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Old Deaf School Park, corner
of E. Town St. and Washington Ave. in downtown Columbus, is the
site of a unique arts project. Georges Seurat's Famous post
impressionist painting, A Sunday On The Island Of La Grande
Jatte, is created in topiary. It is the only topiary
interpretation of a painting in existence. This "landscape of a
painting of a landscape" consists of 54 topiary people, eight
boats, three dogs, a monkey, a cat and a real pond. The largest
figure is 12' tall. |
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The pond, representing
the River Seine, was installed in 1989, along with the hills. Seurat would have sketched his
scene from the top of the easterly hill. Stand left of the
bronze plaque on the stone slab in the path, and you will see
"the painting" as he saw it. |
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Old Deaf School Park
and Topiary garden |
Georges Seurat's painting A Sunday On The Island
of La Grande Jatte |
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It is a project of the Columbus
Recreation and Parks Department. The concept came from artist
James T. Mason who teaches sculpture at the Department's
Cultural Arts Center. He designed, created and installed the
metal frames as well as the living topiaries. Elaine Mason,
initial topiarist and retired arts coordinator for the
Department, trains city gardeners to trim the figures. |
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Major Gifts
from Motorists Insurance Companies, the Town
Franklin Neighborhood Association and Columbus
Foundation along with business and private gifts,
provided initial funding for the 1992 Quincentenary
project. The Columbus Recreation and Parks
Department matched these contributions. |
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The Topiary Park has generated widespread interest.
Articles have appeared in Life, National Geographic, Art
In America, House & Garden, ArtNews, Conde Nast Travler,
Sculpture, Victoria, Fine Gardening, Garden Design, and Ohio
Magazines; and in The Columbus Dispatch, The
Wall Street Journal and The San Francisco Examiner
among other publications. It is included in an book,
The New Topiary" by Patricia Hammer, and in two art
textbooks. In 1995 it was on Japanese and French
television. |
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