Three months ago, Sally Marbry conceived the idea to transform a utilitarian electrical box in front of the Greyhound station in downtown Redding into a piece of public art. This series is a chronicle of her work and her observations of life on the corner of Pine and Butte.
Part 12: Communication
August 16 Lots of activity before the depot doors open this morning. Two yuppies sit on the box with their piles of stuff. They both talk on cell phones, but scoot off politely while still talking.
A fat woman chews out a thin guy. I do not look up or listen to details but hear the riff. They end up across the street in a close, silent stare-off. The air crackles with tension. I stifle my laughter from an image of a bull and a weasel facing off. Time is up. The bus needs to leave and he is on it. She gets in her car, pulls out into the intersection, and is slammed by a car smack in the middle of the intersection. Bad karma day. More anger. Babies crying. Police car blinking.
Teen on bicycle stops and compliments. I feel good about being acknowledged. Street person stops to say something about the bent part of the trunk. Most of his sentence is inaudible. Many inaudible street people actually. If they could only communicate, like the yuppie couple on their cell phones, they could turn off any human interaction and then not have to talk at all.
To be continued…
Click here to find all the Greyhound Chronicles.
Visit Sally on September 12 on Pine and Butte as she reveals her electrical box turned masterpiece as part of September’s 2nd Saturday ArtHop.
Sally Marbry has shared her fine art, ceramics and sculpture skills as a teacher, product designer and interior designer. For the past year, Sally has been the host and writer of “Home Zone,” weekly on KLXR. She also chairs Viva Downtown Redding’s Design Committee, which spearheaded the public art and street beautification project. Reach Sally at Earth2Sal@charter.net.
