So this is a post that will strike different ‘chords’ with different people. For some this is art, but others may see this as decimation of a beautiful instrument. But before you begin to grieve for them, to my knowledge all the instruments shown here were beyond repair.
The above picture is of the Garden Piano in the gardens of HagalFarm, my parents’ holistic retreat in West Cork, Ireland. I have written about this in a previous blog post which you can find here.
Recently I have become aware of a number of other garden pianos. I like to think that after reading my garden piano post, readers ran off to drag their old broken pianos out into their gardens, but I am sure that this is unlikely.
The Piano water feature below as well as the brass pipe water feature above were part of the ‘Jazz Garden’ at the 2008 Philadelphia Flower Show.
In recent years, with people becoming more environmentally friendly and looking for green alternatives in the landscape, recycled or found object art seems to be more popular than ever. With found object art, musical instrument parts on occasion find their way into art pieces.
One artist that takes ‘musical themed, found object art’ to another level is Capricorn Coast based artist Noel Brady.
Born in Ballarat, Victoria Noel completed his Diploma of Arts and Design at the Ballarat School of Mines and Industries Art School before embarking on a long career as a secondary school art teacher in both Victoria and Queensland.
He retired to his Emu Park bush studio in 2004 to concentrate on his own artwork with a particular focus on sculpture. Noel works largely with recycled timber, clay and metal – but has a particular penchant for reimagining old piano parts.
Noel has had moderate success to date, exhibiting in Rockhampton, Gladstone, Yeppoon, Emu Park and Goombungee, and has sold works into private collections in San Diego, Sydney, Canberra, Griffith, Dandenong, Brisbane, Cairns, Rockhampton and Toowoomba.
He presently lives and works in his bush studio on a small acreage near Emu Park on the Capricorn Coast, and regularly exhibits new work in a small privately-run gallery in the seaside town.
Lots more of Noel’s artwork can be found through his website http://www.noelbrady.com.au be sure to check it out.
An artist who takes a very different approach to turning musical instruments into art is American artist Lisa Calabro of Crooked Moon Studio in Warwick, Rhode Island. Lisa has transformed old instruments into artworks by mosaicing them. See more of her lovely mosaics on her website http://crookedmoonstudio.com
Thanks to both Noel and Lisa for allowing me to share their artwork. Thanks also to Bérénice for the use of her photographs of the Philadelphia Flower Show.