published in Garden Compass Sep/Oct 2003
When Robert Frost wrote about “something there is that doesn’t love a wall,” he clearly did not have the retaining wall of the Edison Project in mind. The talented Helen Shafer Garcia, with help from Lucinda Foy of Kindred Spirits Art Studio, recently turned what was once just a cement slab into a beautiful garden mural. Of course, the artists did have help from Frost, whose poem “Rose Pogonias” served as inspiration. Garcia, who is an award-winning gardener as well as a fine artist, selected the poem to match the luscious and secluded surroundings. The first stanza weaves around the top of the wall and reads:
A saturated meadow,
Sun-shaped and jewel small,
A circle scarcely wider
Than the trees around were tall;
Where winds were quite excluded,
And the air was stifling sweet
With the breath of many flowers,
A temple of heat.
Working from a rough sketch made in the studio to complement Frost’s moving words, Garcia and Foy used water-based acrylic paint that will last for generations and a method called glazing. “The technique helps to add sheen to the paint and makes it more transparent,” says Garcia. “We painted one thin layer at a time, let it dry and then painted more.” Certainly Frost would admire the effect of this mended wall, which, Foy says, is “opalescent, with layers of color shining through each other.”
This work of beauty, which would cost homeowners approximately $5,000, is the latest testament to Garcia’s talent and vision. In the past, her work has been juried into many exhibitions and has graced the covers of numerous international resort catalogs. Garcia currently teaches fine arts at the Oceanside Museum of Art School of Art, where she is the interim director, and at Escondido Adult School.