Washington has historical monuments and museums that you could spend weeks exploring. And while I was game to pop by the White House, to visit the Lincoln Memorial and to wander around a few of the Smithsonian museums, I was most excited to take in some of the modern public art that lines the National Mall. Here are some of my favourites….

“Are Years What? (for Marianne Moore)” by Mark di Suervo – I love di Suervo’s art. In this piece, I enjoyed the simplistic contrast in the red of the beams against the green landscaping and white of so many of the buildings along the Mall.

“Pumpkin” by Yayoi Kusama – You would be hard pressed not to run into one of Kusama’s creations among collections of modern public art these days. This is great pop art and brought a smile to my face instantly.

“Wish Tree” by Yoko Ono – You can write a wish on a tag and tie it to this tree. I loved the beauty of this and took a few moments to tie a couple of wishes of my own.

My first wishes were heartfelt while one was a not-so-serious wish for my summer volleyball team to win a few games. That worked as we won two games this year!

“House I” by Roy Lichtenstein – The odd angles make it look like a cartoon popped up in the middle of a sculpture garden. I couldn’t take my eyes off this one.

“Cheval Rouge” by Alexander Calder – My love of public art originated by visiting a Calder sculpture with my dad on one of my first trips to Montreal as a child. I’ve been fascinated with his art ever since.

“Typewriter Eraser, Scale X” by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen – An ode to how we sometimes feel toward older and obsolete objects and a commentary on consumerism… I really just love how this looks.

“Personnage Gothique, Oiseau-Eclair” by Joan Miro – A donkey yoke, a cardboard box and a bird. I love the textures in this sculpture though I have no idea what it is trying to convey.

“Spider” by Louise Bourgeois – Her use of the spider as a representation of her mother (and of maternal feelings of protection) is an interesting commentary in this location. In among government buildings and the houses of power in America, I think this speaks to how our governments are to protect and nurture us, while the delicate form of the spider indicates how fleeting and vulnerable this is right now.

“Chair Transformation Number 208” by Lucas Samaras – Tucked into a corner of a sculpture garden, I almost missed this one. I liked the delicate balance and angle of this work.

“Aurora” by Mark di Suvero – A representation of energy about to be or able to be released. There are eight tons of steel in the sculpture, and maybe I’m reading too much into this in these politically charged times, but I think today this could be interpreted as a statement of the inertia of our political systems while also speaking to the potential positive energy that our systems could have for our people.