Everyone it seems has their own ideas as to what constitutes “art”. “Art is what I like” is what many people use as their definition. In part this may be a defence against the more extreme modern art installations that seem far removed from the traditional idea of art. However it is easy to agree that gardening is an art. “Walking a fine garden is art appreciation” claims Saxon Holt in his article which I found on the Gardening Gone Wild blog.
No doubt if you are reading this you know that gardening is an?art. And, as is often true with art, one form inspires another. ?A recent stroll in the University of California Berkeley Botanical Garden brought so much of this together.
Art appreciation is something we do every time we visit a museum, go to a concert, read a poem, dine in a fine restaurant, are thrilled at a sporting event, listen to a well-crafted lecture, or recognize any of the beautiful things humans are capable of doing.
Walking a fine garden is art appreciation too, often alerting many of the?senses, making us keenly aware that in nature beauty begins.
Art is everywhere,?and for many of us in the Gardening?Gone?Wild community, we create art every time we plant something new, prune our trees, or pick a bouquet.
I wonder if we understand how deeply gardens affect other arts. ?I doubt there is any ?quantitative way to measure the influence of gardens on the human soul, but certainly they improve the human condition. Whether actively or subliminally I am sure we gardeners spread the beauty and joy we find in the garden to others.
I was at the Botanical Garden to see the Florilegium of Alcatraz exhibit.
After the lecture I strolled the garden, absorbing the wet beauty, giddy, thinking about the art all around me and how I might portray what I see.
See more at Gardening Gone Wild
