not use them soon!
Great use of the drone for some lovely shots!
Yay, drone! These photos from above added a whole new rarely seen dimension to the art. It seems to elevate these ballerinas with a wondrous sense of flight.
I have heard of Maria Tallchief. Your drone photos are great!
Beautiful. I’d never heard of this group of dancers but I did recently learn about Maria Tallchief. Fascinating bit of history you’ve shared and some beautiful sculptures as well.
The sculptures’ are beautiful. Great capture.
I loved your sky photo from the campout. The sculptures are beautiful. I am glad they caught the bad guy who stole the one sculpture. Take care, Happy Friday and have a great weekend.
Sculptures looks amazing, Loved the post.
I enjoyed your drone perspective. I thought, the artists that created these sculptures wouldn’t have known that people would be able to view them from above but they are just as interesting viewed from above as they are from the ground. And sadly, I didn’t know of these ballerinas. Alana ramblinwitham
These are incredible sculptures.
Thanks for sharing these beautiful sculptures (again: wanna have a drone!). Never heard of the Five Moons before, but I’ll look for footage (earlier I used to dance too). Urban sketching must be a great hobby if you can do it.
Have a nice weekend
Beautiful sculptures. And the drone idea is works so well here.
Appeals to the Great Spirit is another beautiful creation. Thank you for showing us these installations.