The Harp Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

Nomex: The cache owner is not responding to issues with this geocache, so I must regretfully archive it.

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Hidden : 6/5/2011
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:


You may not know that South San Francisco is home to a Wind Harp. You may have seen it, though, because it is highly visible on the Bay side of that city. It stands 94 feet high and is on a rise 243 feet above sea level. It was originally called the Cabot, Cabot and Forbes Tower when it was constructed in 1967 at their industrial park. It was acquired by the city of South San Francisco in 1996 and now sits in the heart of the bioindustry area.
Harp
The artists responsible for the sculpture are Lucia and Aristides Demetrios. Aristides Burton Demetrios is the son of a classical sculptor who trained under a student of Rodin. His mother was an award-winning illustrator. Artistic talent was obviously in his blood. He graduated from Harvard, served in the Navy and then continued his study of art. His first major recognition was a design for a fountain on the Stanford University campus. He has since done major public art throughout the United States and the world. In more recent years he has done works for private collectors.
Harp
It turns out that wind harps, or Aeolian harps, are a whole genre of art. They originated in ancient Greece around 6 B.C. and were called Aeolian after the Greek god of the wind. The god Orpheus would recite poetry to the sound of the wind harps. They became most popular during the Renaissance era. The construction of a wind harp involves the whole science of harmonic sound as well as just the artistic elements. The idea is to let nature’s rhythm create multi-layered music. There are even CDs of wind harp music. The music has inspired numerous poets over the years. Thoreau liked to sit near telegraph wires and listen to the wind play music through them. Not all harps are in as monumental a scale as ours. Most are designed for private gardens. They are related to the wind chimes that are better known to us today. While all about the sound, little about them is in included in studies of music. The sound is random and not something composed. One might expect that a work entitled Wind Harp to be a delicate thing with strings of wire to catch gentle breezes. This is not the case. Our Wind Harp appears to be a made of rusty steel I-beams welded into graceful arches. The shape and shadows change as the light shifts or the viewer moves about. It takes a fairly strong wind to make it sing, but this is not much of a problem at that spot next to the Bay.


Cache is located near this beautiful piece of art, on an item that is not so beautiful. Cache contains log and small items only so please bring your own writing utensil and as always, please replace the cache exactly as you found it. There is a decent paved hill to climb to get to the spot. This area is also home of a virtual cache GC958B Everyone Knows It's Windy. You should check it out while you're here. There is parking all around here, though I don't know whether or not it's legal to use it or not, so you're on your own for parking. Happy Hunting!!

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