Bits and Pieces - Plants, Mosaics, Collage, and Jello Molds

As I planted tiny starts of arugula, lettuces, begonias, zinnias, and kale over the weekend, I thought about how we compose our garden of bits and pieces. A rooted slip of lilac, a gnarled knob of dahlia bulb, a division of hosta or fragment of sedum all take root and grow into a garden over time. Which is probably why art cobbled together of bits and pieces looks so good out in the garden. Such pieceing together, no matter the medium, becomes art when the result is so much more than the sum of its parts.

Mosaics like the beautiful, sturdy paver (left) by Vashon artist Clare Dohna  have great affinity in the garden. Lately I've gotten into saving bits and pieces and fashioning them into collages, and it's the similarity to garden-making that I love. Instead of working with plants and earth, collaging is pulling together items meant for another purpose, composing fragments of color, words and images into something new. Yet the satisfaction of creating something that pleases your eye  is much like planting a garden. Both pursuits are joyful play, except you can do collage at night, and the work is less physically demanding....  Here's a collage I made for Museo Gallery's garden show in April:

I can't think of a better example of repurposing bits and pieces than the jello molds, scavenged from thrift shops and garage sales, that Diane and Dennis have used to decorate the old buildings at their Jello Mold flower farm in the Skagit Valley....

 

 

 

Comments

[Modern Gardens]

Thank you for reminding me of my childhood.I used to make collages with pictures and photos of plants. They would make my garden more colourful,if I could only find them...