While it’s always wonderful to buy a painting or a photograph to make a room visually complete, what about the garden? Flowers and vegetation make quite the impact in the outdoor space, but a special sculpture positioned in the right location can make the outside sing.
Areas such as the Napa Valley in California are renowned for modern art installations among vineyards at wineries. Whether the artwork is just one piece or a collection, finding man-made art within nature is always a beautiful surprise.
With a new venture from Sarah Fletcher, founder of Fletcher Arts, and Julian Ronchi of Julian Ronchi Garden Design and Nursery, the idea of sculpture in ‘the tamed wild’ has come to fruition. Located in Balnarring on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Ronchi conceived his beautiful nursery as an oasis of down-to-earth charm that now hosts works of exciting emerging talent alongside some of Australia’s most prestigious artists curated by Fletcher.
“We decided to create this because it made sense,” says Fletcher. “The Mornington Peninsula is an area that has a healthy interest in art and landscape, has good restaurants and wineries — for example, at nearby Point Leo Estate — yet there are very few galleries in the area where sculpture can be viewed which can be envisioned in your own garden.”
More garden with sculptures than sculpture park, the initiative is impressive. Fletcher reflects: “I have known Julian for a long time, and we had talked about collaborating before, so when Julian opened the Nursery some months ago, we thought: let’s do it!”
Related: Q&A with Joanne Odisho
The art will constantly change but at the moment there are 16 contributors with works from artists such Bruce Armstrong, Lisa Roet, Alistair Fowler, David Ray, Porcelain Bear, Ted Secombe, Brigit Heller, Graham Fransella, Kirby Bourke, Peter D Cole, Porcelain Bear, Forough Yavari, Andrew Hustwaite, Mark Howson, Titiania Henderson and Caleb Shea.
“Between the Toorak showroom and the Nursery in Balnarring the aim going forward is to showcase the artists I work with currently, with more coming on board, and to allocate works to the location I think will serve it best,” says Fletcher
From the small and perfectly formed object to the large signature oversized pieces, each artistic endeavour is ready to weather the elements — or, in the case of Forough Yavari’s ethereal pendant light, add beauty as it softly illuminates the outdoor room.
The Sculpture Nursery is a place to visit and browse. It’s also a place to buy and, just an hour’s drive from Melbourne, the journey is a delightful day trip.
Fletcher concludes: “We hope to bring to the area a place where Julian’s regular devotees can come and experience the nursery from a different angle and enjoy sculptures in the elements. It’s also somewhere where my clients, mainly architects and designers, can see ideas for their clients.”
Among the excellent vineyards and restaurants of the Mornington Peninsula, this Sculpture Nursery can revive the spirit and hone the artistic eye and, perhaps with a purchase, enhance the beauty of a home garden as well.
Art feeds the soul as do the outdoors and combining the two makes life that much richer. From oversized monkeys to porcelain stools, bronzes, mobiles and an incredible feature light, the forms of the sculptures are impressive.
The Sculpture Nursery is definitely a place to visit and relax but at its heart it is a place to be enthralled by nature and inspired by the human artistic talent.
