Stunning Sculpture and Statuary

Go beyond flowers and foliage: add statues and sculptures for a new dimension to your garden.
Helen McKerral admires the options. 

Houses have furniture and carpets or polished floorboards, painted walls or brick features… but it’s the personal touches that make it a home. Family photos, paintings or prints, and that special vase or antique basin set from grandma are the things that personalise your space and make it uniquely yours.
Gardens, too, can be beautified in this way. Of course the plants and paving surfaces you select will reflect your personality and taste, but you can go further and choose garden ornaments that complement the mood of your outdoor living areas in the same way that you decorate your house. 

Why Statuary or Sculpture
Statuary and sculpture provide focal points and surprise. They add a fresh element to the garden and delight or intrigue the viewer. They can draw the eye away from less attractive views or features, or provide interest in a spot where plants are difficult to establish. 

Aesthetics and Scale
A sculpture or statue should complement the style of the garden and be in scale – a huge Italian fountain would look rather silly in a tiny city courtyard or plonked into the centre of an Australian bush garden!
In your garden, look for natural alcoves or framed views in which to place sculpture, or for dull backgrounds that could be enlivened by variety.   Clip a shallow recess into a hedge to frame a statue, or trim a tangle of overgrown shrubs to open up a space or create an arch. A plain, uncluttered backdrop generally best sets off a sculpture. 

Restraint
We’ve all seen them – gardens sprouting every possible garden gnome, windmill, wishing well, pink flamingo plus cat, dog and even the aborigine-standing-on-one leg ceramic. Please, unless you are a collector of ceramics – don’t go there! Such gardens are almost inevitably cluttered, busy and ugly – a forest of bad pottery rather than plants. Use sculpture as a highlight, not as the main bulk of your outdoor space. 

Classical Style
Cherubs, Michelangelo’s ‘David’ and other classic Greek-style sculptures are available in every possible size and quality. Though they are not to my taste, they do suit many gardens and gardeners, and reproductions can be bought quite cheaply. Use your imagination to site such sculptures – the quirky approach can add originality to an otherwise clichéd piece. A group of cherubs peeking out of a bush, a bathing lady under a fall of weeping foliage, fish suspended amongst branches or an archer aiming at an apple tree can bring a smile instead of a roll of the eyes!
Of course, in a more formal setting, quirky can look out of place, so buy the best quality you can afford.  

Modern Style
Numerous reproductions are available in garden centres but, if it’s within your budget, visit galleries and buy one special hand-crafted sculpture. These are expensive, of course, but you will have a uniquely beautiful piece that will enrich your garden for a lifetime. Quality sculpture, whether it be in stone, ceramic, metal or glass,  has the ability to keep on giving – unlike poor-quality work, good original pieces are rich in depth and meaning, and can be fresh on each new viewing. 

Installations, Found Objects and More
Those on a small budget need not be discouraged. Some of the most interesting and memorable garden art I’ve seen has been created by the owners from found objects arranged in interesting ways. The hebelstone sofa on a hillside at Wyndbourne Park is a favourite – unexpected, tongue-in-cheek and always brings a smile to the face. Think about the materials mouldering away down the back of your yard – can they be arranged in an unusual way?

Here are a few quirky, fun and beautiful examples to get your imagination fired:

. A cairn or pyramid of interestingly-shaped stones on a concrete base.
. Smooth, oval-shaped river stones stacked one atop the other.
. A giant sphere of densely-wound, rusty barbed wire, placed in an open space like a giant, strange beach ball.
. Clear glass fishing buoys, suspended from tree branches like soap bubbles, or coloured buoys like strange fruit.
. A circle of totem poles. Arrange straight tree limbs, pine posts, or PVC stormwater pipe (the latter topped with endcaps) of different heights and thicknesses in a circle or serpentine line, and paint them different colours (bold primaries and secondaries are eye-catching).
. Sticks, stones or log rounds interwoven into a vertebra and snaking through the grass or an open area.
. A single totem pole adorned with found metal objects (farm objects, tools, engine parts, the rustier the better).
. A “curtained doorway” of beads, balls, curtain tassles, or lengths of bamboo suspended from a low horizontal branch.
. Whippy garden prunings woven into large discs and placed atop poles, or hung from branches.

.. and the list goes on, limited only by your imagination.
So this weekend, why not visit your local garden centre, gallery or recycling depot for some materials?