The beloved Biltmore Square Mall is closing at the end of the month. It is beloved because it has palm trees, and anything with palm trees ought to be beloved. If I were rich, I’d own a pad with vaulted ceilings and skylights just so I could adopt the lovely palms before they get hacked down.
The lot of the mall’s statuary is not so sorry. It is being donated. One piece is going to Black Mountain as public art, and another one is going to Waynesville. Unlike the new installation in downtown Hendersonville, which is supposed to be shaped like a mountain, the article in the Mountaineer explains:
The spectacular work of three forged bronze tadpole-chasers is representational art — neither whimsical nor modernistic. It is children playing in a pond who look like children playing in a pond.
One really can’t complain if the art is free – except Waynesville has also been offered another piece – that weird head that wore the lighted wreath last Christmas. It used to be known as “La Femme,” but the article has renamed it “Le Femme.” Hey, it’s from Asheville.
