Picking up icy cold stones in January of 2013 as the winter was slowly easing its grip on the country, I powered on through the cold in a bid to get my outdoor classroom project completed for my May deadline.
It was during this time that I was contacted by renowned Irish landscape designer Tim Austen. A regular medal winner at Bloom, Tim was designing a large garden for the competition and was wondering if I would be interested in creating one of my mosaic panels as a centre piece for his garden.
Aquilegia vulgaris ‘Black Barlow’ standing proud in front of my mosaic panel.
Being a fan of Tim's previous show gardens, I was delighted to be a part of his latest garden.
Tim Austen's Giardino della mostra
As Tim explains on his website Giardino della mostra, translating generally from the Italian as “exhibition garden” or “garden of exhibits,” is a garden that encourages you to design your own garden to a strong theme whilst referring to the fact that a good garden is formed from the sum of its parts. The concept and layout are, in part, inspired by Ireland’s only permanent exhibition of show gardens at Gardenworld, Kilquade (the National Garden Exhibition Centre), Co. Wicklow. Here a wonderful collection of individual gardens, arranged around the central avenue, collectively inspire and encourage gardeners at all levels to follow a design in their own gardens. The central avenue, with water features and arches are the main elements that are referenced in Giardino della mostra, along with beech hedging that forms a soft backdrop to the garden. Moving through the garden, areas of differing character are also seen.
Tim Austen's Giardino della Mostra
Unfortunately for me the garden show was on the weekend before the completion date for my outdoor classroom project so this meant that I would be spending many weekends over the next few months in the studio.
When making mosaic panels (as well as other stone art pieces) I try and see if the client has any connection with any particular stone. In this case, as Tim is a proud Wicklow man, and golden granite being the stone of Wicklow, we decided to incorporate granite into the mosaic.
So my first task was breaking up chunks of granite into usable pieces for the mosaic.
At work in the studio with help from my lovely wife.
As the workload started to mount up, working on both the outdoor classroom and the show garden, I called in reinforcements to help. Help with the mosaic came from my wonderful supportive wife Christine who came and helped out with completing the mosaic work.
Christine cleaning the mirror
Back on site, work was commencing with the garden. There was some friendly rivalry between designers on site, and they were often seen walking the grounds checking out the competition. It was for this reason that Tim wanted to keep the mosaic secret only to be installed for the big reveal at the end. The framework for the mosaic did have to be installed earlier in the build, so to keep people guessing 'flatscreen TV here' was written on the framework to throw the rivals off.
Installing the mosaic. Photo Tim Austen
Tim had a really great crew working with him on the garden, and it took most of them to help me get the mosaic into place. Made of natural stone and cement, it weighed well over 200kg.
The finished piece. 220cmx 120cm granite, Liscannor sandstone and mirror mosaic panel by Stone Art
Tim was also keen for me to be involved in two of the other stone features in the garden, the old forest-like dry stone wall and one of the water features. As I was short on time I thought this would be a great opportunity for some of The Dry Stone Wall Association of Ireland to get involved in the project. Two good friends of mine from the DSWAI Ken Curran and Alex Panteleyenko took over the responsibility for this from me and did a really wonderful job of making a dry stone wall look like it has been sitting there for decades.
Dry stone wall built by DSWAI members Ken Curran and Alex Panteleyenko. Photo Ken Curran
Finished wall surrounded with woodland shade planting and a bronze sculpture by Eamonn Ceannt
Unlike the mosaic panel, the water feature had to be made on site. Tim was inspired by the free flowing pebble work of UK artist Johnny Clasper and wanted something similar. I first contacted Johnny to see if he wanted to come over to do it but unfortunately he was busy with show gardens in the UK at the same time. So I decided to do it myself. So I would spend the next three days on my knees in the garden building the water feature, and it would have been even longer had Alex Panteleyenko not stuck around for an extra day after finishing the dry stone wall to help get me started with the water feature.
Myself and Alex setting the first stones in the water feature. Photo Tim Austen
Slow progress.
The finished piece.
I was delighted to see Tim win Gold for the garden. It was wonderful to be part of the whole process and look forward to future involvement in the show. It was great to see the reactions to the garden over the festival weekend. Tim's garden proved to be a big hit with many of the 110,000+ visitors who attended the show over the four days of the event.
If you have time check out this great short film about Tim's road to Bloom and the building of the show garden. Well worth a watch.
Thanks again to Tim Austen for letting me be involved in the wonderful garden. I would also like to make a very special thanks to Alex who after Bloom was over came and helped me for a day to finish off the outdoor classroom which I am pleased to say also got finished on time.
Also of note. I custom make these mosaic panels in all shapes and sizes so be sure to contact me with your enquiries should you want one for your garden.
Having this sculptural outdoor classroom project for a school as my first large public work was both challenging and rewarding. Following a site visit with the arts committee of the school I created a concept that would be distinctive of the schools ethos and beliefs, while also creating a visually stimulating space that would be a slice of earthiness and nature in an urban area largely dominated by concrete and steel.
It took almost a year, and 100 tonnes of stone to complete, but I think the before and after shots below shows how successful the project has been.
My new favorite before and after photo
Tom Pollard acting out a scene on our theatre stage.
Working in the middle of a school yard, the site often felt like a theatre stage, with students and parents alike curious to see what was happening and eager to see how the structure developed. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to share some knowledge of the craft I am so passionate about. I would sometimes find myself performing for my audiences, overly dressing a piece of stone so that the ping of hammer and chisel rings out over the school yard to the delight of the spectators.
There are almost 500 students in this school. So if you multiply 500 students by 1 million questions each, it equals some pretty amusing questions. I have been asked "Are you building a church?" "When will the castle be finished?" "Why are you hammering the bricks?" "Why are you doing that" "Why do you have a hole in your jacket", but the most common question and response I would get from students and parents alike went as follows:
"What are you building??.......An outdoor classroom!............(long pause).........."Will it have a roof on it?"....No it is an outdoor classroom!.......(another long pause)......."oh"...
I was delighted to be able to create a space that visually demonstrates the schools ethos and sparks excitement and curiosity in the process. It is a wonderful feeling to leave the space behind knowing that it will continue to excite and intrigue minds young and old for generations to come, also knowing that the structure will only improve with age as the stonework weathers and the planting evolves.
click on the video to see the building process from start to finish. Get yourself a cup of tea 'cos it's seven minutes long, but then again it did take a long time to build.
The Concept
The outdoor classroom consists of a walled garden type structure. The walls are comprised of dry faced stonework, inspired by the ancient traditional dry stone walls found throughout the country. The stone is Lacken sandstone from Co. Mayo.
Taking inspiration from the four strands of the learning spiral from the school ethos, the centre of the structure is a large spiral incorporated into the floor and walls. The first strand of the spiral is already visible as you walk towards the classroom. It spirals first along the ground, then into the wall, before curling up to create the arched entrance into the classroom. Similarly, another of the strands runs into the wall, curling up to form the border of the family tree mosaic. Yet another strand finishes at the teachers stone chair, with the fourth strand of the spiral turning into the path of the exit from the classroom.
Entrance into the outdoor classroom
The concept is to have a structure that is visually inspiring from both the outside and the inside, a place for children to get excited about being in the great outdoors as well as learning about it.
The stone structure sits in between sculpted grass mounds that help create a wilderness setting. These mounds fill with colour in the early spring with a dense mixture of spring bulbs. This explosion of colour is continued on into the late autumn by the blend of native Irish wildflowers which will also encourage wildlife into the area. The planting inside the structure is composed of various colourful seasonal flowers the children can both plant and admire throughout the year.
Planted inside the stone structure, behind the stone teachers chair is a native ‘Fairy Tree’, or Hawthorn. The Hawthorn, with its beautiful spring blossoms, is a tree embedded deep in Irish myths and folklore and will make for many a great tale on a sunny day in the classroom.
One feature in the structure I was very much looking forward to building was the spiralling moongate. I had this feature in my head for some time and was waiting for the right opportunity to build one. Building this moongate involved a lot of head scratching and even more stone cutting. In order to build it in a way that it would be structurally sound and withstand the heavy traffic it is likely to endure, a lot of cleaver cutting had to be done. The most difficult and time consuming part was building the lower left (as seen below) section where the spiral coils back into itself. These skinny pieces are in some cases three time the thickness of what is visible, they have been chamfered back into the larger stone below to give them strength and weight.
Another complex feature that I was excited to build was the stone tree mosaic. I have already written about this feature in a separate blog post that can be read here
The roots of the family tree mosaic
Student participation.
students painting leaf tiles for the family tree mosaic
The design brief called for the students to be involved in the project in some way so that they could put their own stamp on the project. The design allowed for a number of projects for the kids to get involved in. The natural stone 'Family Tree' mosaic that is incorporated in the walls has leaf shaped tiles which the kids got to paint in class along with the border tiles that surround the mosaic. Read more about the family tree mosaic in the blog post I did about that here
The family tree mosaic
The four large tables in the classroom have also been mosaiced. A competition was held in the school to design the table tops. The students were asked to design the table tops to represent the four strands of the schools ‘Learn Together’ Curriculum, these being Equality and Justice, Ethics and The Environment, Belief Systems, and Moral and Spiritual Development.
Every student in the school (almost 500 in total) got the opportunity to be part of the mosaicing process
The completed tables
Ethics and The Environment table
Students were involved in planting some of the 3000 daffodil bulbs into the mounds that surround the outside of the classroom. They will be involved on an annual basis in planting of flowers in the raised planting bed inside the classroom walls. Two past students, now in transition year in the neighbouring secondary school also got the opportunity to work with the artist for a number of weeks gaining valuable experience in stonemasonry through the building of the stone walls of the structure.
First of the spring bulbs
Summer wildflowers
The teachers chair (well most of the time)
I will leave the final words to the school who wrote this lovely testimonial for me.
Testimonial from the School
Awarded the project after successfully competing in a public tender process, Sunny Wieler from Stone Art was commissioned by the school to create an outdoor classroom. From the very start it was clear that Sunny had fully embraced the ethos of the school both in his presentation and his daily work.
Sunny has been working at the school for the last year, practical in his approach, he has been very flexible working around school yard time/ PE etc. He has worked in close contact with our caretakers/gardeners in order to maintain a strong link with any changes happening during the school day he needs to be aware of and has always been enthusiastic in answering the children's many questions. Starting on site early each morning he has built a rapport with the parents as they drop their children to school.
He has contributed positively to all our committee meetings, embracing changes and answering all our queries, helping us shape our thoughts as the project developed. Sunny has consistently been eager to include the children, staff and parents and indeed the wider community in the project. Each have been involved in creating many of the mosaic pieces and planting around the classroom.
Sunny is meticulous in his approach to his craft. Both in the original design consideration and in his daily approach to his work. He certainly never 'cuts corners', his attention to detail in many elements of the design have been remarkable. The almost soothing sound of him chipping away at one of our native stones will be truly missed when he completes the project.
It has been an honour to have Sunny create for us a lasting piece of art that, in a rapidly changing world, is both a beautiful testament to our history and a practical outdoor space we hope will be used and appreciated by many future generations.
Finally a quote from one of our caretakers, “Sunny has the patience of a saint, he quietly works away, it sometimes feels like he isn't here at all, that the classroom just grew out of the ground” I hope this indicates how much he has become part of our school community, how his craft is quietly appreciated everyday and how successful our 'Outdoor Classroom' project has been.
So Bloom in the park is on in Dublin at the moment, Ireland's largest gardening, food and family event that takes place every June bank holiday weekend. (This year from Thursday 31st May - Monday 4th June). Last year 90,000 visitors visited the 70 acre site at the Visitor's Centre in the Phoenix Park, Dublin with similar numbers expected this year. I was there in the glorious sunshine yesterday and an again in the soggy rain today, and the atmosphere was great. Here is a look at some of the gardens that caught my eye over the past two days.
Ar GháirdÃn Cuil by Students from Senior College Dun Laoghaire and Dun Laoghaire College of Further Education
Ar GháirdÃn Cuil was created to celebrate two things; Ireland’s craft heritage and what a nation of skilled people can achieve by working closely together on shared goals.It is a collaborative garden which brings together the skills, knowledge and experience of two vocational colleges. The Senior College Dun Laoghaire and the Dun Laoghaire College of Further Education (with sculptures by artists Brian O’ Loughlin.
Ar GháirdÃn Cuil
The Cystic Fibrosis Garden, in Association with CF Ireland by Erika Reeves of Growing Designs
This garden has been designed by Erika Reeves of Growing Designs to raise awareness of Cystic Fibrosis as the most common inherited disease in Ireland. Conversely it aims to bring attention to the great strides that have been made in research and treatment of the disease. Part of the garden has been devoted to the representation of one of its main characteristics, reduced respiratory function, the remainder of the garden, an open and airy seating area, signifies how medicinal help can alleviate some of the symptoms. It also tries to reflect how the support of family, friends and support networks such as the CF Association play a huge role in the life of a person living and coping with the disease. Sadly an underlying message in the garden, represented by the looming arches, is that Cystic Fibrosis can be treated but at the moment cannot be cured.
Wild Metal Garden by Jack Harte & Frank McGeeney of Wild Metal
I have shared my love for red in the landscape before in a previous blog post, so it would come as no surprise that this garden caught my attention.
This garden is the work of garden duo Jack Harte & Frank McGeeney of Wild Metal. Jack Harte is responsable for the wounderful red metal sculptures in the garden, and makes colourful and unique metal sculptures and ornaments for both public and private open spaces while Frank McGeeney uses his skills in both landscape archutecture and farming to creat the green oaises that suroundes the wounderful art.
Sunken pods in the Wild Metal Garden
Machnamh / Reflection by Deirdre Pender of Talamh Landscapes
The "Reflection" garden is designed by Deirdre Pender to provide a source of quiet contemplation and refuge from busy everyday living. It draws on the ancient connection of hazel trees and water in Celtic mythology, in particular the sacred stand of hazel trees that hung over the Well of Wisdom in the Otherworld.
The Cavan Crystal Hotel Wedding Garden by Jason Stubbs for KHS Landscaping
This garden is designed by Jason Stubbs prymairally to provide a romantic, enclosed space for wedding parties to have their photographs taken. To acheave this unique backdrop to the garden he commissioned three vibrantly coloured wrought-iron floral globes. These globes, the largest of which will measure three meters high, rises from swathes of flowering perennials, grouped around strong evergreen shrubs. Jason Stubbs, studied Horticulture and Garden Design with the Royal Horticultural Society and Diarmuid Gavin. Shortly after the programme he was offered a design post within Diarmuid Gavin Designs in Notting Hill London.
Garden by RTE Super Garden winner Leonie Cornelius
This lovely garden is a recreation of the garden that won Leonie Cornelius the title of RTE's Garden show Super Garden. The theme of the garden is elegance and beauty using reclaimed materials where nature and architecture come together to create a harmonious whole. A customised space that shows how materials that most people would throw out can be used to create something new and extraordinary.
More Great Gardens.
As this post is getting very long, here is just a quick look at a few more of the gardens at bloom.
Table for 4 by Gary Hanaphy of Landscape Studios Ireland
Angel's Fishing Rods, Mermaid's Tears - A Tale of the Sea by 3Design Gardens
Green House by Deirdre Prince & Patricia Tyrrell
Birds and the Bees Garden by Ben Landers
Bloom is such a huge event there are too many gardens for one blog post, but there are lots more photos and lots more great gardens to be found in my flick album below. Click on the slideshow below to see them all.
You can also find out more about these gardens and the event on the Bloom website http://bloominthepark.com/ or better still, go and have a look for yourself.
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