Spirit Beings
LIKE FAMILY: The only remaining wooden totem at Bedrock is this family heirloom and "spiritual marker." Images on one side represent the four seasons and on the other, the four elements (earth, air, fire and water). The family mandala and date appear at the base. Jill carved it in her living room one winter out of a slab of mahogany laid on two sawhorses. She called the project “hack and vac.”
AUTUMN IS SETTLING IN at Bedrock. The plants, some already spent, some making a graceful exit with a last flush of softly hued seed heads, are starting to recede. What they leave behind is the opportunity for us to more fully experience the art installations that inhabit this landscape.
Almost all of the art -- sculptures large and small, wall hangings, planters, containers -- has been made by owner Jill Nooney. There are somewhere in the vicinity of 250 works spread around the grounds. She calls it the garden’s “jewelry,” and was inspired to create it when she felt the plantings had reached "middle age." “It needed adornment,” she says.
Almost all of the art -- sculptures large and small, wall hangings, planters, containers -- has been made by owner Jill Nooney. There are somewhere in the vicinity of 250 works spread around the grounds. She calls it the garden’s “jewelry,” and was inspired to create it when she felt the plantings had reached "middle age." “It needed adornment,” she says.
ANASTAZI: This ancient tribe (precursor to the Pueblo) was known for its transition from hunter-gatherers to farmers. Combine that knowledge with Jill’s penchant for blades, and this collection of farm saws and deeply toothed equipment came together to mimic the geometric patterns found in Southwestern Native American art. Jill’s grandson especially likes the drill bits coming out of the top. And create Jill did: There are totems and circles, arches and animals, and always, humor. Since there is so much to write about (and plenty of non-gardening months to cover it all), I’ll start with her totems:
“Totems are meaning-markers,” says Jill. They are a nod to the intrinsic environmentalism of Native American culture, with its respect for the sacredness and the interconnectivity of all living things.
Totems are also just plain handy from a design sense. They’re a “shape that is very easy to use in a garden,” she says. “I’m always looking for a vertical accent: They stick up, out of the plants. They are a way of drawing your eye to a space: They can mark a sight line, or be a focal point or even a destination.”
Traditional Native American totems were made from a material Pacific Northwest
“Totems are meaning-markers,” says Jill. They are a nod to the intrinsic environmentalism of Native American culture, with its respect for the sacredness and the interconnectivity of all living things.
Totems are also just plain handy from a design sense. They’re a “shape that is very easy to use in a garden,” she says. “I’m always looking for a vertical accent: They stick up, out of the plants. They are a way of drawing your eye to a space: They can mark a sight line, or be a focal point or even a destination.”
Traditional Native American totems were made from a material Pacific Northwest
FIRE AND WATER: A tribute to the valiance of those who fight fires. It includes parts of an antique fire hose, a water meter, logging peavey and cutter bars. tribes found plentiful: Western Red Cedar. Similarly, much of Jill’s art is made from a local and abundant resource that is deeply connected with her land: discarded and forgotten farm equipment. (Bedrock was a dairy farm from 1845 to 1957.) As Jill says on her Fine Garden Art website, “It feels fitting that objects that have worked the land, return to grace a garden and remind us of our history.”
I hope you enjoy this glimpse of some of Bedrock’s totems, and use it as a starting point to further discover and delight in the sacred and profane that resides in Jill’s Fine Garden Art. One wonderful way to begin this journey would be with a free garden art tour with Wendie Adam on Saturday, October 8 at 1 p.m. at October’s Fairy House Festival weekend.
I hope you enjoy this glimpse of some of Bedrock’s totems, and use it as a starting point to further discover and delight in the sacred and profane that resides in Jill’s Fine Garden Art. One wonderful way to begin this journey would be with a free garden art tour with Wendie Adam on Saturday, October 8 at 1 p.m. at October’s Fairy House Festival weekend.
 JOHNSON BAR: With its spine a rigid Johnson bar (a lever used in farming and transportation that is a miracle of simplicity and strength) this totem references Archimedes’ saying, “Give me a place to stand, and a lever long enough, and I will move the world.” |  THUNDERBIRD: More than nine feet tall, this stately sculpture evokes the Native American Thunderbird in all its legendary supernatural power and strength. |
Welcome! I'm Lisa Peters O'Brien, a.k.a. The Bedrock Blogger. While Bedrock Gardens has been around for 30 years, this blog is new, and it needs your support in the way of readership. If you like what you read and would like more of it, click here to subscribe!
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