Collaboration: Integrating Landscape, Art and Perception

By Leslie McGuire, managing editor

ABOVE & BELOW: The recipient of numerous national and international sculpture awards, Yoshikawa’s sculptures have a quality of mystery, tranquility, a sense of formal tradition, yet are embellished with his own particular vision. Their quiet elegance evokes a meditative state of mind. Seven years ago, according to the artist, he began to wonder, “what water would sound like” over his rock surfaces—and he became a waterfall artist as well. And what does he use to suspend these giant hewn rocks in mid air? “Magic” he says, laughing…which, of course, is what art happens to be. www.yoshistone.com
Photos courtesy of Yoshikawa

Art is a mirror in whose reflection you see not who you are, but who you could be. In the presence of art, people become sensitive, brilliant and spiritual beings. That magical transformation leaves behind a residue which continues to subtly exert its influence. So it is only natural—if not imperative—that art be given its place in all aspects of human existence.

The challenge inherent in adding a piece of art into a landscape design is that it’s not about cost. It’s also not about the materials used, or the objects depicted. It’s about how the piece changes the way in which people feel about that particular landscape.

Landscape architecture controls nature’s original design, and art shifts that design once again because it alters the experience… and experience is always very personal. It is the place where nature, aesthetics and human perception meet and meld into something entirely new.

“I get a sense of completion and harmony when the sculpture is right.” —John E. Stallings

The greater challenge, however, is exactly what the process is going to be when adding the piece of art. One can add art without the landscape architect or add art in cooperation with a landscape architect, or incorporate already existing art into a landscape, or collaborate with artists for specific works. In the Maya Lin Project that Peter Rothschild of Quenell, Rothschild & Partners worked on for the Monroe Center, the clients were the ones who hired the artist, not the landscape architect. However, the process created a synchronicity that, in the end, worked beautifully.

ABOVE & BELOW: John E. Stallings does most of his work on commission, either working from photos or visiting the site. “My area of focus in sculpture involves the use of line and form as it relates to the environment. I work with the concept of balance, that is, the merging of opposite forces.” He also uses the services of an architect to do a structural analysis of all his sculptures. This ensures that his organic understanding of their stability is absolutely correct every time. www.stallingsart.com
Photos courtesy of Mike Karcher

Functional Art for Functional Spaces

Functional art consists more often than not of production pieces such as fountains, birdbaths, gates, benches, planters and furniture. However, that doesn’t mean that it can’t be art in the purest sense. Some companies produce functional pieces of art that are one of a kind, and those can certainly add to the magical quality of a landscaped area that would be ultimately filled up with furnishings by the owner anyway. The landscape architect can specify anything —and often does—but is often ignored by the client.

Changing the Space—and Changing the Viewer

Buckminster Fuller, who developed Design Science as a problem solving approach which entails a systematic study of the deliberate ordering of components in our universe, said in Cosmography, “The function of what I call design science is to solve problems by introducing into the environment new artifacts, the availability of which will induce their spontaneous employment by humans and thus, coincidentally, cause humans to abandon their previous problem-producing behaviors and devices.”

“Every object has a wavelength.”—Yoshikawa

When seen by the viewer, the “artifact” creates a kind of behavioral transformation. A landscape also becomes a mirror of the person who views it. But it does not reflect back an exact mirror image. Instead, it reflects back the way a person feels in that particular space. It provides them with an enhanced, altered or magnified version of themselves, which is magical. Personal identity is shifted by immersion in magical spaces.

ABOVE & BELOW: Dale Evers has an exquisite ability to fuse glass, bronze and steel while successfully blending fine art and functional design. This in turn, expands his vision for art that serves a purpose. His gates are functional as well as aesthetic, and his sculptures enhance landscapes in ways that are often mythical. www.daleeversstudio.com
Photos courtesy of Dale Evers

By “decorating” a landscaped space, one effectively turns the outside in and the inside out. The delineation and division between “in” and “out” simply disappears. One can adjust the emotional “weather” inside the house simply by transporting it a short distance and altering it by introducing it to the “weather” outside the house. The art outside mediates the transition between two states of being, making them one. Therefore, it is not the space that changes, but the person who has been changed by the space.

A Definition of Terms

So, then the real issue becomes “How Does One Define Art?” Both “taste” and “beauty” rear their ugly heads when there is any discussion of “art.” Art is the act of creation, which elevates our view of the world, and ourselves and changes it from the narrative to the sublime. It is the artist’s use of skill and creativity to create a new aesthetic, or change the perception of the viewer. However, nowhere does it get more complicated, because there is always the question of what happens when whatever constitutes “taste” and whatever constitutes “beauty” collide.

Recently, the company that made the pink plastic flamingoes that graced many a lawn (alongside the tires that had been turned into planters and the bathtubs that have been repurposed as grottoes) decided to go out of production. The owner was quite surprised at the number of people who expressed heartfelt dismay at no longer being able to get those pink 50s retro “kitch” lawn ornaments. Naturally, their price instantly shot up on Ebay. In one sense, even though they were mass production pieces, they were apparently considered “art” by some, and still are.

Proler Antiques has a specialized collection of art and found pieces collected by the owner. Often purchased directly from villas, palazzi or chateaus, an example of their holdings include a circa 1865 French fountain. Many are from 19th century European gardens. www.garden-antiques.com
Photo courtesy of Proler Antiques

When Landscape Architects Collaborate with Artists: An Interview with Peter Rothschild

Quennell Rothschild has done a lot of different kinds of collaborations with artists. “In some cases we invite them, as we did on Hudson River Park. We also did a collaboration in a newly created park. There were others where we proposed the collaboration and the clients went along with us.” As far as the project they did with Maya Lin, she was retained by the client to create the design for Grand Rapids, Michigan’s Monroe Center. On occasion they’ve created landscapes where the art came first, as was the case with the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. The museum director selected artists for the garden and said, will you please work with them. In that case, they were the designers of the frame within which the piece of art would be seen—a true collaboration. So they were able to come up with a design concept in which the art could be seamlessly installed.

“We have had wonderful experiences in every capacity. Naturally we would like to be equal partners with whomever we do a collaboration. The Claus Oldenberg piece in Minneapolis was a great case in point. We were clearly there to assist him and his wife install the piece. We designed the pond for the sculpture of the spoon with the cherry. The pond, in a slightly different form predated the piece. We designed with the pond in mind so the end of the spoon sits on the little island and creates a reflection.

They’ve never tried to put a piece of sculpture in a landscape that wasn’t by a modern sculptor. Most involve either living or contemporary artists. As was the case with a lot of the work in Minneapolis, some of the pieces were in the museum already.

They had to take that into consideration before they started to design. A different sort of use of sculpure, however, was the restoration of a fountain done in Snug Harbor Cultural Center on Staten Island. The sculpture was done in 1900 or thereabouts—a statue of Neptune placed at a maritime retirement home. The water emanates from the figure of Neptune. It was a classical piece of sculpture that vastly predated the work, but was incorporated into the landscape.

“Among the enemies of high quality public art is the notion that art is a kind of embellishment, like a flower arrangement on a table.”—Peter Rothschild

“Most of our collaborations actually worked out extremely well, such as the Maya Lin project, some at the Walker Museum and the design for the East River project,” says Rothschild. “We definitely ended up with something quite a bit better, more visually exciting than the project would have been without them. Unfortunately, some projects were not the greatest examples of the artists work and didn’t enhance the landscape as much as I would have hoped.”

How Collaboration Works Best

Rothschild feels that it generally works best when the collaboration is set up to be a real one—where it’s a cultural institution and the artist and owner all work together. There’s a lot of public art that some people refer to cynically as “prop art” without any thought to the interaction of the artist or anyone else. A more holistic view of the environment is what is needed.

“There’s a lot of bad art or bad architecture and that is not the fault of the collaborators. However, sometimes the collaboration creates something that’s less than one might have hoped. Amongst the enemies of high quality public art is the idea that art is a kind of embellishment, like a flower arrangement on a table. It’s incidental to the design and everything else, rather like an added ornament. Most artists resent being put in that role and that kind of collaboration generally doesn’t work out as well. The vision or interpretation of the creative person who has thought about public space means that, sometimes, public art can be very engaging. A lot of the quality of public art depends on how it’s conceived, who does it and how inspired they are.

All the "stone" products made by Kenneth Lynch & Sons are actually "cast stone" which is a concrete product. None of their products are made from cut or shaped natural stone. Imagine this Rankei lantern is a lighthouse placed on a stone beach on an ocean filled with ships being guided to shore by its light. www.klynchandsons.com
Photos courtesy of Kenneth Lynch and Sons

“A great example that many people had strong feelings about was the Richard Serra in New York City’s Federal Plaza. It was a tilted arc preventing easy access to the building, which raised hackles because it wasn’t inviting or friendly. I thought it was great and should have been embraced.

“That’s the challenge that confronts would-be benefactors of public art. Art is almost by definition somewhat challenging. It gives you an insight into a world that’s different from the average knee jerk reaction. Otherwise it wouldn’t be art. It would be decoration. Some people think of art as decoration and get upset if it’s not purely functional.

The homeowner collaborated with Neal and Sara Johnson of Naples, Fla.-based NLJ Enterprises to design this award winning, double swing gate that would complement the scrub pine forests found in the area. To make ingress and egress to the property secure and convenient, the gates were automated by automatic gate operators and access controls by GTO, Inc. www.pnapr.com
Photo courtesy of GTO, Inc.

“Anti-social art such as graffiti art is often installed to be a counter cultural statement. The way in which public art happens is very important to how it turns out. The real question is, does it enhance people’s thoughts or doesn’t it? The hope would be that there would be a way of fostering art as a regular part of thinking about public space and public architecture—not just as an anomaly from a client who’s interested in art in general, or from municipalities who legislate that art will occur whether or not it wants to. Art programs tend to get politicized, such as local artists or ethnic art or art about some issue has to be represented. Great art doesn’t normally happen that way.

It happens because there is a larger agenda, such as Picasso’s Guernica, or Goya’s political works. That art was obviously politically inspired but it is the exception rather than the rule.”

Mia Lin created the design for Grand Rapids, Michigan’s Monroe Center (right) and Claus Oldenberg’s sculpture, “Spoon Bridge and Cherry” is in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden (below)
PhotoS courtesy of Quennell Rothschild, LLP

As a landscape architect, Rothschild thinks of himself as an artist. There are other design professionals who do not, however. Without the artists as part of the process, it’s not art. There is clearly a distinction between creative professionals.

Collaboration as a Wellspring of Ideas: An Interview with Yoshikawa

Sculptor Yoshikawa regularly works with landscape architects. He generally starts with the client who has certain pieces already in mind. He shows his portfolio, or perhaps they’ve seen something he’s already created which they want duplicated or made to fit the scale of a site they have in mind. He does sculptures mainly for residential properties.

Usually, the landscape architect works around what Yoshikawa designs. It’s a lot easier for them to move a plant than for him to move a big piece of rock. Basically, once the design is decided upon by the client he and the landscape architect work together to come up with the final design. He enjoys the collaborative process because there is so much potential for new ideas and concepts. He’s never had a situation where he butts heads with the landscape architect.

Yoshikawa has no favorite projects. Each project is unique and he enjoys each one for different reasons. It’s more about what he’s working on right now and what he can pull out of the hat to make it more exciting. He likes the feedback from the client and the landscape architect as well. “Obviously it’s a collaborative process,” he says, “but when you have a vision there are some things you can’t compromise on, but that only starts to happen when you get into the process. Some pieces have a certain integrity and to alter them prevents you from creating what you want to create.”

Another cast stone source is Haddonstone. Functional pieces such as planters, pedestals and balustrades along with sculptures, fountains and gazebos are much more in the classical tradition of garden ornaments. www.haddonstone.com
Photo courtesy of Haddonstone

He feels that the real question is, “What do you surround yourself with? Everything has a wavelength. In an aesthetic environment, art is what keeps you up, but it just mirrors what’s on the inside. If you’re empty or void, it’s suicidal.” He’s been lucky. People who commission him generally know in advance what they want.

“When you put something in a space, if it has a lot of vitality, it actually creates more space. That kind of energy adds space rather than taking up space. Aesthetics is actually about who we really are.“

This masterful marriage of art and science looks more like a tulip than a telescope. Its art nouveau lines were designed to grace gardens, solaria and formal spaces and can be admired as statuary as well as used as a telescope and a sundial. www.gardentelescopes.com
Photo courtesy of Telescopes of Vermont

Now, Yoshikawa works more often with water. “A stone sculptor puts motion into the stone. However, once you start working with water, you obviously have added another kind of motion, but only in terms of the material. You have to have the solidity of the stone working in collaboration with the fluidity of the water.”

“Now I perceive waterfalls differently. I see waterfalls as a mirror of ourselves. What’s being reflected is that part in us which doesn’t move—which is the stone—and that part in us which is the energy of motion—which is the water. That is the dance of life,” says Yoshikawa. “The part of us which moves collaborates with the part that doesn’t.”

Another aspect of his sculptures is the sound. “I design them in different ways for sound. One is like a mountain brook. One is like falling rain. If I close my eyes and listen to that sound, it goes deeper and deeper and deeper. That, in turn, produces a meditative state of mind. I try to combine those two meditative states, one based on sound and one based on the visual.”

This Gingko inspired table and chairs is hand carved and was initially inspired by traditional French faux bois – a genre of concrete pieces sculpted to emulate wood. Branch began creating their own garden tables, chairs and benches, reinterpreting the classic forms. Soon after, they ventured into metal and wood producing a more diverse body of work. Branch manufactures its own designs, crafting one-of-a-kind pieces and providing site-specific designs and installation services as well. . www.thebranchstudio.com
Photo Courtesy of www.thebranchstudio.com

When Artists Collaborate With Nature: An Interview with John E. Stallings

John E. Stallings says, “Usually when someone calls me in they have some ideas about what they like. I look at the areas and see the geometric shapes that already exist. Most landscape architects I work with know I feel strongly about using geometric shapes.”

Stallings created a sculpture for the YMCA of Johnstown, Pennsylvania which was a symbolic form of their mission statement. It incorporates their three different philosophical values into one piece. However, most of his works mirror or enhance the existing shapes in the landscape and make everything work in harmony at the same time. “Being in harmony with nature really helps to make magic happen,” says Stallings, who tries to create different emotions in his pieces. “Soft lines create sensuality and sharp lines create more tension. You get a sense of completion and harmony when it’s right.”

Creating these sculptures is like meditation for Stallings. He’s trying to make things theoretically correct because they work better when the math works, for example, a pyramid concentrates the forces like ancient Egyptian pyramids. He’s always in competition with himself.

Copper spheres create a meditation space and harmonious accent. The creativity comes in placement, arrangement and size choices of each sphere. That, in essence allows the landscape architect innumerable ways to enhance a space using production pieces without sacrificing integrity. www.stoneforest.com
Photo Courtesy of Stone Forest

Collaboration in Absentia

Of course, there’s always more than one way to skin a cat. There exist some artists and/or artist’s web sites that can definitely fit the landscape architect’s bill. Even though the architect may not be working in collaboration with the artist directly, sometimes knowing what the client wants and where they want it placed, the landscape architect can work in a collaboration that is effectively in absentia.

The ten-acre Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden is a place where (hannahpescharsculpture.com) there is an ever-changing display of sculpture. Over 100 different sculptors, mainly from Europe and the UK, are represented. The garden itself, designed by Hannah’s landscape designer husband, Anthony Paul, features streams, woodlands, waterfalls, ponds and bridges. It is a garden gallery that is dramatic, unorthodox, theatrical, sensual and tactile. It also promotes young and exciting talent and is a perfect way to search for the unforgettable and the unusual.

Florentine Craftsmen- Classical style. Many of Florentine Craftsmen’s customers, including some of the country’s leading landscape architects and interior designers, have taken advantage of their ability to create custom work, or adapt an existing item or design for their specific needs. There are no mass produced items in their line. www.florentinecraftsmen.com
Photos courtesy of Florentine Craftsmen

Art as Necessity

Placing pieces of art in a landscape does many things – usually all at once. It enhances the size of the space. It represents something particular about the owner. It sets apart a section of the landscape, defining it as distinct from all other parts. It changes the experience. It evokes a feeling that is both personal and magical.