A Walk Through Color: Summer Gardens Inspired by Calder

A Walk Through Color: Summer Gardens Inspired by Calder

Whether they walk the grounds for the first time or the 1000th, we aim to surprise and inspire visitors with our seasonal gardens that welcome nature lovers on their arrival to the Visitor Center.

This year’s design is inspired by Alexander Calder, the inventor of the hanging mobile. His art can be found in prestigious venues outside the Detroit Institute of Art (DIA) and downtown Grand Rapids, to dangling from the ceiling of a local Grosse Pointe Library.

Born in 1898 in Lawton, Pennsylvania, Calder was the first artist to take his sculptures to new heights by suspending his art. He began his career playing with wire, making jewelry, paintings and figurines.

Throughout his career, Mother Nature was his muse. The wispy blades of grass and heavy drops of dew appeared in many of his pieces. While others borrowed life’s unexpected twists and turns in spirals and curls.

With air, shadows and momentum, Calder tells a different story from every angle. So when I was introduced to his art by our Collections Department, I was excited. Apparently in 1988, Eleanor Ford purchased a lithograph print for her art collection from the DIA. It’s bright primary colors played with black and orange shapes in his typical style. It was January and I could already see my June display coming together.

In his 1966 piece of art, “Quilt,” Calder combined primary colors with traditional shapes as well as some he pulled from imagination. Orange, black and white play major roles in this artwork as well as the space that allows the piece to breathe and give the design its strength.

I mapped out our four flower beds that sit adjacent to the Continental restaurant. The spheres spirals and graph itself immediately brought flowers of similar shape and texture to mind. Annuals like gomphrena, craspedia, marigolds and escargot begonias would be perfect. I wanted to honor Calder’s love of shapes, wire and movement, so I decided to include mixed mediums, like planters and spiral wire trellises.

To maintain the structure of each shape I hoped to create, I chose plants with long, strong stems and a tendency to stand upright. Plants like coleus and angelonia grow tall and strong and deliver vibrant colors all summer long with low maintenance. Although the space is full sun in the afternoon, I took a risk and included a few plants that perform better in part sun/part shade as our shaded walkway has been known to affect the growth of full sun annuals. I’m curious to see how things developed.

With my team and our summer seasonal gardeners, we were able to install the garden in a day and a half. They worked like champs and I’m so excited to share a piece of art and celebrate history in a new and creative way. In a week or so, our Communications Department will have a sign to display the original artwork, my sketch and some helpful facts to illustrate the design. Please let us know what you think!