Hands-on Crafting Garden Decor

Concrete’s been around for some time but under the artful vision of Northwest artists George Little and David Lewis (Little & Lewis), over the past couple of decades this humble material has moved from merely mud to fine Art with a capitol A.  Their work has appeared throughout the media and in gardens throughout the west and beyond.

Maybe you’ve encountered one of their atmospheric mossy dripping columns or come across one of their sculptural Gunnera leaves, finished in brilliant color and stains, peeking out from dense undergrowth in a landscape and been stopped dead in your tracks at its beauty and the way the artists have captured the detail and form of  this botanically remarkable plant.

Now it your turn to dig in and play along. Check out these West Coast venues offering classes on turning fresh garden leaves into botanical works of art cast in concrete.

August 4 – Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore, California has a two part Concrete Leaf class.

August 11 – Wade Creek House in Estacada, Oregon is adding an Advanced Concrete Leaf Casting workshop to its already popular beginning class.

September 13 – Kruckeberg Botanic Garden in Shoreline, Washington offers a variation on the technique with their Sand Cast Stepping Stones workshop. And if you take to the medium, you might enjoy creating a planting container with the look and feel of stone in their Hypertufa Workshop on October 16.