Art in the Garden: Henry Null of The Romantic Garden
Long time Eye of the Day customer Henry Null of The Romantic Garden Company recently installed three Italian terracotta Sako balls in a Santa Barbara garden. The three globes, provided by Eye of the Day, were custom colored by the company’s Service department. Null describes the project: “The Italian terra cotta Sako balls were rolled into place at the terraced garden we built in Santa Barbara. We had Eye of the Day epoxy-paint them to my color instructions (I wanted something close to the sky color to represent the universe.) But I also wanted the globes to break up the linear pattern of the texanum hedge. At the same time I wanted the globes to repeat a pattern of 3’s that I was constructing vertically with plants of Thuja occidentalis. Sound complicated? Well, it was.
One further general point about artistic objects in the garden: to be effective, they should be distinctive or displayed in some distinctive way. It should be the customer’s option, as a matter of personal taste.”
On another garden from years before, Null relates an example of using unique objects in the garden: “Years ago I worked for the late Margaret Mallory on Ortega Ridge. She was an art collector and in her garden a five-foot pedestal supported a beat-up metal gyroscope which was maybe 18 inches in diameter. I asked her about it and her reply was, “that gyroscope was on the last British gunship in Palestine.’ You don’t get much more distinctive than that. We don’t have any spare, war-weary gyroscopes hanging around, but we have a selection of odd garden ornaments that can be used for focal points.”
Null’s recent venture The Avant Garden Company “offers a unique perspective to gardening by providing a philosophical and metaphorical approach. Each aspect of the garden is strategically designed and formed to create a celestial garden piece.”
To view more of Henry’s work, please visit The Avant Garden Company and The Romantic Garden Company.
Custom finishes are a specialty at Eye of the Day. Please visit our website for more information.
Leave a Reply