Over the past century and a half western societies have suffered from the rise of the omnipotent university. As the university populations increase, the individual human imagination decreases and the art of creating beauty disappears. Some university art education critics claim the human mind becomes programmed.
The “feelings’ of the individual become institutionalized. What one absorbs and attempts to understand or respond to in inspiration….become numbed.
The quest to achieve that which is beautiful dies.
Beauty has long disappeared from most corners of the world of art. Music, literature, poetry, painting, sculpture, theater become more recognized, honored and remembered by vulgarities, mindlessness, or the shocking or pedestrian.
The state of the arts in a culture reveals the state of the mind of that culture.
Sameness in landscaping is learned at university. Today’s university instructors teach tomorrow’s “teachers”.
This sameness in copied by the homeowner,,,,or the college kid looking to make a bit of extra money during the summer.
When I shop at Lund’s supermarket, I hear the most boring, mechanical sounding noise piped into shoppers ears. It is irritating in its recorded monotony and harshness….so completely devoid of anything resembling a pleasant melody……..It’s the “music” of Orwell’s 1984.
Of all the beautiful music in the world that has been composed, of all the inspiring and moving words which with the melody of music and the beat of poetry which have lifted mankind to the heights of human expression, nearly none of it is heard or read anymore by the modern American.
Beauty of Art is dead in America…..and has been for a long time.
We are told, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. That is a profound untruth. There are some differences from culture to culture, nearly all are superficial. Most humans will agree on what is more beautiful than another……if they are put to it. But recognizing beauty during the course of their every day lives is not often noticed except maybe at the bird feeder. There are attractions….sexual, sensual and the bizarre, but beauty is a word just about absent from the American vocabulary.
Recently I contacted the Minnesota State Horticultural Society to consider adding my name to their long list of speakers of horticultural matters. Nearly one hundred titles, topics were listed which one might check off.
Not a single topic or title recorded the words “beauty” or “beautiful” within any of the nearly one hundred topics.
The classic music of landscaping and gardening is the Art of the Landscape Garden. That classic art form was also not to be found either in topic or title. Most gardens, if they can be called “gardens” are displays of plants, usually herbaceous perennials and annuals.
We live in a society which no longer seems to seek beauty…..except for how in our modern day we are supposed to make ourselves over to appear physically as some kind of commercial model no matter what inside might be missing.
Recognizing beauty is somewhat similar to recognizing porn since one has a hard time defining it, but one knows it when one sees it.
It is common in the world of gardening to grow flowers for their beauty. I cannot deny that. Although the human hand does play a part in the development of that beauty, such as keeping it watered and fed, protecting it from diseases and creatures, the beauty itself is essentually a cause of nature.
I liken it to a single chord of music…..for a split second the chord might be moving to someone…..but it would not be described as beautiful. Chords become beautiful when compared to other sounds…..how they relate together to create harmony.
Beauty is the opposite of ugliness; harmony the opposite of disharmony. It is the range from pleasantness to the wildly inspiring which captures ones emotions whether instant or prolongued. And in the landscape garden exquisitely designed to casually well designed the visual music may rise and fall as cleverly and moving as one of Beethoven’s most successful composition.
However, one rarely visits a landscape garden.
Many home landscapes are neat. One might exhibit an outstanding tree which might be noticed by a handful of people in a year’s time. Most, however, simply exist.
The human responsible for the grounds “plays” elsewhere, oblivious to the world of beauty of the landscape garden.
Are you surprised that we at Masterpiece Landscaping specialize in the art of the landscape garden. Regardless of the size of one own home or commercial lot, smallness of space does not eliminate a landscape garden.
Please contact us at Masterpiece to give you a free tour of its home landscpe garden. You will notice the difference from the cookie cutter pattern at first glance. Call us at 952-933-5777 to schedule your tour….limited to 3:00-6:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.