Metal Garden | Elk Grove ‘fence Painter’ Hangs Cheerful Paintings On Garden Fences
As Californians turn their yards and patios into outdoor “rooms,” art created specifically for the garden has grown in popularity, too.
“You’re decorating, just like an indoor room,” Groth said. “So you take art outside, too.”
Jennifer Khal, owner of The Secret Garden in Elk Grove, has seen this trend escalate as people treat their yards like living space – a place to rest, relax and entertain, not just garden.
“Absolutely, people are treating outdoor space as rooms,” Khal said. “You go about decorating that space just like your living room. Start with a big piece, such as a couch or armoire, then add all the elements that make you feel comfortable and at home.”
Last year, Khal’s store moved from its cramped quarter-acre location in downtown Elk Grove to a 2-acre site next to Highway 99. It gives her much more room for her burgeoning selection of garden art and sculpture. Among her best sellers: decorative wall art, wrought iron and colorful pieces of Talavera pottery.
“You can put those outside for a punch of color,” Groth said of the pottery. “That’s always popular.”
The Secret Garden also sells Groth’s paintings, priced at $44 to $65.
“It’s fabulous,” Khal said of the fence art. “I’ve had one on my fence for five years and it still looks bright and vibrant. I hung it on a fence under a big pine tree. It adds a spot of color where I couldn’t grow anything.”
Said Groth, “It’s hard to sell art, especially in this economy, but fence art really sells.”
Like any form of creative expression, art is in the eye of the beholder. When it comes to garden art, it broadens to includes putting everyday items in unexpected places in unusual ways.
A salvaged brass bed can become a garden fence. A ceramic platter can become a birdbath. Rusted pieces of metal can become sculpture. An assemblage of rocks and broken crockery could pave a path.
Using trash and scrap steel from the campus landfill, UC Davis art student Rebecca Portney created giant rust-hued flowers that now dot the school landscape east of Mrak Hall. Called “From Landfill to Landscape,” her welded metal garden will be on view through Aug. 19.
The fantasy flowers are part of the UC Davis Arboretum’s GATEways Program (Gardens, Arts and The Environment), giving student artists an outdoor gallery for their creations.
John Gainey, a recent UC Davis graduate in landscape architecture, turned a fallen 200-year-old valley oak into “Crested Oak,” a mammoth sculpture made of the tree’s trunk and branches. It now stands in the arboretum’s Shields Grove.
Most garden art is on a much smaller scale, used to accent a fence or brighten a shady spot. Some pieces are functional, such as a birdbath, fountain or bench.
“A birdbath has the appeal of a statue, but you get birds coming in and using it, too,” Khal said. “That’s a bonus.”
Groth perfected her fence art technique through trial and error. Instead of canvas, she uses hard backerboard, designed for shower stall installation, covered with a coat of primer. Her paints all are weatherproof acrylics. The finished painting gets a coat of sealer to add to its longevity.
Groth usually paints floral themes such as bouquets of red poppies or big fluffy hydrangeas. She’s also done fruit-filled still lifes and the occasional seascape or lighthouse, creating an instant “view” for an otherwise visual boundary.
“Flowers are pretty for the fence,” she said. “They’re really bright. I call them my happy paintings.”
Bringing a smile to garden owners and visitors often is part of garden art’s appeal. Hence, the continuing popularity of pink flamingos and cute gnomes.
“People buy them
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