| Choosing Statues for the Yard |
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By Rebecca Jones
Scripps Howard News Service The plastic pink flamingos should probably stay at the garden store, where they belong. And the cement lawn jockey, truth be told, has rather limited uses these days. Ditto the gazing globe, unless you've got it in a Victorian garden. But the right piece of garden statuary can enliven and polish your yard's appearance. The keys, says landscape architect Doug Rockne, are appropriateness, scale and contrast. "The theme must be true to the space," says Rockne, who designs for parks in Denver. For instance, a Venus de Milo that looks great in a very formal, tended garden is out of place in a wildflower garden. And abstract metal statues may not be suitable for an old-fashioned rose garden. But whimsy -- that's nearly always appropriate, he says. "I have this pottery gargoyle at my house that I got for $25. It's a wonderful piece, appropriately placed. Gargoyles are whimsical. That's what garden art should be. It can be surprising. It doesn't always have to be serious." Scale is particularly important in deciding what art to place in your yard. As a rule, put big pieces in big places and little pieces in little places, Rockne says. "Art wants to be a focal point," he says. "Position it like you're positioning art on a wall. It shouldn't overwhelm the space it's in." One display element people often overlook is contrast. Dark pieces of artwork are best viewed against a light background, and vice versa. Thus, a piece of white marble looks stunning when set against a backdrop of evergreens, but fades when viewed amid light-colored rocks. Beyond these constraints -- appropriateness of theme, scale and contrast -- there really are no rules for selecting art for the garden. It's mostly a matter of personal taste and budget, Rockne says. Some natural art forms made of wood, stone or clay can be quite inexpensive. On the high end, some bronze sculptures can cost more than $10,000. Most landscapers advise homeowners to invest about 10 percent of the value of their property in landscaping. Rockne says 1 percent or 2 percent of the total landscape budget should be ample for garden statuary for most people. Thus, the owner of a $200,000 home might reasonably spend $20,000 on landscaping, including $200 to $400 on outdoor art. While modern garden statuary runs the gamut from abstract to classical, a couple of themes really appeal to buyers these days. "Animals are big right now," says Rockne. "And children playing are big. Both are realistic and show some movement - jumping or doing something. And both are typically done in bronze." And both tend to be expensive, $5,000 or more, Rockne says. Equally popular but far less expensive is tree sculpture. Increasing numbers of homeowners have paid to have stumps in their yards transformed into artwork. "It's a very appropriate use of a tree," Rockne says. "Typically it costs less than $1,000. But they don't last, maybe 10 years or so. You can't have carved wood exposed to the elements like that forever. And you can't take it with you when you move." (Rebecca Jones is a reporter for the Denver Rocky Mountain News.) (Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.shns.com.)
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