Images from the North Carolina Botanical Garden.
That last one’s for Amy.
Posted by Susan Harris on October 18, 2009 at 5:32 am, in the category But is it Art?.
Commented on OG Mag on Wildlife-Friendly Gardens: What's Wrong with this Picture? { Hello There. I discovered your blog using msn. This is a very well written article. I will be sure to bookmark it and come back... } – May 23, 1:31 AM
Commented on Got Gnomes? { It is very funny, and also a bit of an inside joke. There is a very funny book "Yew and Non-Yew" by James Bartholomew that... } – May 22, 11:44 PM
Commented on In Defense of Plant Critics { It's not worth going back to quote it exactly, but the crack in the article about the man who loved his impatiens, but didn't know... } – May 22, 11:03 PM
Commented on OG Mag on Wildlife-Friendly Gardens: What's Wrong with this Picture? { Wait - you think a domestic cat is not "part of the ecosystem"? I suppose we humans aren't "part of the ecosystem" either? How exactly... } – May 22, 8:58 PM Commented on OG Mag on Wildlife-Friendly Gardens: What's Wrong with this Picture? { Oh I TOTALLY agree with you! And thank goodness they didn't publish that photo that had a CHILD in the wildlife-friendly garden! Imagine the destruction... } – May 22, 8:54 PMWe are:
perfect
magazine
gardens.
Gardening
our
asses
off.
Having a
hell of a lot
of fun.
This is a welcome and refreshing blog entry.
In my minds eye I see the making of a garden an aesthetic art form whether there is sculpture placed in it or not.
Sure vegetable gardens are important and can feed a family but art feeds the soul and I for one could use a lot more sumptuous servings of inspirational alfresco vignettes that nourishes our essence of being than the old tired debate about ripping out your lawn in order to plant vegetables.
The last photo was a big screw up. Unbalanced heavy metal.
Inspiring sampler. Thanks!
Susan -
MADLY in love with the awesome sculptures. Great story!
Shawna
Living in the US with grocery stores loaded with every imaginable food source available does make art more fun – and having a lifestyle that allows fun allows one to be concerned with art and soul. But never call it a tired debate when it comes to feeding the less fortunate. It should not be debated at all – when push comes to shove – I’d rather be the veggie farmer than the artistic gardener. I’d rather feed someone’s body so they can have strength to feed their soul. I do love the artistic – I really do – but vegetable growing is my highest calling.
At Lewis Ginter, we love Sculpture in the Garden too! That is why in 2010 we are bringing glass sculpture from Hans Godo Frabel to the Garden. Curious? Check out some of his work here: http://lewisginter.org/blog/2009/09/04/glass-sculpture-exhibit-by-world-renown-artist-coming-in-2010/
Check out my newsletter on a sculpture show in central Mass., and thoughts on how to place garden sculpture.
http://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=001hKHmuNj9Yg2FWtPb3tv9Lw%3D%3D
Is’nt garden sculpture great! Nice post
The late Christopher Lloyd did formal focal points with informal grasses DECADES AGO at Great Dixter.
Loved it when I saw it & love it still.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
It is Stipa , technically Nasella, tenuissima
Hey, can anybody identify these 2 sculptures? I’m sending this to my Smithsonian friends to see if they know.
very nice, love the second shot!
I can do without the art. I like flowers and vegetables. I would never put strange things like this in mine. I do not know the type of grass that is.
Susan: The black piece is by Joan Miro and is called “Lunar Bird.” The red piece is (I think) Alexander Calder’s “Hat’s Off.”
thanks, Pam – both those identifications sound right to me. Did you know, or did your grad-student-in-art-history-daughter Becca ID them?
I’ve always liked big art outside. Surrounded by grass is even better.
Susan: neither. I just googled my way to the IDs.
Love the idea of sculpture & gardens combined though I don’t have room for more than the smallest pieces in my yard.
The top sculpture looks like one of my son’s Pokemon creatures. Just sayin’.
We have a local “concrete heaven,” and one of the statues that was there for about a year always made me grin, though I couldn’t for the life of me think of a situation in which it would fit. It was a typical French neoclassical woman/nymph with her hands modestly covering her body, except the expected torso was replaced with the famous Marilyn Monroe skirt-on-a-grate.
Absolute kitch, and meant to be, every inch of it. I’d love to meet the person who bought it. Unless she bought it out of Irony (and oh, how earnest the persistently Ironic are these days), she must be a fun person.
Hideous waste of probable government grants.
Should be replaced with a lawn
The TROLL
Um… just to be pedantic, Nassella tenuissima will soon be reverting back to Stipa tenuissima, according to the editors of the Poaceae section of the new Jepson Manual of California plants. Also, Lolium and Vulpia will be subsumed into Festuca (fescue). No wonder gardeners are exasperated with botanists and plant taxonomists (I personally am straddling that fence).
FYI… The Denver Botanic Gardens has a current exhibit of Henry Moore sculptures. They are fantastic and the surrounding placements well done. Worth a visit if you are from here or visiting. The Garden has also completed a new children garden and replaced all of the greenhouses. Money well spent for the future!