INTRODUCTION TO THE GARDEN - PART ONE+TWO

27 April 2012

MULTIPLE BUT RELATED DISCIPLINES - CONTINUED

THEATER - GARDENS - CERAMICS

PAINTING - GEOLOGY 

MUSEOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY

LEUCOJUM AESTIVUM FLOWERS IN FRONT OF WATER DRIPPER.

You might wonder how these SEVEN seemingly disparate disciplines  could possibly be related, but in my life that reached 73 years yesterday, they have almost always been intertwined. When and how this all happened is part of my convoluted and multi-layered personal history. Starting with my discovery of clay at the age of three, courtesy of ADOLPH HITLER and his bombers over LONDON in WWII, it has been a curious blending of accident and design. Since beginning this BLOG on LAST NEW YEAR'S EVE on December 31st, 2011, I've led you on a journey of my life that has included most of these disciplines. The last and probably the most complex is that of GARDENS and being a GARDEN DESIGNER and GARDENER.

MACHIAI - WAITING HOUSE BEFORE TEAHOUSE

Let me introduce you to that part of my life, a constant interest since the age of 15 or so.

That was the age that I went to art school, straight after high school. The Croydon Art School at the time was in process of being transferred from a dilapidated old building in the center of town to a series of old Victorian buildings, while construction was underway on a new, totally characterless building of a college. The older buildings were all surrounded by old gardens, full of interesting plants and garden architecture such as greenhouses, pergolas and conservatories. My interest was further fueled by my girlfriend Sue's mother (later my first Mother in Law) who was an avid gardener, a skill passed down the family line. As sometimes happens with young couples, Sue and I got married, produced a family, bought simple real estate that needed upkeep and were able to indulge ourselves in garden design.

WAITING BENCH IN THE ROJI, OR WOODLAND GARDEN

The first year at art school was called the foundation year. During this time one learned about the fundamentals of art. These were applicable to any art and gave the new artist the tools of personal expression, no matter what the artistic persuasion, or direction was chosen. The fundamentals allowed and encouraged the artist to work within a framework of proven, successful visualization. My main  choices of medium were Painting and Drawing (that I had done since early childhood), Ceramics (Pottery) and Printmaking. These fundamentals helped greatly when it came do developing gardens for ourselves as well as for occasional friends. I never took photographs way back then, so have no solid portfolio of much that I did. in developing my knowledge and skills in the horticultural arena. All I can say is that the "Art Fundamentals" were just as useful for Garden Design as they were for Ceramics. Studies of Ceramic Art History included information on Japanese Ceramics and the relationship of the Japanese Tea Ceremony (CHA-NO-YU) and the pottery that was used. I became very intrigued by this and started to follow up with more esoteric learning, thus beginning a lifetime love of Japanese gardens in particular and horticulture and garden history in general. Successful Ceramics and Gardens are both dependent on a complementary understanding in both art and science. Without one the other will definitely suffer. In Ceramics, the Science comes in the role played by the Chemistry in glaze and color development, and the Physics of firing. The achievable color in Clays and Glazes is dependent on the relative acidity or alkalinity of the materials. In Horticulture, the relative Acidity or Alkalinity decides on the life or death of the plant as well as, to some extent,  the potential color.

FRITTILLARIA Meleagris, or Checkered Lily,  INDIGENOUS SPRING BULBS

The blend of garden styles that I have used in our home, studio and gallery are English, Japanese and indigenous plants from the Canadian West Coast. I call this Fusion "ANGLOJAPANADIAN". It uses many garden design tricks that go back many hundreds of years in time, as well as contemporary horticultural practice. I like gardens that incorporate a sense of humor and/or a sense of history, like the English "folly" and waterspouts of eighteenth and nineteenth gardens, and the Japanese use of recycled materials in the form of street lanterns, old roof-tiles and historical architectural details in making new/old walls, floors, finials and roofs. During my in-depth research into Japanese gardens, for lectures on the subject, I found one particularly interesting aspect, that is the garden as a story tale. Japanese gardens basically form into five variables. The largest is called the STROLL garden and was designed as a large walking garden made for the Lords of the Samurai. In subtle ways the garden tells the history of the Lord. Within a STROLL garden we might find the other four variables. SCROLL gardens are like a series of painted scrolls that were the Chinese origin of the Japanese garden. The ZEN gardens are basically deceptively simple assemblages of rocks, gravel, few or no plants and water to create a MEDITATIVE SPACE.  ROJI, or TEA gardens are generally bucolic or woodsy trails that lead to the teahouse and waiting house for Cha-No-Yu, The Japanese Tea Ceremony. The fifth  style is called TSUBONIWA, or Courtyard Garden, where the courtyard may be either a pond, or a paved area.  All Japanese gardens are either one or combinations of all five.

MEDITATION GARDEN - WROUGHT IRON HANDRAIL BY JAKE JAMES

Since growing up in bomb-blasted London with its incredible destruction always in my mind, from my teens I have wanted to make a garden of healing from memories of the evils of war and  replacing it with beauty. I have done many gardens before, but never stayed in one place long enough to see them mature. I have now been where I am for 35 years, almost half my lifetime. The garden is just under half of a six acre property and includes all five Japanese garden styles  as an artist's impression from the Orient. I am fortunate in having been to Japan, China and Korea to both teach and study.  Much of what one finds in Asian gardens involves SYMBOLISM or METAPHOR, where one thing is suggested by something else.  Over a few blog postings I plan to outline the thoughts and meanings behind the garden, the concepts of space and the attention to details found in, or made for the garden. We hope you will enjoy your visit to The Stroll Garden at 'Chosin Pottery.

JAPANESE LANTERN - ELECTRIFIED - ROJI PATHWAY
WITH ANEMONE Blanda (WINDFLOWER) AND SCILLA Hispanicus (BLUEBELL)

We live on Vancouver Island, just off the West Coast of Canada. The climate here is similar to the South of France and referred to as Maritime Mediterranean, with cool wet winters and warm dry summers. The garden is open to the public as part of a visit to our Gallery by chance or appointment - entrance by DONATION.                    

DRYOPTERIS Wallichiana - Emerging Wallich's Fern Fronds

THE NEXT POSTING WILL BE ON MONDAY, 30 APRIL 2012