Yard Art and Handmade Places : Extraordinary Expressions of Home.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nokes, Jill.

Contributor:

Jasper, Pat.

Flowers, Betty S.

Whitson, Krista.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Folk songs, Jewish--History and criticism.

Folk songs, Jewish.

Jews--Folklore.

Jews.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (187 pages)

Place of Publication:

Basel/Berlin/Boston : University of Texas Press, 2007.

Summary:

Relatively few people in America build their own homes, but many yearn to make the places they live in more truly their own. Yard Art and Handmade Places profiles twenty homemakers who have used their yards and gardens to express their sense of individuality, to maintain connections to family and heritage, or even to create sacred spaces for personal and community refreshment and healing. Jill Nokes, an authority on native plants and ecological restoration, traveled across the state of Texas, seeking out residents who had transformed their yards and gardens into oases of art and exuberant personal expression. In this book, she presents their stories, told in their own words, about why they created these handmade places and what their yard art has come to mean to them and to their communities. Rather than viewing yard art as a curiosity or oddity, Nokes treats it as an integral part of home-making, revealing how these places become invested with deep personal or social meaning. Yard Art and Handmade Places celebrates the fact that, despite the proliferation of look-alike suburbs, places still exist where people with ordinary means and skills are shaping space with their own hands to create a personal expression that can be enjoyed by all.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

1. Places Full of Memory and Meaning

2. The Repertoire of the Garden

3. Cascada de Piedra Pinta

4. A Natural and Peaceful Spirit

5. Little by Little, He's Been Blessing Us

6. Stories from the Valley

7. The Love You Have To Do It

8. Placenames and Family

9. Mango's Jungle

10. The Ardent Virtuosity of Collectors' Gardens

11. One Big Cactus and Succulent Dish Garden

12. A Surprise Comes Every Day

13. Sculpture You Can Live In

14. The Flower Man

15. The Cathedral of Junk

16. Casa de Azúcar

17. Stories from the Panhandle

18. A Great Peaceful Place

19. The Only Trees for Miles Around

20. A Windbreak for the Homeplace

21. God and the Birdhouses Brought Us Together

22. A Lesson in Landmarks

23. This Is How You Stay Alive

24. Desires of the Heart

25. More Than Four Seasons

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-292-73531-6

OCLC:

1309054752