Art & Landscape Company Profile

rt and design have always been essential to Gwenda Joyce of Art & Landscape in Sonoma CA. As a magazine writer and editor, Gwenda focused on home design and architecture, and in her 20 year career as an art gallery owner and art dealer in Chicago, she was surrounded by exquisite art and sculpture. But it wasn't until she began renovating the garden in her second home in Sonoma that Gwenda found the art that spoke directly to her: Landscape design that incorporates fine art sculpture and a complete and cohesive esthetic approach.

A Natural For Design
As Gwenda worked with the soil, plants and spatial contours of her own garden, she saw that her artistic design and architectural knowledge could be utilized in California, where, unlike Chicago, so much living is done outdoors. The way Californians appreciate their environment helped Gwenda envision a real place for fine art sculpture that is fully integrated into landscape design. Gwenda's success in renovating her own garden made her realize that she had a special knack, and could integrate her extensive experience in fine art with a career in landscape design. Gwenda earned a Landscape Design Certificate from the Santa Rosa Junior College Environmental Horticulture department and began her new career.

In partnership with Bertotti Landscaping and Buckeye Nursery in Petaluma, Gwenda has created Buckeye Sculpture Park with the express purpose of showing people all the things they can do with sculpture in garden design. You can visit the park at 2425 Adobe Road in Petaluma for a self-guided walking tour. Gwenda notes that, "Sculpture can really bring focus to a garden, especially when it melds with the soft forms of the garden, or contrasts the colors and textures already there."

Designing from the Ground Up
Gwenda's work does not always have to incorporate fine art sculpture, but her design aesthetic always shines through in her work. Instead of looking at the garden only from the street or the back porch, and designing from one direction, Gwenda learns how the family interacts with the garden. She surveys the views from inside the house, from the walkway, from the street, and on the sides and back of the house. She takes into consideration the lifestyle and the age range of the family, whether there are any pets, and what kind of style the family already has—so that the design will be as cohesive and beautiful from the inside as it is on the outside, and will serve the real needs of the family.

Gwenda also focuses a great deal of attention on the quality of the soil, especially if her clients are renovating their landscape from the older, more water-intensive gardens of the past, and focusing on the newer style of sustainable, native and water-wise plantings of the present. As Gwenda points out, "Plants are living, breathing things with their own distinct character and behavior. You can't just force a plant into a new environment without thinking about its real needs, including nutrient-rich, appropriate soil."

Gwenda's sensitivity to her clients and the environment is a hallmark of her work. She focuses a great deal on the total esthetic experience of the landscape, from the texture and color of the greenery to the sense of intimacy that can be created with walkways, water features, sculpture, and sculptured topography. And all of it has to complement the client's existing style and aesthetic. "I have to be very sensitive to the needs of the client, in terms of the maintenance requirements and the cohesiveness of the design. I take extra care to consider all aspects of water usage, color, form, shape and scale," says Gwenda. "I like to solve problems and issues with creativity and originality—to take what the owner wants and go a couple of steps further in service to their vision. That's the art of it; to take all the complexity, integrate it, and take it completely out of the ordinary."