Jeffrey Bale describes “The Gardens of Jeffrey Bale” as his first step in writing the book others have urged him to write. He started with the photographs, which seems appropriate for an artist who creates pathways, steps, walls, and other landscape features using stones and mosaic pebbles. Most images have captions, sometimes extended captions, but this is primarily a photo album of his numerous projects throughout the Pacific Northwest.
He begins with projects for his own house in Portland, where the garden hardscape is a shrine to many spiritual traditions. He describes how “lounging in the garden on dry days is a foretaste of heaven.”
While most of his work is in Oregon, visitors to Windcliff Garden of Dan Hinkley and Robert Jones near Indianola, Washington will see his fine work in a fire pit and surrounding terrace. He also built a mosaic over a cistern at Islandwood School on Bainbridge Island, with help from area school children.
Excerpted from the Winter 2017 Arboretum Bulletin.