Turning old instruments into art!

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.      

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.     

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.

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.

Convergence by Noel Brady

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.

Lasseter's Legacy  by Noel Brady   

An unrelated yet worth mentioning, Pool wall panel by Noel Brady

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

Mosaic Violin by Mosaic Artist Lisa Calabro 

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. 

Garden Piano

A few weeks ago when down visiting my parents at our family home, down in West Cork, I went for a wander in the gardens (you may remember these gardens from my previous post ‘'garden labyrinth’). During my wander I stopped off to have a look to see how the garden piano was doing.

By now it has all but disintegrated, but it still holds a magical charm about it, in fact it was all part of the plan! Perhaps I should explain.

Besides being a passionate gardener, my dad is also a passionate piano player, so a few years back we got him a new piano for his birthday. So the old piano spent a wile in the shed before he had the great idea to put it out in the garden. I can almost see one of Bruno Torfs sculptures sitting there playing it when no one is around (The first picture is my photoshopped impression of this)  

Tucked away in a inconspicuous corner, the piano creates a entire atmosphere of its own. Slowly over time it began housing plants and wildlife alike, becoming part of the landscape. Although it quickly lost its ability to play any notes, my dad was hoping to wake up one morning to a loud clang, when the piano would finally fall apart, making its final encore.

Unfortunately it never did produce the theatrical clang he was hoping for, it did on day just fall apart, creating a new and in some way far more enchanting garden feature.

Unfortunately as I was not there when the piano was moved, I don’t have any photos of this. The first few photos were taken in 2008 by a guest staying at my parents farm, and the rest were taken a few weeks ago on my resent visit.

Encore from the musical tree, to celebrate arbor day!

Happy Arbor Day USA, Ok I know it’s a bit late, but ye should really make it a week like we have here in Ireland, that way I won’t miss it.

So another short and quirky post today as I have to go to work shortly. This post is for those of you who are (were) celebrating Arbour day.

This video is of a piece of music by Diego Stocco, a sound designer & composer, who creates eclectic musical experiences with custom built instruments and experimental recording techniques.

For this video, Diego said

In the garden of my house there's a tree with lots of randomly grown twigs. It looks odd and nice at the same time. One day I asked myself if I could create a piece of music with it.

Well here is your answer.

Personally I feel a bit sorry for the tree, but it is entertaining and worth a watch.



See more of Diego's crazy videos on his website www.diegostocco.com/