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How do you describe Winter Wheat?
Is Winter Wheat a retail store, a garden retreat, an art studio?
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Broomhead Garden
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The way I would describe Winter Wheat is; “it’s a folk art environment.”
The term “folk art” covers a wide range of art and has been around for a very long time.
It includes things like quilts, stitchery, braided rugs, wood carving and paintings.
The materials used in folk art vary from fabric, paint, glass, clay and wood to found objects and things others throw away as junk.
Folk artists are generally self taught and do not follow any artistic technique but rather make up their own as they create their work of art.
A folk art environment is when you can walk right into the folk art. It surrounds you with an environment. Sometimes folk art environments include an entire home or a backyard.
At Winter Wheat my husband Mike and I have created our own folk art environment purely out of the joy of creating.
The many chainsaw carvings that are part of our gardens were made by my husband Mike and are not for sale. We wouldn’t want any one of them to leave our home. They are apart of this place.
In fact quite a number of our creations were made before we even opened our property to the public.
For example, Gladys was the first piece that Mike made.
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Gladys – one of our first folk art sculptures in the garden |
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Gladys is carved from a large tree stump. Her skirt is made with rusted sheet metal and her belt is made of chain. Her hat is the cover of an electric fan and windshield wiper blades are her hair.
We enjoyed creating Gladys so much that we started to envision even more sculptures. Each one unique and more elaborate than the previous piece.
It’s exciting and fun to come up with an idea and then start putting it together.
Since I love to garden it only made sense to develop gardens around these unusual art pieces.
Mike uses old metal tools and other found objects. Most of the materials came from his father’s old work shed.
Each year we add a little more to our folk art environment, something that will make us smile each time we look at it.
One of my favorite pieces is a crow resembling Elton John who is playing the piano while a canary, aka Bette Midler, sings “The Wind Beneath My Wings”
Mike has installed speakers inside of the piano to play the music. |
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Elton John crow with canary singing “Wind beneath my wings” |
Over the winter Mike has been adding a number of “new” creations to our grounds.
He created a large number of post people. Each of them is unique and all of them are made with found objects. One of my favorites wears a hat that used to be a bed pan from a local hospital.
Last fall he completed a little building in the very north/west corner of our property. This new building houses folk art pieces that I collected on my trips with the New York, American Folk Art Museum.
Most of the pieces are by folk artists from the Mississippi and Alabama area.
Many of these pieces have a religious theme which is typical of Southern USA folk art.
I have chosen to display these pieces in Mike’s “new” building since the building was designed with a spiritual element.
A large window in the shape of a cross lets in the late afternoon sun.
The gardens surrounding this building make this little area at Winter Wheat very tranquil and calming.
Mike has named this little area the “Healing Garden” |
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Healing Garden - a quiet little place
It’s our hope that folks will bring their worries to this healing garden. If they just “Pray it out, Talk it out, and Think it out” then maybe they will leave Winter Wheat feeling like they are on a path of healing.
Such a mental and spiritual process of eliminating discouraging thoughts has a powerful, curative effect.
This past week we covered another little building with grapevine and added a number of brightly colored large metal flowers and butterflies.
It is amazing!!
Just yesterday Mike with the help of a neighbor, positioned three old hot water radiators in one of our gardens.
These pieces will be transformed into sheep and will be surrounded by lilies and hostas. I know this new folk art installation will be awesome!! I can’t wait to see it come to life and bring a smile to people’s faces when they see it.
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One of our little building creations with brightly colored metal flowers
It has been a real pleasure to work with Mike on all of our folk art pieces.
His sense of humor and his ingenuity in coming up with new pieces is a continual source of enjoyment not only for me, but for all those who have visited Winter Wheat. |
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Websites I recommend to learn more
There are a good number of folk art environments in the USA. Some of them I have had a chance to see and have enjoyed very much.
You can learn more about these unique sites by visiting www.narrowlarry.com
You can also visit the American Folk Art Museum for more information about folk art in general www.folkartmuseum.org |
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