Art in the Garden... with a Purpose

McMenamins Edgefield - Troutdale, Oregon

Once the County Poor Farm, the 38-acre McMenamins estate near Portland features a Georgian revival-style lodge, restaurants & pubs, vineyard & brewery, gardens & spa, golf course & more. Guest rooms include private en suite accommodations, European-style common baths, & hostel rooms. I planned my McMenamins visit to coincide with Cracked Pots - staying at Edgefield during the organization's 10th Annual Garden Art Show.

While the Cracked Pots event is lively and fun, the purpose is serious: Reuse, recycle.... look creatively at trash!

Tess Beistel, one of the co-founders, explained that although the group creates garden art, the overriding concerns are conservation, and stewardship of the environment.

Visit www.crackedpots.org .... to learn more.

Earth Tones - Imaginative, recycled creations

An Artist Directory is listed on the Cracked Pots web site.

The iconic water tower stands at McMenamins Edgefield.

A 3/4-acre garden provides produce for Edgefield's Black Rabbit Restaurant:

Head gardener, Kim Kincaid

Clifton Metal Works

Garden trough on the Edgefield grounds.

Piece by Piece - Created from Previously-loved Pieces

The Late Show Gardens - September in Sonoma

Ginkoweb

Photos Courtesy of the Artist,

Stephen Glassman

The Late Show Gardens at Cornerstone Sonoma

This show took place September 18, 19 & 20, 2009.

Contemplative and confrontational, words used to describe White Tail Plaza in Los Angeles, a recently completed project by Stephen Glassman.

I'm excitedly looking forward to seeing one of Glassman's sculptural installations in-person at The Late Show Gardens event, to be held in September at Cornerstone Sonoma.

In talking with Glassman about his process and about working with bamboo, he mentions how "everything comes from drawing... drawing is free from gravity... it's all about the relationship between control and accident. Bamboo allows me to do that on a large architectural scale."

In addition to work created in his studio, and exhibited in galleries, Glassman has always worked on the street. In the early 1990s, he created large-scale freeform structural bamboo installations in devastated urban sites around Los Angeles, following the Rodney King Riots, Malibu Fires and Northridge Quake.

These lyrical works emerged as symbols of resiliency. More about Glassman's public projects & collaborations at: stephenglassmanstudio.net

Link to a special feature 

Shime

Garden Play - Topher Delaney, Designer

Garden Play by Topher Delaney  -  Seam Studio: Land Projects

Environmental artist; garden builder; sculptor: It's not easy to fit Topher Delaney (and the work produced by Seam Studio) into a given category.

Nor is.... Garden Play, Delaney's installation, pictured here as the final post - for the time being, featuring garden installations at Cornerstone Sonoma.

Having been called beautiful and witty, Delaney's design poses questions about the nature (pun intended) of a garden.

Shade fabric, used on either side, closes off the space, while Bar Code 39 - illustrated along the back wall and made of recycled plastic lumber, indicates the symbolism/significance = to garden play.

Have gardens become commodities? How do you define a garden?

Delaney planted eight birch trees: their white trunks and gestural branches repeating the white of the fabric enclosure on 2 sides. The ground plane, too, composed of crushed oyster shells, represents another bright white element. All these facets continually shift in tone; as rain falls in a cascade, clouds pass overhead, or the oftentimes brilliant rays of the sun burn down. Shadows from the trees and the oversize balls bring another lively aspect to the surroundings.

Take in the space from a seat on one of the woven spheres. Or, perhaps you're more inclined to toss them about.

Spare... minimal? Yes. Playful and provocative? Most definitely.

Garden Play is one of numerous child-friendly environments at Cornerstone. A place where you're likely to see kids interacting with the adults in-tow; enjoying opportunities to experience early-on the challenging notions associated with the art of gardens.

As founder and president Chris Hougie directed the designers at the outset, "... invent, inform, and create beautiful and compelling gardens that engage and inspire the viewer intellectually, emotionally, and aesthetically."

Link to: Cornerstone Sonoma on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

Garden Ornaments Part 2: Destination, Cornerstone Sonoma

A New Leaf Gallery - Contemporary Sculpture

 Sally Russell 'Totems'

CORNERSTONE SONOMA

Shops... Wine Tasting .... Sonoma Valley Visitors Center

and

.... Garden Installations ....

appearing on Bay Area Tendrils in the weeks ahead

Artefact Design & Salvage

Cornerstone Sonoma Event Space designed by Ron Lutsko, Lutsko Associates

Arbor draped in the fragrant blooms of Rosa 'Sombreuil'

Objects, Ornaments and Treasures - Artefact Design and Salvage

Resin Buddha - Zipper

Cornerstone Sonoma - 23570 Highway 121 (Arnold Drive) - Sonoma, CA

'Ornaments in the Garden' on Bay Area Tendrils

A Garden Without Plants - A Dialogue - the Art of Gardens

Photo: lostlandscape

I have a stacks of research material, photos, et. al, for upcoming posts, along with the demands of the garden at this time of year, and attempting to stay on top of myraid details life seems to be throwing my way this week.

Still, I'm compelled to mention a dialogue that I find mesmerizing. It's taking place on a blog I follow for its keen photographic vision, insightful aesthetic viewpoint, and appreciation for bold, beautiful plants:  Lost in the Landscape.

http://www.soenyun.com/Blog/

The April 24, '09 post,  landscaping without plants features the central plaza of the Salk Institute, designed by Louis Kahn.

To my eye, the photos by lostlandscape impart a distinctive connection with Islamic garden design. Yet in the lead photo - a singular view of Kahn's plaza - no greenery appears. 

Despite the starkness, I agree with James Golden's comment,  "I'd call it a garden even with no plants."

For Country Mouse, it's more "... like a place where nuclear fuel might be produced. By robots."

(That produced a hearty chuckle, but I'm uncertain if the spirit of fun was intentional.)

Read the entire post.  

Click on the panoramic view.  

Perhaps you'll feel compelled to join in the dialogue.