fun in the garden!

Today the kids and I cleaned up the lot in advance of having the lawn and trees cut back. We had some snacks and played around with pvc and other materials to make compositions:

 hanging pvc square on the wall

kickstarter donor stones finally in the ground

We finally got the donor stones in the ground! Well, on the ground. Tomorrow we will dig under each and partially bury them. They will look great in a few months when the grass is growing through them.

kickstarter funds accounting

Happy New Year! I sat down with all of the receipts today and since the kickstarter campaign ended $4285 of the $5300 raised had been spent on lots of projects as well as liability insurance for one year. Here is an accounting to date:

insurance......................................1100
clearing patio................................1800
yardwork/poison ivy control.........400
sand...............................................163
picnic table....................................100
spray paint......................................82
hardware.........................................33
mulch..............................................81
art supplies......................................176
tools................................................233
   rakes
   handsaw   
   post hole digger   
   hammer   
   sledgehammer   
   palm sander   
   paint brushes   
   tarps, etc   
food & beverages for potluck........72
toys/sporting equipment................45
total...........................................$4285

Earlier posts show the uncovering of the enormous cement patio, which has been the most exciting development in the past few months. Additionally the kids did a lot of painting around the property, made jewelry, made thank you cards for kickstarter backers (almost mailed!), painted stones for backers (ready to be set in the ground!), made glass bead jewelry, and spent a lot of time helping to clean up the grounds.

The next big project is to completely fill the hole left by the full basement of the house that used to sit on the lot. This summer I filled it with sand and mulch, but it still remains a few inches lower than the ground surrounding it and needs to be filled more or covered.

We also have a board of directors! There has been discussion of creating a non-profit entity for the garden and possibly acquiring other properties in the future which would be managed by the non-profit. Someone has even volunteered to file the 501(c)(3) paperwork for us. This is a big undertaking and needs a lot of consideration. Regardless of what direction we take I'm so happy to have a group of fabulous people willing to help the SSG project.

Thanks once again to all of our kickstarter backers, we wish you a wonderful 2013.

the new patio

A heartfelt thanks to all of the wonderful people who backed the kickstarter campaign - because of you we were able to uncover the back patio that lay mostly underground. The kids are really enjoying it!

It turns out that my friend David grew up directly across the street from the sculpture garden. He remembers watching as the patio was poured when he was eight years old, that was back in the 1970s. David said that the house that stood where the garden is now was owned by a Greek couple, and that Greek weddings were hosted on the patio frequently on the weekends. What a great history.

My sincere apologies for the extreme lateness of the kickstarter rewards, most will be arriving after the holidays!

six week update in pictures!

Oh, it's been so long since I've updated! My sincere apologies to everyone interested and invested in this project, things have been happening quickly. We exceeded our kickstarter goal! Many heartfelt thanks to all who donated, I will have the backer page up on the blog soon. Here are some pics of the highlights from earlier this summer.

The fabulous Jessica Crownover both donated and planted flowers at the garden. She also brought over some gardening supplies and an old wheel barrel to use as a planter. Jessica took it upon herself to speak with the management at the Memphis Hacks Cross Lowe's and they've offered lots of plant discounts and 50% off of tools for the garden project! I'm so grateful to Jess for all she's done.

Jessica and Dave from Lowe's

sculpture by Chris Videll

art in the trees! also by Chris Videll

We made glass bead necklaces thanks to a group of wonderful lampworkers who get together for a beadmaking retreat once a year. I have bags of gorgeous beads in all colors, shapes, and sizes to use both in jewelry and mosaics! A huge thanks to my friend Chris Dalrymple who collected these tiny works of art and has also donated other items that I'll write about soon.

Jonathan Turner of Turner Stone created a beautiful sculpture platform from granite and marble, thank you Jonathan!

wood and steel sculpture by Chris Videll

The back patio has been cleared of small trees and 15 years of thick matted vine growth thanks to Jerry Sallis Services. The concrete was covered so thickly that Jerry didn't initially believe me when I told him how large the patio is, it measures roughly 25' x 30'. Jerry also moved an old shed from my backyard to the garden.

half of the patio exposed

Creating thank you cards for  kickstarter backers.

spray painting the new picnic table

Memphis Burning Man pot luck!

summer days in the garden...

Thanks for visiting!

SSG blogged and on the radio!

Ja'Sean at WKNO

Last week I had the honor of appearing on WKNO's Checking on the Arts program with 11 year old Ja'Sean, one of the kids actively involved with the garden. Ja'Sean did a WONDERFUL job and we both enjoyed ourselves. You can listen to the 10 minute broadcast here.

We were also featured on the I Love Memphis Blog, check it out!

SSG in the paper today!

The Commercial Appeal: Blight to Beauty