Photos from Open Studio Garden Show, Brewster, MA

OPEN STUDIO & GARDEN SHOW

Saturday, September 17th looks like it'll be a stunning day for strolling among gardens interspersed with metal sculptures at Lauren's and my 

                                           OPEN STUDIO AND GARDEN SHOW
                                           September 17th,   3-7pm
                                           8 Clipper Way
                                           Brewster on the Cape
                                           Public Invited 

Antique farm containers from Vermont combined with metal sculptures transform container gardening into mini garden artscapes.  Great as focal point to a patio party.

Two gardens will be on display at 8 Clipper Way and 12 Clipper Way (next door to each other.)

Join us for a drink and a garden art stroll before your Saturday night activities!   See you then!

Garden Delight



Two of A Kind

What I have found in the gardens of Cape Cod is a vibrant array of colors that offer a stunning backdrop in which to "plant" my loopy metal flower bursts


...constructed of reclaimed aluminum cable and conduit, the sculptures are placed amongst the plants and flowers...


...it's my way of enticing you to come outside and play!




...

Strolling



Emerge



Dancing with Daisies, (detail)

Interconnection with nature

"My aim is to offer a way of re-imagining ourselves within nature, as part of nature, rather than separate from it, that's why I position the sculptures in amongst the plants and flowers, rather than on a pedestal."

The Nature Zone

The Nature Zone 

Click on the small print above (The Nature Zone) to view the video of the arundo harvest, and after school art workshops using the harvested reed to build ephemeral, nature sculptures.  Arundo donax is an invasive reed that is slurping up precious water from our desert rivers. Together we harvest it, and turn it into nature art--a good way to help the ecology while keeping ourselves creatively entertained!

Artist-in-Residence, Cape Cod, MA, 2011

          

                              Greetings from Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  Still following the 

trail left behind by the Boston Flower Show in March, which lead to a 3-week artist-in-residency here on the Cape. Hosts of the residency: Lauren Miklavic of La Vita Bella Garden Design and Mary Beth Sacramone, two art aficionadas from Wellesley, MA.

                              Two sculpture installations resulted from the residency, one at Stonegate Gardens, (photos above) in Lincoln, MA and one at Kennedys Country Gardens (photos below) in Scituate, MA.  These two picturesque nurseries are full of lush, inspiring garden ideas--definitely worth a visit!  Check out the metal tubular sculpture set into the plantscape while you're there.  Please tell them I referred you!

               

           

Flower burst of aluminum wire, me and the Koi

Assembling among the trees

Tucking metal tubing into the grass

 Sculpture laced into the landscape in front of the fish pond.

Boston Flower Show 2011

Just returned from the Boston Flower Show 2011 where I had the opportunity to build a metal sculpture, on-site, for the garden designed by four graduates of the Garden Design School.  It was one of 25 gardens constructed inside the Seaport World Trade Center, and displayed to the public, March 16-20.  

"Have aluminum wire will travel!"  
The journey begins from
Amy's (left) house and in Lauren's (right) car.
I'm in the middle.

Me and first metal flower.

JUST LOOK AT THAT DEEP GREEN.  Very different from the green we get in the Sonoran desert!  While everyone else was unpacking materials and planting, I secured a space on a nearby loading dock and began bending tubing and twirling aluminum wire in preparation for the final sculpture.

.  

The trees, flowers, pathways and pavilion had to be in place before the actual sculpture assembly could begin.  That happened just around midnight on the last day of set-up.  With a cup of tea and a banana from the convenience mart next door to fuel the final 7-hour construction and installation, Lauren and I worked through the night to get the sculpture positioned before the designers started arriving again at 7am.  

  Four aluminum wire flowers set into hand-bent metal tubing loop into, above and around the garden.
Integrated into the soil like one of the many plants, the sculpture beckons the viewer to come into the garden for a closer look. Photos below show different viewpoints.

Lauren checks out the "hidden side."

Metal flowers creep among natural flowers...

... and loop into the ground and sprout up as if 'planted' there.

Perhaps the sculptures are conversing--like two neighbors over a garden fence.

There were still more finishing touches to do on the garden before the judging began at 10am.  Luckily, Theresa (another garden designer) hopped the train in from Northboro and helped mulch the greenery beneath the bamboo pavilion. (She recommended me for this project, and is also an avid art collector. Thanks, Theresa.)

Right on schedule, our final garden design as seen from just inside the public entrance to the 
Seaport World Trade Center, Boston.
  Merry Perry Designs, photography.

Award winners.  Garden designers Lauren and Tom 
proudly show off their ribbon.
(Missing from photo are designers, Kim and Joanne.) Merry Perry Designs, photography

After all the WORK we went out (to the other exhibits) to PLAY!
From left Clare (visitor) Theresa, me

I
For more behind the scenes info on how this garden came about, read Kim's award winning blog.