A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
- Taxus - (Yew)
- James T. Mason
Situated in downtown Discovery District, the Topiary Garden Park sits on the remnants of the Old Deaf School Park. Though it has become affectionately known as the Topiary Garden Park, the park land actually dates back to the early 19th century, when it was a dormitory and campus for the adjacent Deaf School. Today, the Topiary Garden in Old Deaf School Park is the only public park of its kind, not only in Ohio, but in the world as well. The Topiary Garden is a living recreation of Georges Seurat's famous post-Impressionist painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.
The idea for the topiary garden was conceived and sculpted in 1989 by Columbus artist James T. Mason when his wife Elaine, also an artist had the idea to make a topiary sculpture for their backyard. Ultimately growing well beyond backyard-project scale, the couple pitched the idea to the city of Columbus, and work on the installation began in 1989 with the creation of artificial hills and the digging of a pond to stand in for the River Seine. James shaped the bronze frames and planted the associated greenery, and Elaine served as the original topiarist.
The topiary ensemble contains eight boats, three dogs, a cat, a monkey, and fifty-four figures, the tallest of which is twelve feet. All figures span out approximately one acre of land with a pond in place and is located directly behind the Columbus Main Library. In the years since its creation, the Topiary Garden has appeared in a multitude of magazines, periodicals, books, and documentaries including Life, National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal, and programs aired on the BBC.
- Created: 1988
- Current Location: Deaf School Park/Topiary Park (google map)
- Collections: Outdoor, Sculptures