Artistry...

One day, when our offices were actually onsite, and it was easier to get out and take pictures, I went around the gardens one day with the intent of taking pictures only of all of the wrought iron furniture. There are benches everywhere - all along the many pathways, in little nooks and crannies and in arrangements in the garden "rooms". Most, if not all, were manufactured
in New Orleans, and carry some of the flavor of that city with them. Most are more comfortable for shorter and smaller people than myself, and the benches would only accommodate two at most. The designs vary from location to location - no matchy, matchy business here, and all blend into the garden-scape just begging for a visitor to take a rest and truly experience a few precious moments of being still.

I think about the craftsmen who built these pieces - who, no doubt, stood over an extremely hot fire and bent and hammered and molded and measured to create something beautiful out of something so pedestrian as iron. But then, why not? Most every craftsman out there is doing the same thing, and nowadays, often times creative people are finding new ways to use old things. Art work that tells a story made from bits and pieces of abandoned buildings. Houses built from the discards of other houses and businesses. Renewable materials, or just thinking of old materials in a new and creative way. I like that. The trees that fell on the property during Hurricane Ike have become any number of beautifully executed bowls, vases, tops, and jewelry thought the skilled hand of two men with lathes and a passion for creating. Let's keep up the good work.