June 16, 2006


Sculpture garden rises above plants and expectations at nursery
By TOM RAGAN
SENTINEL STAFF WRITER
WATSONVILLE — There's an interesting exhibit at Sierra Azul Nursery on East Lake Avenue across from the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds.

Dozens of sculptures rise from the earth alongside hundreds of plants in an artistic scene orchestrated by the Pajaro Valley Arts Council and Gallery with a great sense of open space in mind.

Since the display opened June 2, the feedback has been positive as customers and art aficionados have strolled through — proof perhaps that there's a place for art in business, provided it's achieved with a certain amount of class.

"Sculpture belongs in a garden," says Ann Steinlauf, manager of the nursery. "I think the two are made for each other. It's the European tradition."

But it exudes a touch of Santa Cruz County flair, backdropped by the unmistakable foothills around Mount Madonna.

The artists, all professional, come from Aptos, Ben Lomond, Santa Cruz and Watsonville.

The Central Coast influence is inescapable. For example, there's the 3-story lighthouse that was trucked in for the occasion. It operates by wind, and actually beams a red light.

It's the signature work of Aaron Van de Kerckhove.

And over yonder in an open space normally set aside for plants, Barrington McLean's "Sitting Pretty," a cast-concrete woman, contemplates nursery life and thymes.

A few yards over, next to the perennials, sits Doyle Foreman's "Shango," a combination of a mushroom cloud and lightning bolt — in honor of an African god of thunder.

And about a football field away, in the freshly cut green grass that could be mistaken for a park, there's John Hylton's "Wood Rat Mud Hut," a piece of art concocted with the summer solstice — the longest day of the year — in mind.

So mark your calendars.

"It's really cool," exhibit co-curator Judy Stabile said of the mud hut. "It has all these different holes in it and when the sun shines on the solstice, it's going to be really special."

It's the viewer's job here is to complete the exhibit's title, "Sculpture Is..."

Sculptor Holt Murray says it's "content contained in form," while Coeleen Kiebert says it "makes the invisible visible."

Hylton, who created "Wood Rat Mud Hut," writes in the exhibit's brochure that he thinks sculpture is "the earthly manifestation of dreams."

Stabile and Mary Warshaw conceived of the exhibit two years ago, and just a few days ago, it finally became the manifestation of their dreams.

Contact Tom Ragan at tragan@santacruzsentinel.com.

If you go

What:Art exhibit from Pajaro Valley Arts Council and Gallery to mix business and art in an open setting.

WHERE: Sierra Azul Nursery, 2660 E. Lake Ave., Watsonville.

WHEN: 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. through July 30.

Grand opening: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

DETAILS: 728-2532.

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