Art enthusiast brings a bit of fun into her outdoor space
Amy Amdur admits it. She puts artwork in her garden because the house can't hold much more.
“It gives me all this new space for more art, and there's a movement now to the outdoors' being another room,” said the organizer of art fairs throughout the suburbs.
If you're just getting started, Amdur recommends you don't take your garden art too seriously, choose glass pieces or metal ones that are treated or will oxidize attractively, and move the artwork around so you don't start to take it for granted.
“I like to have a sense of humor, especially with outdoor art,” she said. “I have two children, so my art out here is to have fun with.”
A great example in the back yard of her Highland Park home is a bright, incongruous piece, a large, lavender fiberglass character that looks like something Dr. Seuss dreamed up.
“It makes me laugh with its trunk and big ears.” said Amdur. “He's the lifeguard of the pool.”
Marina Lee of Milwaukee is going to touch up her creation because his paint job suffered through a pretty tough winter.
It's impressive when Amdur places pieces that could be rather ordinary in a way that make them very special.
Check out the three ducks waddling on the pool deck. They are simple affairs with necks and feet of bent metal rods and a large rock for bodies, but they have a grace that makes them seem to almost be moving.
“See how the blue pool is behind them? It wouldn't look as great as it does without the blue behind them,” said the art lover. “It's really fun at night when the pool's lighted to see the ducks.”
Like the ducks by Chuck Adams of Osseo, Minn., many of the pieces have a water theme.
Take the life-size bather. Joanie Drizin of Indianapolis cut her from a sheet of metal, and Amdur stood her in a corner near the pool where we would say she's rusty, but Amdur calls it oxidation. Yes, she's a nude, but Amdur considers her abstract enough to be displayed where children play.
Motion is another feature that Amdur appreciates in her art.
Two tall kinetic sculptures stand behind the pool. The copper one shows a graceful spiral of small open vessels. The other has cups on the ends of rods that float up and down with the wind — or if a cardinal decides to hitch a ride.
One of Amdur's favorite pieces is three large copper coneflowers that have aged to a light blue.
“They are oversized, bigger than life. The artist is playing with scale,” she said.
Most of Amdur's art stays outside in the winter to brighten the view when nothing is blooming. While glass can be a good choice because it withstands temperature changes, she does not use much near her pool.
Many of her outdoor pieces are rusty metal because she thinks real flowers should provide color, and artwork should not compete.
And when Amdur does select shades like the yellow, orange and green glass flowers in her front yard, the real flowers need to go along with the palette the artwork sets.
One really important thing about Amdur's garden: She gets double duty by arranging it so someone gazing out the windows that flank her family room fireplace see garden vignettes.
Art can be functional, too, such as a bench, table, planter or even forks and spoons.
“You don't have to have a lot of money to bring art outside,” said Amdur. “If you've never put a piece of art outside before you may not be comfortable with it. It's OK to start small like the ducks. As you get comfortable, you can add. There's no telling where someone can end up.”