Art in the garden
The right piece can ‘define the landscape’
For many landscape designers and homeowners, a garden isn’t complete without the right art. But how do you find the right spot for a piece of outdoor art and choose the plants to complement it?
The first step is finding a work that really speaks to you and then “allow the art to help define the landscape,” says landscape architect Edmund Hollander. He recommends working with an artist or gallery, when possible, to create a relationship between artwork and garden.
“It’s really not so different from the relationship between a house and its surrounding landscape,” he says.
Susan Lowry, co-author of Private Gardens of the Bay Area, says art in a garden should enhance its surroundings. “Scale, texture and light all play off the object and there is also an emotional content that influences how we see the garden itself,” she says.
Less is more, she says: “We have seen many a garden ruined by too many extraneous voices jumbled into the frame.”
The most common mistake when placing art in gardens, Hollander says, is “sticking a work where there’s too much other stuff. It’s as if a museum hung a painting on a wallpapered wall instead of on a white one.”
So experts recommend that works be placed against quiet backdrops such as evergreens, hedges or lawns.
For inspiration, experts suggest visiting sculpture gardens, museums or botanical gardens.