Bogdan’s unique garden art

Take a look at an amazing imagination at work

Bogdan Dabrowski‎ may have a full time career, but he’s an artist at heart, making garden creations from recycled objects in his workshop. Look carefully. You’ll never believe some of the things he transforms into art!

Making use of scrap metal, hardware pieces and wood scraps and slices can be relaxing and creative, you’ll see and add some art accents to the garden.  All it takes is a certain amount of what we call ‘art supplies,’ som crafting skills and an imagination!

Bogdan explains, “My enthusiasm for making garden art emerged suddenly which actually surprised me. Some two years ago, I got interested in antiques, started visiting local flea markets and made some interior renovations myself. Perhaps I was under an influence of TV shows such as American Picker and American Restoration, perhaps some subconscious childhood memories surfaced at that time. I built a garden workbench and did a major cleanup in my shed. It appeared I had so much small junk that I decided to do some repurposing.”

Birds on a wire

Bogdan tells us,”This is garden table legs, an old hose and some plywood. And the arrangement of the notes are explained here, in a child’s folksong.

 

Bogdan has been posting his artwork on our FMG Facebook page for a few months and each one delighted us more! Now see more of his garden and artworks.

 

 

“This  is a garden table and stools made of oak logs, an old pastry board and decorated with old watches and upholstery nails.”

Several of Bogdan’s works are plaques to be hung on the garden fence.  He finds a unique ‘background’ then adds an assemblage of objects to it.  The result is nothing like you’d expect!

Bogdan tells us, “I’ve been gardening together with my wife, Dorota, for last fourteen years. It is Dorota who makes decisions about plants and replanting. We did not make any garden plan. It evolved together with us and our interests. The garden is a quarter of an acre in size, suburban and recreational in its character but still has a lot of wildlife.”

 

 

 

Bogdan has embellished some of his birdhouses adding his own spin, like this one, decorated with slices of a wooden branch. He says, “I buy birdhouses, but then I decorate them. I threw out some old ones but then changed my mind, repaired them and put on some rustic decor.”

 

“Garden tool shelter work-in-progress.” Cutting wooden discs (3/4 inch thick) to be glued to the wall or to other objects is a recurring technique he uses.

 

“These are actually fancy rubber doormats. They did not do very well at doors. They perform much better on the woodshed wall. The ‘stems’ are made of birch,” Bogdan says.

 

“My ‘Man Cave’ is a place where I do all my smaller, portable projects. I do also some small architecture in the garden, recently a bench and pathways.”

 

 

Low Key Arts

Some of Bogdan’s art is so subtle that the cleverness sneaks up on you. Surprising!

“Small collection of padlocks, shackles, hooks and presses on old cat’s enclosure. Will hang more of them.”

 

“The ‘catty’ garden faucet demanded a companion. Made it of watch parts.”

 

 

A broken turbo turned into a steampunk garden candlestick. It can be a stand or a wall hanger. It’s very heavy though.

 

“This weekend’s $5 purchase at Flea Market. A brass handle now fixed to the gate. Dorota’s idea.”

What is Bogdan working on now?

“This is a picture of my project in progress. It will be sort of a garden box.  The decoration, a Guy Fawkes mask, shows a lot about my and Dorota’s philosophy: gardening is an expression of our freedom: sort of “Do not tread on our garden!”

 

Guy Fawkes is a famed rebel in English history and in recent years has become a hero to modern activists in politics and a symbol of personal and political freedom.

 

Bogdan says,”We live in the suburbs of Warsaw, Poland. I am active professionally so I do the garden art at my leisure during weekends and holidays.”