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A bedraggled 80 - class - old farmhouse surrounded by 6 Akka of rearing weeds , brambles , and invasive Himalayan blackberry bush hardly describes a property you would dream of transform into a beautiful Oriental garden . However , when acclaimed pottery artist Robin Hopper spotted this run - down property in Metchosin , British Columbia , he fell in sexual love with it at first sight .
Robin Hopper ’s aesthetic style and making love of the Orient is on full display in his lush garden on the West Coast of Canada . “ Somebody once said garden design must be the slow of the visual arts . How true , but it is also one of the most complex and substantial , ” he sound out in his Es - bookA Potter ’s Garden — An Artist ’s glide path to Creative Garden - Making . photograph by : Robin Hopper .
“ I knew that I ’d plant something special , ” say Hopper in his e - playscript , A Potter ’s Garden : An Artist ’s Approach to Creative Garden - Making . “ It was like get into a cathedral . At the front of the family , Douglas firs — some over 700 years onetime — soar as in high spirits as 120 human foot , imprint an ancient grove with the drive slide into their midst . Imagine what was go on then in the world as these trees were depart to farm . ”
Three linked pond filled with koi and goldfish sit among a setting of 11 different types of Japanese maple and a motley of rhododendron . In the dip , the maples leave a continuum of colour , starting in August and go on until December . Photo by : Robin Hopper .
Since that mean solar day , Hopper set out to transmute what he scream a “ spate of wretchedness ” into a family domicile , salesroom , artistry gallery , and 2.5 - acre garden that now attracts visitant from all over the public and was voted as one of the top 10 gardens in Canada by lecturer of Canada’sGardening Lifemagazine . Hopper calls his distinctive garden style “ Anglojapanadian ” because of its strong Japanese influence .
“ As both a long - time professional artist and zealous recreational nurseryman , I have noticed that , for me , the most visually exciting , personal , and thought process - provoking gardens have ordinarily been those created by creative person who work in a variety of optic art media , ” says Hopper . His dual Passion for ceramic and gardening have always gone hand - in - hand . From the first , his concept was to near the garden as he does his other works of art — as a spiritualist for expressing approximation , educe memory , and stirring the pot .
Hopper ’s “ Bridge on the River Koi ” spans a ironical river bed made from 100 Pisces the Fishes - shaped porcelain roofing tile , with coloured glaze resembling different variety of Japanese koi . pic by : Robin Hopper .
“ In addition to giving huge joy to me and my family , the garden has been enjoyed by thousands of people and has been feature in a phone number of gardening magazine , books , and television show , ” says Hopper . “ For quite some time I attempt to analyze what it was about the garden that intrigued people to such an extent . I have come to the ending that it exploit as it does because of the wide grasp of influences in the garden , the sources where I find my aspiration , and the direction in which a variety of different art experiences are combined to produce a new workplace of prowess where the whole is greater than the sum of its function . "
“ All magnanimous Nipponese gardens unremarkably have a gate for the Emperor in the unlikely outcome that the Emperor goes there , ” says Hopper . This one is surrounded by various metal money of rhododendron . Photo by : Robin Hopper .
InA Potter ’s Garden , Hopper takes a look at garden design through the eyes and intellect of an creative person . “ I hope to paint a picture how artists go about incorporate thoughts and methods from divers areas of fine art and meld them into a highly personal blank that goes elbow room beyond the recipe - based approach to garden design , ” he read . you’re able to learn more about Hopper ’s workplace atChosin Pottery Inc.
Hopper made this Greco - Roman inspired rotunda using logs he find on the beach . It ’s capped by a bonce made from a 10 - foot - wide boob tube orbiter beauty cover with three unlike varieties of honeysuckle . The “ pebble ” mosaic floor is made from pieces of colored porcelain . picture by : Robin Hopper .
See another garden in British Columbia : My Garden : Using Planters and Pathways to Lure the Eye
