Beauty Maintained

LOOKING BACK, Dominique Emerson laughs at herself for thinking she could stick an art piece outdoors and expect it to hold up indefinitely. Somehow she believed that if an artist made it, surely it would stand up to year after relentless year of sun, rain, wind and freezes. It was only when she was invited to give a talk about art in the garden that she realized maintenance was as vital for art as for plants.

Emerson and her husband, Chris Wagner, own 12 cultivated acres on Whidbey Island, known as MooseRidge Gardens, famously helicoptered into a couple of years ago by a visiting Martha Stewart. Their spacious garden canvas has inspired the couple to collect an eclectic assortment of outdoor art, ranging from kinetic sculpture to bronzes and pottery pieces.

How to keep bronze glossy, glass intact and a kinetic piece spinning? When Emerson began researching for her lecture, she found little information on how to prolong the life of decorative art pieces housed out-of-doors. So she set out to interview island artists on how to best care for the art that graces her garden year-round.

She started with bronze artist Georgia Gerber, known locally for the life-size calf and turtle sculptures outside Mrs. Cook's at University Village. Surely these must be sturdy pieces, petted and crawled upon by generations of children. Bronze alloys do hold up well, but their patina does not. If you want to prevent a bronze piece from darkening and losing its luster, the waxed finish needs refurbishing as often as four times a year. This can be done by washing the piece with Ivory liquid soap, drying with a cloth, heating with a hair dryer or the sun. When the metal is warmed, use a soft brush to apply an even coat of Johnson's, Trewax or clear shoe polish. Rub for shine, and you may need to wax again once the piece cools.

Then there's raw metal, which always rusts. That's OK, unless the rust appears at a structural point, in which case that joint or connection might fail. Wax or paint can slow rust; the product "Rust Lick" helps control it.

Art pieces made of wood have a special affinity with plants, and we can't help but think of totem poles that have weathered in place for so many years. Yet wood isn't as indestructible as you might hope. It should be kept up off the ground by a foundation of concrete or gravel, and holds up best with a marine type of finish applied twice a year. The most durable woods are cedar, spruce and cypress, with hemlock, maple and alder among the softest. Even stone can be etched by acidic rainfall. Granite, limestone and sandstone hold up best.

Garden art is affected by the growth of plants and the activities of people, animals, birds and insects. Creatures chew, defecate and nest; humans mow, water and weed-whack. Plants grow up to shade or obscure a piece. The most frequent problem with art that remains outdoors is the destructive pooling of water, especially in bronze, ceramic or wooden pieces. Well-designed objects either don't have such wells or incorporate drains so water runs through them rather than puddling up to cause rotting or cracking after a freeze.

Emerson suggests that gardeners consider how long they want an art piece to last in the garden and how pristine they expect it to look. Don't be shy about asking the artist, who usually knows the material only too well, to advise on how to protect your investment by keeping a garden-bound art piece looking reasonably like it did when you bought it.

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer. Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net.