September 25, 2009

Water Totem the drinking fountain

Water fountain blends North and Central American Indian imagery

By Sheila ReganAncient Traders Market Plaza, on Franklin Avenue, is one of 10 Minneapolis sites to get a drinking fountain sculpture this fall as part of the city's Artist-Designed Public Drinking Fountains project.

Guatemalan artist Peter Morales will install "Water Totem," a 72" granite sculpture of a crow sitting on a turtle, which blends Native American and Central American imagery.

Coinciding with the city's 150th anniversary, a total of 10 drinking fountains will be installed to "to celebrate the role water has played in Minneapolis history and to foster a commitment to honoring and protecting water as fundamental to all life," according to the city's website.
Comment:  For a somewhat related subject, see Fountain Resembles LuiseƱo Basket.

3 comments:

dmarks said...

It's a bit mangled. Central America is part of North America, so the part about "North and Central American Imagery" has some redundancy to it, like discussing "California and Los Angeles Imagery"

It is even worse when it refers to blending "Native American and Central American imagery", as all of the imagery discussed appears to be Native American-related.

No big deal. The story seems to be gone now anyway.

dmarks said...

(The entire tcdailyplanet.net site happens to be down at the moment, which explains the bad link.)

Rob said...

The link is fine now.

Technically speaking, you're right. But I think you know what the article meant.

Besides, the definitions sometimes vary between sources. For instance:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America

The term North America may mean different things to different people in the world according to the context. Usage other than that of the entire continent includes:

* In English, North America may be used to refer to the United States and Canada together. Alternatively, usage often includes Mexico (as with North American Free Trade Agreement) and other entities.

* In Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and some other parts of Europe, North America usually designates a subcontinent of the Americas containing Canada, the United States, and Mexico, and often Greenland, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and Bermuda.