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| Brass pipe water feature at the Philadelphia Flower Show's 'Jazz Garden' 2008 . photo by Bérénice |
So this is a post that will strike different ‘chords' with
different people. For some this is art, but others may see this as decimation of a
beautiful instrument. But before you begin to grieve for them, to my knowledge all
the instruments shown here were beyond repair.
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| Garden Piano at Hagal Farm |
The above picture is of the Garden Piano in the gardens of HagalFarm, my parents' holistic retreat in West Cork, Ireland. I have written about
this in a previous blog post which you can find here.
Recently I have become aware of a number of other garden
pianos. I like to think that after reading my garden piano post, readers ran
off to drag their old broken pianos out into their gardens, but I am sure that
this is unlikely.
The Piano water feature below as well as the brass pipe water feature above were part of the 'Jazz Garden' at the 2008 Philadelphia Flower Show.
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| Piano water feature at the Philadelphia Flower Show's 'Jazz Garden' 2008 . photo by Bérénice |
In recent years, with people becoming more environmentally friendly
and looking for green alternatives in the landscape, recycled or found object
art seems to be more popular than ever. With found object art, musical instrument
parts on occasion find their way into art pieces.
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| Artist Noel Brady at work in his bush studio near Emu Park, Queensland, Australia |
One artist that takes 'musical themed, found object art' to
another level is Capricorn Coast based artist Noel Brady.
Born in Ballarat, Victoria Noel completed his Diploma of Arts
and Design at the Ballarat School of Mines and Industries Art School before
embarking on a long career as a secondary school art teacher in both Victoria
and Queensland.
He retired to his Emu Park bush studio in 2004 to
concentrate on his own artwork with a particular focus on sculpture. Noel works
largely with recycled timber, clay and metal - but has a particular penchant
for reimagining old piano parts.
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| Convergence by Noel Brady |
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| Symphony under construction by Noel Brady |
Noel has had moderate success to date, exhibiting
in Rockhampton, Gladstone, Yeppoon, Emu Park and Goombungee, and has sold works
into private collections in San Diego, Sydney, Canberra, Griffith,
Dandenong, Brisbane, Cairns, Rockhampton and Toowoomba.
He
presently lives and works in his bush studio on a small acreage near Emu Park
on the Capricorn Coast, and regularly exhibits new work in a small
privately-run gallery in the seaside town.
Lots more of Noel's artwork can be found through his website http://www.noelbrady.com.au be sure to check it out.
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| Lasseter's Legacy by Noel Brady |
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| An unrelated yet worth mentioning, Pool wall panel by Noel Brady |
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| Mosaic Guitar by Mosaic Artist Lisa Calabro |
An artist who takes a very different approach to turning
musical instruments into art is American artist Lisa Calabro of Crooked Moon
Studio in Warwick, Rhode Island. Lisa has transformed old instruments into
artworks by mosaicing them. See more of her lovely mosaics on her website http://crookedmoonstudio.com
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| Mosaic Violin by Mosaic Artist Lisa Calabro |
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| Mosaic Guitar by Mosaic Artist Lisa Calabro |
Thanks to both Noel and Lisa for allowing me to share their artwork. Thanks also to Bérénice for the use of her photographs of the Philadelphia Flower Show.
Those mosaic instruments are fantastic... and the water feature piano I sort of like too.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting blog, I subscribed to your newsletter! For the first time I see a mosaic of musical instruments! It is fascinating as well as the sound of music! Yours, Nellie Moscow, Russia
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, piano looks kind of dumb ( sorry ), and as it decomposes would probably look pretty trashy in a garden, the instrument was neat, andthe mosiacs gorgeous ! thanks for sharing~ Gina
ReplyDeleteI would love to have that piano in my garden!! Amazing:-) Lovely photos.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. I really liked the brass in the garden, especially after learning the instruments were no longer viable for playing. Also enjoyed the mosaic guitars.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely ingenious! Those instruments make lovely statement pieces in a landscape or garden. Or even on a patio! Something like those mosaic guitars would go well.
ReplyDeleteWow, visual art and music combined. I love to play this while setting in garden bench during the autumn morning.
ReplyDeleteI need more articles and blogs please post soon.
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I would be flattened if all websites gave articles like that.
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Hey! Have you ever noticed, have your writting skills improved lately?
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