Truth Beauty by Nori Nisbet

[Alan B. Mac Farlane]

This is an article reprint by author about artist Elizabeth Murray. She
married a good friend of mine, Gerald Bol, and he died of brain cancer
about 4 months after the marriage. This article was written about 1 month
after Gerald left his earthsuit.

Home and Garden

Truth Beauty

Reflections of nature in all it tranquil glory.

By Nori Nisbet

_______________________________

Have gardens become nothing more than outdoor rooms? Designers attitudes
are certainly changing. Some architects, for example, no longer design
what they archly refer to as „humdrum houses.ľ They create „living
spacesľ, while gardens become „open air roomsľ. These outside „roomsľ are
enhanced by interior decorators (rather then gardeners) until theyĽre
suitable for glitzy spreads in new-wave garden magazines.

The good news is that visionary garden designers, like author/artist
Elizabeth Murray, see the future of gardens altogether differently -- as a
limitless fountainhead of creativity and potent, healing sanctuary for
mind and body.

„When weĽre in a place of tranquillity, such as a beautifully designed
garden or unspoiled natureľ say Murray, „the beauty allows us calmness,
and weĽre able to breathe in deeply -- inhaling for inspiration. Then I
ask that inspiration to come out through my hands, sometime for gardening,
writing, painting or taking a photograph. When photographing something of
incredible beauty, I get a lump in my throat and say a prayer that I may
record the beauty to share with others. Beauty is really important to me,
itĽs not at all a lightweight thing. For me, great beauty touches a chord
of profound truth - a chord thatĽs deep, deep inside my heart -- itĽs
like when people speak of something the gives them shivers or goose
bumps.ľ

Years ago, Murray hired some top photographers to critique her pictures.
„This work is beautiful,ľ they said, „itĽs like poetry, and romantic, but
how do you justify this kind of work as a contemporary woman artist?
DonĽt you know that beauty is passČ? YouĽll never get in a gallery or be
published if you continue photographing and painting only beauty.ľ

Caustic remarks to the contrary, Murray had several successful gallery
exhibitions and became the first director of the San Francisco Landscape
Garden Show -- certainly a major venue for garden beauty. More recently
she was invited by the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum to display her work
alongside Claude MonetĽs famous painting of his garden at Giverny. Murray
had fallen in love with MonetĽs cherished garden on her visit to France.
She was, in fact, so enamoured with it, she obtained permission to work in
the garden for several months with French experts restoring the famous
jardin. Almost every day, before she started her tough gardening work,
Murray would photograph the garden in soft, early-morning light to create
hand-painted and altered images of the garden, these were eventually
displayed at the de Young as a complement to MonetĽs paintings. Monet
would have been please with her experimental work; he felt that a garden
should be „a personal sanctuary to surround you and inspire you to
create.ľ

Murray, 43, is the author of five books. Two of them, „Painterly
Photographyľ and „MonetĽs Passionľ (both Pomegranat Press, both
bestsellers), focus on the radiance of the garden. Two others, one on
sacred spaces and the other on cultivating beauty in the garden, are
almost finished. And with all her success, Murray is forgiving of those
long-ago anti-beauty critics. „Their dislike of beauty is very sad,ľ she
says. „I think itĽs about the lack of the feminine -- not honoring things
that are tender -- like children and nature. Their type of mentality is
not a nurturing thing. ItĽs saying that something beautiful that gives
you pleasure is unimportant.ľ

Creating beauty and a sense of sanctuary in garden design are of prime
importance to Murray. Her open-minded approach to spirituality developed
after the Catholic teachings of her childhood were broadened by the loving
influence of Quaker friends, Buddhist studies with Alan Watts and the
mystical practices of Hassidic Judaism. „Now what IĽm interested in is
igniting and inspiring others to create their own sense of spirituality --
incorporating Jungian archetypes of their own symbols into the garden.
For example, the Green Man is an ancient version of what we see as Saint
Francis -- heĽs the Christian Green Man. Now, I donĽt care about being
pragmatic, IĽm not fudging around anymore -- itĽs just direct. I would
rather empower and awaken other garden designers to the idea of sacred
space through my writing then keep designing gardens myself.

„I think itĽs maybe easier for people to grasp the idea of the garden as a
healing place rather then a sacred space, yet I think they go hand in
hand. And healing doesnĽt always mean that you are cured of an illness,
that youĽll live forever. Healing can mean a renewal of spirit, a healing
of family relationships, a healing of things other then the body - a soul
awakening.ľ