Garden art galore at Brush Prairie event

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NatureScaping of Southwest Washington:

www.naturescaping.org

More about composting practices:

www.columbiasprings.org/mcr

BRUSH PRAIRIE — Cheryl Hazen’s mosaic-making journey started with a six-foot table that once belonged to her husband’s grandparents.

Hazen bought as many plastic mosaic pieces as she could find at local hardware stores and decorated the table top using a lot of trial and error, she said. “When you don’t know how to do something, do it big,” she joked.

After experimenting with the table — it took her three or four years to get it just right — Hazen said she discovered a mosaic technique she enjoyed. It was reflected Sunday in her glass artwork, including solar water fountains, birdbaths and mirrors, on display at the Art in the Garden event in Brush Prairie.

At one point on Sunday afternoon, several dozen art enthusiasts strolled through NatureScaping of Southwest Washington’s Wildlife Botanical Gardens, where about 16 artists were selling their works, including drawings, jewelry, ceramics and garden art. The event began a few years ago and was organized by NatureScaping and the Clark County chapter of the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon.

For some visitors, such as Carrie Martinsen of Ridgefield, it was a chance to visit the botanical gardens for the first time. The gardens span about three acres and allow gardeners to “demonstrate and teach gardening concepts that attract birds, butterflies, hummingbirds and other wildlife to residential gardens,” according to Nature-Scape’s website.

“It’s a nice opportunity to see the gardens that I didn’t even know were here,” she said.

Martinsen also was entertaining her sister, Marsha Sandhofer, who was visiting from Petersburg, Alaska. The sisters, who went to the busy Vancouver Farmers Market on Saturday, said they were enjoying the lower-key atmosphere of Art in the Garden.

“It’s always fun to see what people are doing recycled-art-wise,” and how that art fits into a natural setting, Martinsen said.

Artist Nancy Grzymko of Battle Ground said she tries to create a whimsical look with her garden art, which often is made with old porcelain tea sets, drinking glasses and glass beads.

“A lot of the fun is just searching for the pieces to put together,” she said.

The para-educator for Battle Ground Public Schools said it was her first time at the event. Her artwork, including a small white tea kettle with strings of blue beads dangling out of its spout, hung from a nearby tree.

“About three years ago, I started collecting pieces,” Grzymko said. She would put her artwork in her own yard; then she started giving them away as gifts. It soon dawned on her to try to sell her art.

She met Hazen through a Bible study group, and Hazen invited Grzymko to share a vendor booth with her at an event. On Sunday, the two sat side-by-side, working on art and talking to guests.

Nearby, Dick Mills of Ridgefield was selling his gourd birdhouses during his second year at Art in the Garden.

“I was retired and decided to make a birdhouse, but wanted something different,” he said. “They’re gourds that I buy on the Internet.”

From there, he drills a bird-sized hole in each gourd, shakes out their seeds and seals their insides with oil. Then he paints the outside with bright colors and finishes them with varnish.

He’s given his work to the Ridgefield Garden Club, and to members of his family, he said. The birdhouses typically attract chickadees and nuthatches.

“It’s a hobby; there’s no profit in it,” he said. “I’ll probably give most of these away.”

As part of Art in the Garden, members of the Master Composter/Recycler program were on hand to demonstrate composting techniques. They showed visitors a worm bin full of newspaper clippings, food scraps and red wiggler worms, as well as lasagna composting, in which gardeners layer different types of compost material to created a garden bed ready for planting.

“It’s basically a flat compost pile,” explained Lee Clapp of the program.