Artist to Artist: Garden Art and Furnishings
Artist to Artist: Garden Art and Furnishings
INSIGHT allows artists to share their creative philosophies
with fellow craftspeople in the same medium. This year we are focusing
on two craft media in most months as a way to include more artists. Turn
to page 21 |
Art imitates life, sometimes. My art imitates life in my perfect world, where animals smile, flowers live forever, and cats and dogs live in perfect harmony. My company, IronCraft, is simple. It’s about creativity, drive, and just plain loving what I do. I believe in creating smiles and giggles from objects and materials that most would throw away. Transplanted from New Jersey to Atlanta almost 20 years ago, I was a university administrator and professional counselor. But after a class in metal sculpture, I set aside the academic degrees and picked up another torch — literally — to embark on a world of art. My folk art is handcrafted from steel, wood and whatever else strikes my fancy. Since all the products are made by hand, each is unique, just as almost everything in the natural world isn’t exactly like anything else. Except, in my world, each piece is a bit more fun than reality. CONTACT: |
I believe that gardens are a reflection of each Contact: |
I guess you could say my creative phi- losophy is “for the birds.” My first consideration is our avian friends’ needs — interior dimensions, hole diameter and use of non-toxic materials must be premier in design. The birdhouses must be functional and attract birds; after that the sky is the limit! Alarmed by the increasing loss of natural habitat, I committed myself to constructing my birdhouses using reclaimed materials almost exclusively. Some of the houses are designed to display objects that create a theme. Other houses incorporate items that delight the eye or tickle the heart and mind. I try to make myself laugh and in doing so I hope others will laugh with me! My philosophy centers on giving used objects a second life in hopes that I am providing a place for a new life to begin. Meanwhile I wish to treat our human eyes with a bit of whimsy and a glimpse at the wonder of birds. Contact: |
I guess I have always felt an organic When I was at college studying Japanese Classical and East Indian music, I started making flutes and gourd harps from natural materials using hand tools. In 1981, I created a “musical instrument for the wind” as a gift for my mother. This was the original Waterfall chime. My overriding passion is the musical quality of the sound. The pitch of each pipe, the relative tuning of the whole chime, and the “sweetness” or purity of each tone are fundamental to me. I evaluate each batch of raw pipe, making adjustments for differences in seam and alloy composition, which I find can affect pitch and create discordant sounds. Then I come up with a set of “masters” for cutting the batch. Even after all these years, my greatest pleasure is making something that feels perfect every time. Contact: |
The whirling movement of dance, the take-your-breath-away beauty of color-filled gardens, the glow and colorability of copper — all these inspire my sculpture. Imagine a small girl in a pale green silk tutu with green ribbons in her hair, whirling and dancing through a misty Southern garden filled with wisteria and azaleas. The light filters through the ancient oaks and gleams on her copper curls as she imagines she is a faerie princess dancing for the Queen of Faerieland. This was me at age six and is still the inner dancer of my dreams, the source of my inspiration. I am driven to convey the wonder of this seminal memory and the profound delight I experience in every dance and theatrical performance I see through the dancers I create from copper. I do tiny gesture drawings during each of the many performances I attend and then work on the details of the dancers hands and feet when I return to my studio. Once the drawing is complete, I form the figure from copper (the perfect metal for making my life-like garden dancers), adding my signature copper curls. Is there anything more magical, more joyful than dancing in a garden? Contact: |
The first comment people make about my sculptures is, “It’s so lightweight, it can’t be made from cement!” When hearing the word cement, most people envision a heavy, gray object. When they touch and hold my work it changes the stereotype. Made of a special cement mixture that I developed, these sculptures are sturdy yet lightweight. Each sculpture is formed around an actual leaf of a plant, taking on every vein or fold of that leaf. Due to the fluidity of the cement mixture in the beginning stages of a sculpture, it has the ability to fill every line of the leaf. Once the piece has hardened, I carve the leaf shape, highlighting more details and releasing the spirit of the leaf. When nature dies back for the winter, I want to capture those colors in my garden so I finish the sculptures with bright, expressive colors, because that is how I see nature’s true colors: full of emerging life. Creating in an unusual medium is exciting because I get to explain to people how I make these leaves and why I believe there is no limit to art — it can even be made from cement! Contact: |
From the very beginning, circa 1990, I wanted movement in my outdoor sculptures to show form and a sense of weightlessness: shapes floating in space. Movement is as important as the shape and has to be fluid, graceful, curvilinear … with no jerks or bumps to break the illusion of gentle levitation. Originally I used aluminum as the medium because it was essentially a neutral color and therefore did not detract from the movement of the shape. Marketing considerations changed this to the use of patina coloration and shapes that had figurative references. Over the years I have expanded my designs to include rotation and sound as a part of the kinetic experience I wish to convey. Contact: |
Since we both love animals, plants and art, it seemed natural to try and combine these into one entity. Following much experimentation, we first designed some basic molds for the body and legs of our animal planters. After casting the molds, using varied aggregates and colorants, we modify and individualize the forms by sculpting, carving and etching. The uniquely designed heads and tails, which are detachable and one-of-a-kind, bring to life the character and particular species of each planter. Among our creations are dogs, cats, llamas, sheep, rabbits, goats, geese and a pig. And several specific animal commissions have resulted from our planters being seen at local fairs or garden shops. We also make cement birdbaths, inukshuks (stone figures used as guides by the Inuits), fountains and assorted sculptures suitable for garden display. We enjoy the challenge of cement and the limitless varieties of designs, knowing each creation will live a long life among flowers and trees. Contact: |
