5.1.2020 | DIGS.NET 27
Like an artist,
Grace uses
broad and fine
brushstrokes
to transform a
two-dimensional
canvas into a
three-dimensional
work of art.
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contractor, I build what I design," she says. "That's when my work took a big leap forward. There is no separation
between design, installation and maintenance, it's all one and happens on a continuum. Unless it's integrated, it
doesn't work—period."
This is how she thinks too, both pragmatically and painterly. Much like an artist, she uses "broad and fine
brushstrokes" to transform a two-dimensional canvas into a three-dimensional work of art. And in systematic fashion;
first is attending to infrastructure beneath the ground, then to its surface with the layering of elements. Rocks, for
instance, are not so much placed as they are selected and then worked such that their shadows will cause additional
depth or bring color forward. From there the garden grows.
One also sees this artistry in Grace's exquisite new tome Private
Gardens of Santa Barbara: The Art of Outdoor Living (Gibbs Smith), a
rapturous showcase of her elegant outdoor edens, from rustic to coastal
to modern. Each of the book's made-to-age milieus represents a temple
of residential garden know-how and is illustrative of nonderivative design
that reflects the character of the native landscape.
"The Art of Outdoor Living" idea certainly
accounts for the substantial exterior living rooms
and heated floors of our era. "About 10 percent of
outdoor living comes down to 'my fort is cooler than
your fort,'" Grace refreshingly confesses. But at the
root, "it is a way to describe a lifestyle connected
to nature." For Grace, who went from toiling in the
family garden to forsaking a career in medicine
after a 13-week stint as a park ranger proved
she'd long lost her heart to the natural world, this
is the point. "Step outside and you hear birdsong,
you smell water evaporating. It's a rich and simple
experience, but relaxed and comfortable. We take
a deep breath and feel better. It's so automatic
we don't even think of it, but it is a very profound
thing. It's experiential, there is intentionality to it."
Landscape as soul, nature as relief—what a thing
of beauty. gracedesignassociates.com
