Truth beauty
Alan B. Mac Farlane
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 łhumdrum houses.˛ They create łliving spaces˛,
while gardens become łopen air rooms˛. These outside łrooms˛ are enhanced
by interior decorators (rather then gardeners) until theyąre 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.
łWhen weąre in a place of tranquillity, such as a beautifully designed
garden or unspoiled nature˛ say Murray, łthe beauty allows us calmness, and
weąre 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,
itąs not at all a lightweight thing. For me, great beauty touches a chord
of profound truth - a chord thatąs deep, deep inside my heart -- itąs like
when people speak of something the gives them shivers or goose bumps.˛
Years ago, Murray hired some top photographers to critique her pictures.
łThis work is beautiful,˛ they said, łitąs like poetry, and romantic, but
how do you justify this kind of work as a contemporary woman artist? Donąt
you know that beauty is passé? Youąll never get in a gallery or be
published if you continue photographing and painting only beauty.˛
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 Monetąs famous painting of his garden at Giverny. Murray
had fallen in love with Monetąs 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 Monetąs paintings. Monet would
have been please with her experimental work; he felt that a garden should be
ła personal sanctuary to surround you and inspire you to create.˛
Murray, 43, is the author of five books. Two of them, łPainterly
Photography˛ and łMonetąs Passion˛ (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. łTheir dislike of beauty is very sad,˛ she says. łI
think itąs 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. Itąs saying that something beautiful that gives you
pleasure is unimportant.˛
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. łNow what Iąm 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
-- heąs the Christian Green Man. Now, I donąt care about being pragmatic,
Iąm not fudging around anymore -- itąs 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.
łI think itąs 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 doesnąt always mean that you are cured of an illness, that
youąll 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.˛
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