Our Tour of Mosaicultures International 2013 in Montreal

We left the rain behind as we crossed into Canada and over the Champlain Bridge into Montreal.

Today we were going to the Botanical Gardens for the Mosaicultures exhibit. This is an international competition held every three years in a different country - and this year it's Canada in Montreal.

The theme for 2013 is "Land of Hope" to highlight the protection of biodiversity on planet Earth. The theme serves as inspiration for artists from around the world who created living sculptures of hundreds of thousands of plants. The plants need care and pruning as they grow. We viewed about 50 sculptures in the Botanical Garden.




 

Here's an example of a design and the finished horticultural work of art.  



"Mosaiculture" is a true art form. Most of the ones we saw were HUGE and amazingly intricate.

 This shows some of the detail that was being pruned: 

Each one was so fascinating, I really could not pick a favorite. But I especially liked the realism of the sculptures in the water.

No doubt about it, Geo's fave was a Japanese exhibit, Hachiko the Loyal Dog.

An entry from the United States was Farmers: the People who Feed the World.

Here are other sculptures we saw as we walked through the gardens.

I took a close-up of one of the deer.

More pruning:

The animals were fun.

Another photo (Mother Earth) seen here with the waterfall is truly spectacular:

Here's another view:

Another amazing one, symbolizing harmony with nature:

Here's one from a Canadian exhibit:

And this is only a small sampling of what we viewed...  

Art Hop and Preservation Burlington Walking Tour

The South End of Burlington, Vermont, historically had been an industrial hub. This area is now emerging as Burlington's art district. During the weekend of the annual Art Hop, Geo and I took the Pine Street walking tour offered by Preservation Burlington. (Hmm, anyone notice an error on the sign? Clue: Check the date!) 

Burlington, on Lake Champlain, imported huge amounts of lumber in the early days from Canada. A cottage manufacturing shop not far from the lake employed about 150 people in making furniture. The wood frame building with the red rock foundation still stands. The iron buttresses were added sometime during the 1980's.

This building housed Burlington's former coal company.  

Directly behind it is the site of the current Barge Canal Market.

Burlington's Street Department was located here. It's now home to artist studios.

If you look closely, you can still see the original sign.

Dorn's Venetian Beverages were bottled on Pine Street. We saw some of the original bottles. We learned that ginger ale was popular during Prohibition because the beverage had "zing" to it. It was also added to "moonshine" to improve flavor. When Dorn's sold out, Coca Cola bottling took its place. We saw some of the original Dorn beverage bottles.

This building is now a lighting store.

There was also a laundry on Pine Street. It boasted of its sanitary conditions and invited people of the time to take tours. There were huge windows to let in the maximum amount of light.

One of the most impressive buildings is the Maltex (still called that today). This is where cereal was made - like Wheatina and Maypo.

Our guide showed us what it looked like years ago.

Today it's one of the popular happening places for the Art Hop. Last night this is where the Vermont Jazz Ensemble played (and not far from where the Ben and Jerry's truck parked for free scoops of ice cream for everyone). 

After our tour we headed to the Burlington Farmer's Market where Geo had a Peruvian pork slider from one of his fave vendors.

We found a bench in City Hall Park. These guys were quite entertaining. (Burlington's Got Talent!)

We learned a lot about the history of this active former industrial part of Burlington. Now it's primarily a thriving place for the arts, as well as other businesses. It's all part of the South End Arts and Business Association. The walking tour was a pleasant part of the weekend celebration.