Once upon a fairytale garden

So it is a new year, and for many people 2012 is looking pretty bleak indeed. That is why I am re-posting this old post I did last year. This story can help remind us that even from the ashes of devastation and despair, life and prosperity will once again flourish.

Wishing everyone a very happy new year, and I hope 2012 brings you all good health, wealth, and happiness.  

Once upon a time in the hills of the great dividing range of Victoria on the edge of a town called Marysville there was a magical garden. In this magical garden mermaids rested on the sun baked rocks on the edge of cool stream’s while fairy’s and pixies danced in-between the trees as wise old men sat at the base of wise old trees.

Unfortunately for Bruno Torfs and the rest of us this is where the fairy tail ended as on the 7th of February 2009 a bushfire raged through the township, decimating everything in its path without mercy and sadly claimed the lives of many people. Bruno was extremely lucky to survive and the rest of the family are safe and well.

Bruno's home and art gallery were unfortunately completely destroyed in the blaze. The main attraction, the sculpture garden, was also damaged, but around sixty percent of the sculptures have survived.

The pictures of the aftermath show a very eerie looking place. The ghostly looking remains of sculptures look almost shell-shocked and traumatised, as from a seen from a town devastated by war.

Bruno has chosen to stay in Marysville to rebuild his home and restore the gardens. His passion to share his love of art and the story of life with the world has not been damaged by the fires, in fact you would almost say it has been forged anew by the flames that nearly took it all away.

But as with all good fairytales, this story two has a happy ending.
Bruno has been working tirelessly to restore the sculptures and the gardens to their former glory and after months of hard work he declared the gardens reopen on the 29th of November 2009.

Bruno's words: "The bushfires deeply touched us all in many ways. It allowed me to see that people had a heart for each other, that when things really got dark, the best in us comes out. We have lost a lot, but life also provides us opportunities to gain a new vision, lots of new friends and a blank canvas to play. In the meantime, nature is already regenerating itself. The green is slowly returning and the rivers are flowing, finding new ways".

All photos are from Bruno Torfs website

The Plant Kingdom, a source for inspiration for sculptor Ruth Moilliet

The plant kingdom is a source of inspiration for all plant and garden lovers, and for UK artist Ruth Moilliet this is also very much the case, as it is very evident in her sculptures.

Eryngium

The beauty of Ruth’s sculptures is that they highlight the amazing floral architecture that excises all around us, which is so too often over looked.

Alliums

In Ruth’s personal statement she describes how “In my work I reflect a childhood dream to be able to shrink in size, like ‘Alice’, to enable me to enter a plant’s elaborate structure and explore the floral architecture. The enlarged scale that I use indicates this desire, to be at one with the object of my study, to be engulfed in a flower.”

Dandelion Parachute

She also explains why the plant kingdom is such an inspiration for her,

“An initial response to a flower is that it is a delicate and beautiful object, something that can be picked or crushed. This may be true of an individual bloom but a plants continued cycle and relentless growth makes them the longest surviving organism on the planet.”

Passiflora

She studies and works with the forms that she finds within a particular plant or flower, examining a specimen in detail, even dissecting it if necessary. By doing this she discovers what is often overlooked in the everyday, the remarkable forms and intricacies of plant life.

Allium Scubertii

Echinop

Cardoon Parachutes

Spanish moss

Seedheads

Photos and information from Ruth Moilliet website www.ruthmoilliet.com/ check it out to see more fantastic examples of her work.

Art inspired landscape art. Sculptures by J. Seward Johnson

Between work, the fantastic summer were having so far and of course the world cup, I have had very little time for blogging in resent weeks. So this again will be a quick little post of something that caught my interest recently.

When flicking through a book recently I came across this first picture, and for a split second I thought that there was something a bit funny about this famous painting by Edouard Manet. I quickly realised that this was of course not Manet’s ‘Déjeuner sur l’herbe’ but in fact a sculpture by American artist J. Seward Johnson.

‘Dejeuner Déjà vu’ by J. Seward Johnson

‘Déjeuner sur l’herbe’ (1863) by Édouard Manet.

To be quite honest, my history of art is not quite as good as it should be as much of my time in art college was spent drinking large quantities of alcohol, and perusing women, however one era of art that did really stand out to me was the impressionist era, and it is quite obvious that this era has also had an effect on Seward Johnson, as much of his works are inspired by many impressionist artists.

Here are more examples of a large series of works he made titled ‘Beyond the frame’, most of which are recreations of some of the most famous paintings from the impressionist era. Most of these works can be found in the sculpture park founded by J. Seward Johnson in 1992 ‘Grounds for Sculpture’. This 35-acre public sculpture park is located in Hamilton, New Jersey.

‘On Poppied Hill’ by J. Seward Johnson

‘Woman with a Parasol, Madame Monet with her Son’ (1875) by Claude Monet.

‘Were you invited?’ by J. Seward Johnson

‘Le déjeuner des canotiers’ (1881) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

‘If it were time’ by J. Seward Johnson

‘Terrasse à Sainte-Adresse’ (1867) by Claude Monet

‘Sailing the seine’ by J. Seward Johnson

‘Argenteuil’ (1874) by Édouard Manet.

‘God Bless America’ by J. Seward Johnson

‘American Gothic’ (1930) by Grant Wood.

Garden Piano

A few weeks ago when down visiting my parents at our family home, down in West Cork, I went for a wander in the gardens (you may remember these gardens from my previous post ‘'garden labyrinth’). During my wander I stopped off to have a look to see how the garden piano was doing.

By now it has all but disintegrated, but it still holds a magical charm about it, in fact it was all part of the plan! Perhaps I should explain.

Besides being a passionate gardener, my dad is also a passionate piano player, so a few years back we got him a new piano for his birthday. So the old piano spent a wile in the shed before he had the great idea to put it out in the garden. I can almost see one of Bruno Torfs sculptures sitting there playing it when no one is around (The first picture is my photoshopped impression of this)  

Tucked away in a inconspicuous corner, the piano creates a entire atmosphere of its own. Slowly over time it began housing plants and wildlife alike, becoming part of the landscape. Although it quickly lost its ability to play any notes, my dad was hoping to wake up one morning to a loud clang, when the piano would finally fall apart, making its final encore.

Unfortunately it never did produce the theatrical clang he was hoping for, it did on day just fall apart, creating a new and in some way far more enchanting garden feature.

Unfortunately as I was not there when the piano was moved, I don’t have any photos of this. The first few photos were taken in 2008 by a guest staying at my parents farm, and the rest were taken a few weeks ago on my resent visit.