Niki Ketchman
Cora’s Sunken Garden

Plywood, roofing, steel rods,
aluminum mesh, vinyl tubing, paint
28 h x 42 w x 26″w inches
Price on Request – INQUIRE
Westport, Connecticut

Cora was a professional interior designer and had a great interest in gardening. She worked at the NY Botanical Garden in the Bronx well into her eighties. She created the sunken garden that still exists in some form today. My sculpture is loosely based on the “Planting Plan” that is pictured in the “Cultural Landscape Report for Weir Farm National Historic Site”. The garden had a path separating the curving beds of flowers. In my sculpture is a path in the shape of a woman’s (Cora’s) silhouette. The two mounds bordering the path have walls of aluminum mesh, facing the path, and painted with colorful flowers. These could be interpreted as the garden or a dress. I created a bush-like surface on the outside of the mounds by weaving short pieces of vinyl wire. Viewers can walk on the path between the garden mounds and thus be in Cora’s Sunken Garden.