Turning old instruments into art!

Brass pipe water feature  at the Philadelphia Flower Show's 'Jazz Garden' 2008 . photo by Bérénice

So this is a post that will strike different ‘chords' withdifferent people. For some this is art, but others may see this as decimation of abeautiful instrument. But before you begin to grieve for them, to my knowledge allthe instruments shown here were beyond repair.      

Garden Piano at Hagal Farm

The above picture is of the Garden Piano in the gardens of HagalFarm, my parents' holistic retreat in West Cork, Ireland. I have written aboutthis in a previous blog post which you can find here.

Recently I have become aware of a number of other gardenpianos. I like to think that after reading my garden piano post, readers ranoff to drag their old broken pianos out into their gardens, but I am sure thatthis is unlikely.

The Piano water feature below as well as the brass pipe water feature above were part of the 'Jazz Garden' at the 2008 Philadelphia Flower Show.     

Piano water feature at thePhiladelphia Flower Show's 'Jazz Garden' 2008 .  photo by Bérénice

In recent years, with people becoming more environmentally friendlyand looking for green alternatives in the landscape, recycled or found objectart seems to be more popular than ever. With found object art, musical instrumentparts on occasion find their way into art pieces.

Artist Noel Brady at work in his bush studio
 near Emu Park, Queensland, Australia  

One artist that takes 'musical themed, found object art' toanother level is Capricorn Coast based artist Noel Brady.

Born in Ballarat, Victoria Noel completed his Diploma of Artsand Design at the Ballarat School of Mines and Industries Art School beforeembarking on a long career as a secondary school art teacher in both Victoriaand Queensland.

He retired to his Emu Park bush studio in 2004 toconcentrate on his own artwork with a particular focus on sculpture. Noel workslargely with recycled timber, clay and metal - but has a particular penchantfor reimagining old piano parts.

Convergence by Noel Brady

Symphony under construction by Noel Brady 

Noel has had moderate success to date, exhibitingin Rockhampton, Gladstone, Yeppoon, Emu Park and Goombungee, and has sold worksinto private  collections  in San Diego, Sydney, Canberra, Griffith,Dandenong, Brisbane, Cairns, Rockhampton and Toowoomba.

     Hepresently lives and works in his bush studio on a small acreage near Emu Parkon the Capricorn Coast, and regularly exhibits new work in a smallprivately-run gallery in the seaside town.

Lots more of Noel's artwork can be found through his website http://www.noelbrady.com.au be sure to check it out.

Lasseter's Legacy by Noel Brady   

An unrelated yet worth mentioning, Pool wall panel by Noel Brady

Mosaic Guitar byMosaic Artist Lisa Calabro   

An artist who takes a very different approach to turningmusical instruments into art is American artist Lisa Calabro of Crooked MoonStudio in Warwick, Rhode Island. Lisa has transformed old instruments intoartworks by mosaicing them. See more of her lovely mosaics on her website http://crookedmoonstudio.com

Mosaic Violin by Mosaic Artist Lisa Calabro 

Mosaic Guitar by Mosaic Artist Lisa Calabro

Thanks to both Noel and Lisa for allowing me to share their artwork. Thanks also to Bérénice for the use of her photographs of the Philadelphia Flower Show. 

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Garden Piano

A few weeks ago when down visiting my parents at our family home, down in West Cork, I went for a wander in the gardens (you may remember these gardens from my previous post ‘'garden labyrinth’). During my wander I stopped off to have a look to see how the garden piano was doing.

By now it has all but disintegrated, but it still holds a magical charm about it, in fact it was all part of the plan! Perhaps I should explain.

Besides being a passionate gardener, my dad is also a passionate piano player, so a few years back we got him a new piano for his birthday. So the old piano spent a wile in the shed before he had the great idea to put it out in the garden. I can almost see one of Bruno Torfs sculptures sitting there playing it when no one is around (The first picture is my photoshopped impression of this)  

Tucked away in a inconspicuous corner, the piano creates a entire atmosphere of its own. Slowly over time it began housing plants and wildlife alike, becoming part of the landscape. Although it quickly lost its ability to play any notes, my dad was hoping to wake up one morning to a loud clang, when the piano would finally fall apart, making its final encore.

Unfortunately it never did produce the theatrical clang he was hoping for, it did on day just fall apart, creating a new and in some way far more enchanting garden feature.

Unfortunately as I was not there when the piano was moved, I don’t have any photos of this. The first few photos were taken in 2008 by a guest staying at my parents farm, and the rest were taken a few weeks ago on my resent visit.

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