shoe made of natural materials with hellebore flower

Transforming Nature into Art

by with 5 Comments Garden Art

My friend Lenny is an artist through and through. Initially inspired by the fashion industry, he spent a year in England in the mid to late 80s where he studied shoe making at the prestigious Cordwainer school and then served as an apprentice. After returning to the US, Lenny tried to find employment in the shoe industry to no avail. But at this time, he embarked on a career in horticulture becoming inspired by nature and gardens while keeping his shoemaking on the back burner.

As it often happens in life, serendipity intervened. Lenny had the opportunity to utilize natural materials from the gardens where he lived and worked to create an ephemeral piece for an art exhibit – a pair of shoes. Since then, he has made over 50 pairs of shoes.

Pair of shoes made from natural materials - gingko in this case
The first pair of shoes Lenny made constructed of Gingko leaves with a pinecone heel.

I was first introduced to Lenny’s work at Winterthur during their yuletide exhibit in December of 2023 where I saw his art on display and was wowed by his attention to detail and composition. Currently Lenny is working with Chanticleer to harvest materials from their garden (with permission of course) to create living art that will be on display in a case on the patio of the main house. Using seasonal materials from the garden, Lenny will construct five pairs of shoes that will be on display from the end of April to July. An additional five pairs will be on display from the end of July through October. In addition to sharing his work with visitors, Lenny will educate the public about plants featured in a garden during exhibition-related programs.

shoes made of natural materials
The shoes Lenny made for the Winterthur Yuletide exhibit.

I tagged along on Lenny’s trip to Chanticleer to learn what inspires him and what materials he finds the most useful. I loved hearing that Lenny was intrigued by the story of the original owners, the Rosengarten’s, and sought to create a pair of women’s shoes and also a man’s slipper in honor of them.

I observed Lenny selecting large leaves with interesting veining or patterns. As you can imagine, he needs a number of leaves to cover the leather form. At the same time, he didn’t want to make his harvesting apparent, so he collected carefully. For details and embellishments, he often uses seed heads or vines. To simulate a brocade, he’ll use an interesting conifer. He often turns leaves upside down when applying them to the form. Bark, branches or cones become heels. Lenny explained the difficulty in getting the patterns to match from shoe to shoe, since every leaf or branch is slightly different.

Man harvesting leaves from plant
Lenny carefully harvested materials to use for his shoemaking.
Man showing workers the harvested materials in a box
Chanticleer staff members were excited about the project and examined Lenny’s harvest with interest.
Hand holding a seed head from a flower
Lenny sought out unique embellishments like seedheads to use for his project.
Man making shoes
The artist at work.
shoe form with leather
The shoe form Lenny uses as a foundation for his art.
Shoes made of natural materials with fern fronds
One of the pairs on display at Chanticleer made of locally collected material.
Lenny with case of hand made shoes
Lenny standing next to the case where his shoes are on display.

Seeing the shoes on display and witnessing the process of their creation is a gift; I highly recommend you visit Chanticleer to see the garden and the art Lenny created from it. I hope all the other public gardens in America’s garden capital take advantage of Lenny’s talents and commission him to create shoes made from materials on site. And if you’re wanting a pair for yourself, you can reach out to Lenny directly on Instagram @lennywilson.  As you can imagine, the shoes won’t last forever. But that’s another thing that makes them special. Just like with our gardens, plants come and go. We cherish them while they exist and are forever touched by their beauty.

Lasting Landscapes by Carol

Learning from the Experts

by with No Comment garden design

I recently had the opportunity to learn from some amazing horticulturists during an event at Chanticleer. The evening began with a garden walk led by Chanticleer’s own Dan Benarcik.  Annie Guilfoyle, renowned UK garden designer, followed Dan with a talk on ‘What Makes a Garden Great.’

Lasting Landscapes by Carol
Attendees happily followed Dan into the garden to hear his recommendations for making a great garden space.

I thoroughly enjoyed learning the perspectives of these talented industry professionals. As we wandered through gorgeous Chanticleer, Dan talked about how the gardens constantly evolve in color and form. He encouraged us to focus on creating an ever-changing landscape that keeps things interesting and dynamic. He also suggested pressing the reset button from time to time to completely revamp a garden area if needed.

Lasting Landscapes by Carol
Clearly Dan’s vision and design strategies work. This perfectly woven tapestry of color and texture says it all.

Dan recommended attendees test the limits of plants and use them to provide focal points, create different views, or add repetition and flow to an outdoor space. Tropical or architectural plants like Agave and Banana make impressive statements. Adding a plant that has a similar form to an architectural component (like a column) is a special way to add interest and emphasis.

Lasting Landscapes by Carol
The bold textures of tropical plants create focal points in the landscape.
Lasting Landscapes by Carol
With columnar structures themselves, Thalictrum and Lilium perfectly accent the garden’s architecture.

When Annie spoke, she also emphasized marrying architecture to the garden. She suggested using art as inspiration for garden components like sculptures, fencing or even the layout of a bed. In episodes of Small Town Gardens, where Annie designed different gardens in the UK, she put this principle into action. She installed wall art inspired by a painting and implemented a water feature that looked like a replica of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water.

Lasting Landscapes by Carol
Annie’s magical Falling Water sculpture brought the client’s favorite architect directly to her garden. Photo credit: Annie Guilfoyle

Annie feels gardens are also about people. People who grow or gift plants. People who put their unique spin on a place and let their personalities shine through in the landscape. In addition to making a space personal, Annie reminded the audience that bulbs and shrubs should be included in every garden as a way to extend the season and make the garden more special.

Lasting Landscapes by Carol
My new stone bench serves as functional art in my garden.

I walked away from my evening with Dan and Annie feeling renewed and motivated. I could feel them cheering me on as I planted bulbs, added a new stone bench based on the boulder ‘art’ in my garden and totally revamped a garden area by removing some water-hogging hydrangeas and replacing them with a variety of drought tolerant plants better suited to our current climate. When you have the opportunity to learn from experts like Dan and Annie, don’t hesitate. You will be grateful for the time spent and inspiration gained.