British garden art, air plants and yes, driftwood. RHS Hampton Court Flower Show 2010

Air plants are very chic and if you can work out a funky way of suspending them from something as equally funky you may assist in creating the new drive for air based gardens. It always amazes me how cheap air plants are to purchase. What fab garden art.  They are so beautiful and sculptural. Heavens they don’t even need soil  – why aren’ there airplants everywhere (indoors)?

Perhaps a jewellery range is waiting to happen – its probably already happening at ETSY somewhere.

Anyway I found one airplant retailer at Hampton Flower Show but he had not kept up with the air plant craze happening in in the US.  Yep in true British style the Brits are still attaching their tilliandis to driftwood ….except he was from Europe ….but he was selling to the British market…

I like that ….just observing that is all……cultural application of air plants

Recycled glass garden wall art. It glows at night.

The garden wall as art – a beautiful colour and simple clean shape – made from steel mesh and recycled glass the wall is illuminated from within.

A similar concept to the Dominus Winery in Napa Valley California. The winery was clad with gabions and also glowed in the dark.

Landscape Architects (Hocker Design Group) and Architects are reported to have worked closely with the Architects (Cunningham Architects) to create this award winning project in Dallas.

Once again thanks Contemporist for the images and the info . http://www.contemporist.com/2010/06/24/house-in-the-garden-by-cunningham-architects/

Garden Art – metal stakes. Suzie Gutteridge

Garden art is always welcome at Garden Beet. Suzie Gutteridge sent me a shot of her recent outdoor sculpture being shown at Sir Harrold Hillier Gardens in Romsey. I can see a vertical theme developing here. Take a look at her recycled plastic garden art stakes .

Moore Designs at RHS Chelsea 2010. Handmade metal garden art and accessories with colour

Here we have contemporary metalwork – with vibrant colour. Alex Moore is an artist and blacksmith (in photo with his wife) creating some unique garden accessories that Garden Beet was most excited to see at Chelsea. Too colourful? No problem he can do garden art in any hue. The shapes are bulbous and could sit within a modern or classical design. Go on heritage heads – add some friction to your refined buxus or lavender hedges.

If you would like more information please visit Alex’s website http://www.mooredesigns.co.uk.

How to stabilse your earth shaping garden art using recycled plastics: Neoweb

Flat garden? Try manipulating the ground.

Earth sculpting use to be all natural – not now. I am unsure if there was a trend in Australian gardens during the 70s but I do remember neighbours doing ever so gentle earth sculpting and arranging boulders and a few native trees. That was a ‘natural’ type of garden art.

These days earth sculpting has moved beyond recreating nature. Earth shapes have become more interesting.  The above photo is of the famous garden designed by Charles Jenks for the National Galleries of Scotland. Below is a shot of Charles Jenks recent naked lady designed for a new landform park in Northumbland. Its due to open in 2013.

Creating shapes with soil may seem straightforward but its a tad more complicated than building a 20 cm high sand castle using wet sand on the beach.  In general the steeper the slope the more readable landforming becomes but steeps slopes are prone to slipping. Its all dependant on variables such as soil type, geology, vegetation and loadings – if you need help a geotechnical engineer will know .

There are various techniques available to stablise steep slopes. One of those techniques involves the use of a ground reinforcing material such as Neoweb which is now made from recycled plastics.  Its similar to a honey-comb structure and provides pockets for holding soil or crushed rock in place. Very handy for garden art comprised of steep mown grass slopes. 

I have worked on large infrastructure projects so am familar with ground reinforcing products but I do wonder if the shape of the domestic garden would take on a different appearance if gardeners started experimenting with products like Neoweb? 

If you need more info on stabilising your earth shaping projects have a look at http://www .hoofmark.co.uk/neoweb_load_support.html   

Willow weaving sculpture – a garden art project for a weedy species in Australia?

 

There are many things that happen in the UK that do not happen in Australia. One of those happenings is Willow sculpture . Above are some shots I took at Kew Gardens, UK recently. The artist is Tom Hare.

Australian nature lovers tend to dislike Willows – they clog up the waterways and destroy habitat. As far as I am aware Australians have not taken to Willow weaving either.

I am very aware of my dark attitude to Willows. (there are plenty more – ivy, blackberry, in fact much of the English landscape! I say this half jokingly – but there is an element of truth). 

Its very weird carrying around a kind of ‘hate’ for certain plants – particularly when living in an enviornment where it does not cause a threat to the ecosystem.  Anyway regardless of my ‘feelings’ for Willows I really enjoy the shapes and possibilites that can be created with its branches. Maybe there is a cottage industry waiting to happen in country Australia?

Rachel Carter’s garden art. Weaving willow and mild steel.

Gosh it is possible to get some fabulous garden art. Rachel Carter’s woven shapes would look great in many gardens – I am really drawn to the spheres. It is possible to purchase them for £90 which is great price considering each is made by hand.

The sphere is coated with Boiled Linseed Oil and the metal rod is left untreated to allow the surface of the metal to eventually colour and blend in with the garden.   Rachel is based in Derbyshire UK and will be exhibiting at Chelsea this year.

Rachel’s website is http://www.rachelcarter.co.uk/index.html

Sublime garden art – convert your swimming pool into an eco wetland

Garden art that you can swim in? Pure bliss. The swimming pools above are new builds and retro fits – designed and constructed by Clear Water Revival in the UK.

Clear Water Revival are specialists in converting swimming pools into wetlands.

Wetlands are amazing systems –  they can filter heavily polluted water and make it clean. Importantly for swimming pools they can also kill bacteria.  It makes a lot of sense to design a swimming pool that can provide habitat as well as provide a swimming environment  that has no chemicals or salt.

Wetlands have become a standard water treatment system on many large-scale building and infrastructure projects where stormwater run-off needs to be treated on site before it is allowed back into the river systems (and eventually out to sea).  Typically these systems have had a ‘natural’ appearance. But there is nothing stopping the design having a very formal appearance. The design possibilities are endless.

Clear Water Revival’s website is a great website for design inspiration – take a look http://www.clear-water-revival.com/#/home.

Hang in your Garden Art – Chairs that float. Myburgh Designs.

I think I would like to be typing this post in one of the hanging chairs above. Hand made from metal (mostly copper) Steve Myburgh’s sculptural chairs are for luxuriating.

The Bubble Swing (1st Image) is currently being inserted into my imaginary city pad.

Made in Sussex, UK many of these orbs are already swinging in opulent gardens worldwide.

Prices are around £4K. For further details Steve’s website is http://www.myburghdesigns.com/index.html

Plastic Bags Assembled in an English Garden. By Suzie Gutteridge (eco garden art).

Oppy jeppy …how grand is this!! Suzie Gutteridge is finding fun in recycling plastic bags and inserting it in the most traditional gardens. I really enjoy this contrast – for further details on Suzie her website is at http://www.suziegutteridge.com/recycling_b.html.

Corten steel art at Cranbourne Australia Garden

These photos were taken at the Australian Garden, Cranbourne Botanical Gardens in Melbourne Australia. This place is sheer joy for me. All the Aussie plants are name tagged – a great resource for any planting design project.

Here is rusted corten steel used once again  to great effect along the edge of the ‘mandatory botanical garden water feature’. (click here for previous article on corten steel in Melbourne).

The gabion bank stabilisers are looking a bit sloppy- thought a more 90 degree angle would be sought from such a high profile garden design? No big deal – sloppy works too.

Loads to explore. Oh dear – I do miss the blinding glare and brightness of Australia .

Public art and tree climbers need each other

See that tree above? Look to the left. There is a tiny man sitting in an outdoor camping chair. That is Joe – the unsung public art installer of London. He climbs really scary heights to install Christmas lights on Oxford Street and umbrellas outside Channel Four.

Thank god there are people like him in the world otherwise my days would not be as exciting.

A Quick Garden Design Idea with 200 Objects, Not Much Money and Loads of Creativity

No money? Stuck for ideas on how to liven up your garden design?  Arrangement of the most everyday items can create a striking effect.

You have 30 minutes to liven up a drab garden. Lets apply the lessons being taught by artist Stephanie Imbeau outside London’s Channel Four. Repetition and Context.

Grab some household items that have the same shape and colour. Arrange these items and shapes in various ways, over and over again to create a pattern.

PLUS.

Take the items out of their normal setting and use them for a purpose for which they are not usually used or locate them in a setting where they are not normally found to create visual intrigue.

Voilà – a no dig amazing garden art program and a show stopping outdoor space.

Home workers: would a rectangle of orange at the bottom of the garden help if you get caught in eeyore’s gloomy place?.

I had captain shite day yesterday in the world of internet business

1. Some dude tried to strike a ‘deal’ that was a total sham (I have waisted well respected suppliers and shippers time with organising the mother of all orders)

2.  Some other dude rang me trying to convince me that I needed his search engine help – he would not got away – and then when I told him I was already on the first page of Google he hung up on me! Right. Thanks for that.

3. Then a marketing letter landed in my inbox which set me off about the lack of transparency in internet business.

Then I went to Sam’s and sat in her back garden. And there it was. Her kinetic garden art. The 4.10 train. The beautiful speed of orange made me feel better.

Could this be a design solution for the home worker with no water cooler mates to debrief ? Ensure you have some type of colourful movement that changes the view momentarily in case you get caught in eeyor’s gloomy place. I think it works for me.

Bulbous planter pots in a wider landscape setting. Paula Hayes.

Paula Hayes has me captured. What a wonderful contrast – grasses and silicon bulbous planters. The context of these planter pots in the wider landscape shots seems brilliant to me.   Her website allows close inspection of each pot – there is more- she does necklaces, terrariums and is a highly sort after landscape designer. American (should I say, of course?). Arid landscapes are my thing so perhaps I have I bias. Her website is a total joy and reflects her work as a garden designer. http://www.paulahayes.com/

Guerilla Gardening Art in the UK with Richard and Pete Dungey

Guerilla gardening is a type of gardening that involves planting in public spaces without any government endorsement. Its a war against ‘neglect and scarcity of public spaces to grow things be they beautiful, tasty (or both)’. UK based Richard has been operating The Guerrilla Gardening website since 2004 and documents a series of his and others guerilla gardening works (both in the UK and worldwide).

To me this is garden art.  When I asked Richard whether he thought his work was art this was his response

I’m a little uncomfortable with suggesting it’s art because of associations that come with that, but these are probably prejudices I have about artists! It’s a craft, it’s an obsession, it has symbolic elements, it’s publicly expressive, it can be provocative, it’s a performance… by these measure’s it’s art. But not art as it’s defined today as a business…………………………

…………………UK seems particularly backward compared with some other places I’ve visited. More to be revealed through my Pimp Your Pavement campaign this year.

Well I can’t wait for pimp the pavement. This movement is getting interesting. Watch out landscape architects.

Richard’s website is a great collection of work concerned with all forms of guerilla gardening.  His website currently features the work of Pete Dungey who is producing  ‘an ongoing series of public installations highlighting the problem of surface imperfections on Britain’s roads’. Pete is basically creating bright hazard signs to warn trucks, cyclists and cars of the pot holes with his guerilla gardens. Fantastic. Pete also has a call for participation on his website if you feel inclined.

Garden art is weaved into depressing hospital spaces at St Georges, London

Sometimes the most dreary spaces can be lifted from depressedville to something that inspires.

These weaved sculptures that were clasping onto the birches were so fantastic that my visit to St.George’s hospital was not all doom and gloom. So a big thank you to the artist. There was also some interesting paintings and metal wall art on the internal walls however I was unable to get photos of that  work.

I can’t really demand that public money be diverted from the medical world to the design of public spaces so I suppose a type of garden art insertion into the existing is a good compromise. But NHS when you do decide to do some rethinking -good design does not necessarily have to cost more.

Artist is Laura Ellen Bacon. Her works are for sale at http://www.lauraellenbacon.com/index.htm

Extraordinary Metal Weaving. Garden Art and Insect Sculptures by Fiona Campbell

If the world was perfect Garden Beet would be selling garden art (this click through is to Garden Beet  – not Fiona’s work) such as Fiona Campbell’s organic steel, copper and wire sculptures. Her pieces are made from found and scrap metal and she weaves various contrasting metals into some amazing shapes. Experimenting  with materials is her preference – she is not interested in mass production – and therefore each piece is either a one off or part of a limited series.

Fiona creates various insect sculptures (this click through is to Garden Beet  – not Fiona’s work) as well as some beautiful hand drawn sketches . Pictures above include her dung beetle, cocoons and butterfly sculpture (this click through is to Garden Beet  – not Fiona’s work).  Fiona explains

My upbringing and frequent trips to Kenya have a strong bearing on the earthy, skeletal, organic, exaggerated forms, textures and colours with which I work.  I have always been intrigued by nests and the process of weaving intricate structures; the sculptural forms of cocoons and anthills are awesome; insects, generally, fascinate me with their bulbous, solid structures on spiky pincer-pointed legs.

If you are interested in purchasing Fiona’s work to place in your garden her Dung Beetle is approx £520, Cocoons are approx £200-£400 and her Butterfly is approx £1400. Go to her website for further details http://www.fionacampbellart.co.uk/.

Garden art with corten steel. Pierre Le Roux Designs are adding design to outdoor accessories.

Using metal in the landscape for garden walls, screens or house numbers  is a great way to add some garden art and sculptural function to the essential but usually dull components of the garden. And corten steel is a great material for adding another dimension to the appearance of metal.  It is designed to rust and it is the rust that makes it popular. The rich colour of the rust can look spectacular and its appearance changes with the various lighting levels during the day.

Corten was developed in America and is also referred to as weathering steel. In Melbourne, Australia rusted steel first became popular as an architectural material in the 1960s but fell out of favour as the run-off stained surrounding concrete pavements.

But all was forgiven by the 2000’s and the material became fashionable again. Landscape designs were either modified to cater for the run-off staining or just ignored.

Landmark buildings and infrastructure projects such as the Craigieburn Bypass Hume Freeway (shown above) has probably contributed to this material becoming popular in domestic gardens in Melbourne.

Below are some shots of work produced by a Melbourne metal artists Pierre Le Roux Design http://www.plrdesign.com.au/. They are definitely adding art to the garden accessories department, adding interest to suburbia’s streetscapes  and producing some unique metal wall art .

Garden spider art is not welcome indoors on any walls – thank goodness for Luxebugaway a true eco gift

This is garden wall art but sometimes these garden ornaments are REAL and come inside the home and are far from decorative. What does one do when faced with a big hairy spider? I strive  to leave them well alone and try to uphold the belief that we can all live happily together.  After all they catch insects and I do enjoy investigating their cobweb art masterpieces. But sometimes mother nature’s ‘creatives’ are not welcome – regardless of their artistic contributions to my very own domestic drudgery. Garden art by spiders in the outdoors is one thing but inside I need more insect control.

Oh what fun and joy I found upon seeing this great invention by Marjolijn. Its a simple to use insect catcher – every home needs one. A great eco-gift.

She has a very funny website too – there is an insect game – all very creepy crawly but a great way to relocate garden art (all in one piece) from the indoors to the outdoors. You can buy them from her website and she may even do other colours. Maybe lime green or pink? http://www.luxebugaway.com/en-lader.htm