STONE  FIRE  & WATER

Sculpture  by Garden Artist and Garden Designer

Karin Stanley has over twenty years of experience in design and art.  Ms. Stanley was born in Ireland and was a knitwear designer interested in textures, materials, fibers, patterns and symbolism.  It was art wear in knit form.  Ms. Stanley has lived in the States for nineteen years. Her work evolved into other areas where she worked in film, video and theatre working on styling sets and building esoteric costumes . It has continued  into the medium of landscape and garden art and sculpture. 

Ms. Stanley feels garden art and ornament are an essential part of any garden, house and landscape. It can make a  more versatile, personal and unique.    Graduating from the Landscape Design program  at Radcliffe in 2000, her final thesis project was defining a “Celtic Garden” the spatial defining characteristics and elements. Ms. Stanley started to explore her garden art over ten years ago where  she envisaged  large stone sculptural plinth shaped elements and other art that could be placed in specific areas – entrance, exit, focal points  Drawing on the ancient celtic archaeology  and elements  was the incubus for the ‘Celtic Stelas’ and the core of her work.  The  Celtic Stelas are  created in granite,  etched with celtic hyroglyphs  that have multiple meanings: Life, unity, embrace to mention a few. Her work is infused with symbols of water air, numbers, solar and lunar elements.  Stanley also uses ‘ogham’ – the ancient Celtic hieroglyphic alphabet that is  hatched and crossed on the stone.  The idea of combining stone and fire has a resonant and powerful sentiment – an ancient connection.  Each Stela is a stand alone sculptural element which has a vessel for fire. Denoting  entrance, exit, place of honor. Place of beauty, contemplative, thought provoking – full of the Anam Loci- Soul Place.

 “Vertical Water “ is the idea  of still water on a vertical plane. Using  highly polished steel in

 combination with other media, aluminum, core ten steel and stone. The  reflective qualities of the steel like silver water onto a vertical plane and playing around with movement and light is the inspiration for this series. Placed in strategic places, they can create more  space, light, depth, mystery, enchantment and occasionally humor.  Some of the key qualities to a garden or space. They are made in different types of steel, aluminum with accents of marble, teak or acrylic. This is a limited series.

Other pieces by Stanley are more whimsical  as in The Royster which refers to a Rock Oyster with a steel pearl and the Stone stack lamp with fun lampshades.

 Some of her garden pieces are in private gardens in California, New Hampshire, Philadelphia, Vermont Massachusetts, Illinois and Ireland. One can see some of her work at her studio home and garden (by appointment)   Jill Nooney’s Fine garden in New Hampshire.   Stanley was invited to create a Sculpture garden for the Irish Tourist Board by the Mass Hort Society. It was called ‘Celtic Eclectic.’ This was at the New England Flower show in March of 2006.  “Rock on celebrating stone in the Garden’ will be a four month installation with seven other artists at Garden in the Woods from July.

Karin Stanley lives with her husband and two children in South Natick, MA.