Expressing yourself using lawn decorations can be a balancing act. A test of restraint. A test of aesthetic judgment.
That impulsive need to decorate walls, bookshelves and couches can spill out onto the front lawn - sometimes in a tasteful, refined manner, and sometimes less so.
"I do have some very modest art in my garden," admitted Andover resident Frances Wheeler. "However, I loathe gardens that are littered with tchotchkes, so I attempt to place them such that only one is visible at a time."
Accentuating nature's beauty with form and sculpture dates back several centuries in several cultures. For example, a youthful Michelangelo sculpted pieces in a Florence workshop that were placed outdoors among the Boboli Gardens in the 1500s, noted Marc Mannheimer, a Bradford painter who teaches fine arts at Northern Essex Community College.
"I read there are over 200,000 peace poles in yards all over the world," Mannheimer said. "Not everybody likes it, but many people do it for the aesthetic appeal."
But it's Americans who have raised the bar - and in some cases, dropped the taste level - when it comes to decorating outdoors with ornaments of all sizes, colors and concepts.
"I was just in Morocco, and residents there keep the outside of their homes very, very plain. It's a sign of humility," said Jim Zingarelli, an Amesbury sculptor and chairman of the art department at Gordon College in Wenham. "I think what's happened is we, as Americans, are collectors, and the lawn provides a place for our collections to go berserk with the gnomes, glass balls, elements of pop culture. What puzzles me is the two-dimensional deer. Does this really remind anyone of real deer?"
Art with meaning
Yard art isn't always an extension of a collection. For many people, their religious beliefs are represented on their lawns through statues and sculptures.
Historically, this was considered sacrilegious in the Christian faith and is still considered so in the Muslim religion, Zingarelli said.
"In Islam, the depiction of humans or animals cuts against the Koran," the Amesbury resident said. "Having recently been to mosques in Casablanca (Morocco), the beauty and simplicity is in the tile work, stucco work and stone work. Words from parts of religious texts are etched into the architecture."
That impulsive need to decorate walls, bookshelves and couches can spill out onto the front lawn - sometimes in a tasteful, refined manner, and sometimes less so.
"I do have some very modest art in my garden," admitted Andover resident Frances Wheeler. "However, I loathe gardens that are littered with tchotchkes, so I attempt to place them such that only one is visible at a time."
Accentuating nature's beauty with form and sculpture dates back several centuries in several cultures. For example, a youthful Michelangelo sculpted pieces in a Florence workshop that were placed outdoors among the Boboli Gardens in the 1500s, noted Marc Mannheimer, a Bradford painter who teaches fine arts at Northern Essex Community College.
"I read there are over 200,000 peace poles in yards all over the world," Mannheimer said. "Not everybody likes it, but many people do it for the aesthetic appeal."
But it's Americans who have raised the bar - and in some cases, dropped the taste level - when it comes to decorating outdoors with ornaments of all sizes, colors and concepts.
"I was just in Morocco, and residents there keep the outside of their homes very, very plain. It's a sign of humility," said Jim Zingarelli, an Amesbury sculptor and chairman of the art department at Gordon College in Wenham. "I think what's happened is we, as Americans, are collectors, and the lawn provides a place for our collections to go berserk with the gnomes, glass balls, elements of pop culture. What puzzles me is the two-dimensional deer. Does this really remind anyone of real deer?"
Art with meaning
Yard art isn't always an extension of a collection. For many people, their religious beliefs are represented on their lawns through statues and sculptures.
Historically, this was considered sacrilegious in the Christian faith and is still considered so in the Muslim religion, Zingarelli said.
"In Islam, the depiction of humans or animals cuts against the Koran," the Amesbury resident said. "Having recently been to mosques in Casablanca (Morocco), the beauty and simplicity is in the tile work, stucco work and stone work. Words from parts of religious texts are etched into the architecture."
Mannheimer said exterior Christian statues are more pervasive in the United States than other counties.
"When my wife and I were in Italy, we saw statues of every saint you can imagine, but they were in the church usually," he said. "We do have a Buddha garden (at our home) with a statue in it. ... In Buddhism, there always is an altar that has many different variations of Buddha on it, where you pray and meditate."
Secular style
Zingarelli said some artistic media, like stone or metal, can add aesthetic value to your property.
Wheeler has several small, stone and metal ornaments scattered among her rose bushes and lining wooden fences. From ducks to birds to owls, most satisfy her love for nature's winged creatures. However, she's carefully spaced out her ornaments around her gardens so visitors are surprised to see them - instead of trying to see past them.
Wheeler, a member of the Andover Garden Club, spent less than $200 in total on lawn ornaments. She inherited an iron duck, which sits on her front steps, from her mother. She purchased several small decorative hose holders on sale. And two stone cats were gifts from a friend when Wheeler's 19-year-old and 20-year-old cats passed away.
She did note that some locals who spent more money have had pieces stolen.
"The theft of garden art is a huge problem," Wheeler said. "Our recently deceased (garden club) member Beverly Darling had her own sculptures stolen out of her garden a couple of years ago. And, many more years ago, someone used a truck to rip out the Victorian iron urns the club had donated to the town - right from in front of the Old Town House on Main Street."
The ornaments in Andover resident Judy Astbury's garden have far more sentimental value than monetary value. Astbury found a small, beautifully worn stone - hollowed out like a Cheerio - not at an art boutique but on the shoreline of Nauset Light Beach on Cape Cod.
"This is not formal art, but it means something to me," Astbury said of her small collection of lawn ornaments.
In addition to the water-worn cinderblock, Astbury subtly placed in her shade garden a small cherub she received as a gift "for one of those birthdays that end in a zero." Nearby, an armillary, which in the 16th century represented the universe, sits on a pedestal. And the most recent addition, purchased at a Cape Cod gift store last month, is a whimsical tin rabbit, a tribute to Astbury's 25 years of collecting the little guys.
"I always wanted a garden that I could see out my kitchen window. It's grown (during the past 30 years) with very little planning," Astbury said. "These little pieces make the garden a little more pretty."
Decorating your yard right
* Don't just plunk art or other items down; think about how the piece relates to the house and the yard.
* If you have a friend with an educational background in the arts, ask for some expert advice.
* Scale is important: If you have a tiny garden, don't stick in a 6-foot sculpture.
* Make sure the color and material complements both the garden and the house.
Source: Northern Essex Community College fine arts teacher Marc Mannheimer
Welding away
Salisbury resident Gordon Frost's front yard boasts many pieces of large and small welded, steel art - all of them his own creations, all of them for sale.
"I haven't kept anything for myself," said Frost, a 60-year-old retired fireman. "Anything I've made, I can always make again."
Frost said there wasn't one big moment when he realized he was an artist. Rather, he's been tinkering away on his pieces for about 10 years. And in that decade, he's never planned ahead before creating a piece - he always lets the materials dictate the final form.
Locals looking to add one of his whimsical steel statues should make sure it's theme-appropriate for their yard, Frost said. He sold a nautical piece to a family that lives next to the Merrimack River and just finished a fence made of horseshoes that would be appropriate for a farm.
"One lady brought me a large supply of old tools that belonged to her (deceased) father. I made a sculpture out of them, and she has it in her yard. She said it always reminds her of her father," Frost said. "You don't want a modern piece in yard full of Colonial stuff. But as long as it goes with the yard, I don't think people should worry too much about the size."
