Carlos Montano's link to Christine Sibley

A previous post on this blog centers around a trip several of us Green Meadows gardeners made this week to Carlos Montano's garden art studio in Fairburn GA.  When I first visited his studio several months ago, an idea haunted me that I'd seen similar pieces somewhere before ... but where?  After rolling through my mental rolodex, an Aha! idea struck me that there were faces at an Atlanta Botanical Garden pool very, very similar to what I was seeing at Carlos'.  I was right!  Carlos explained that the mural and faces were Christine Sibley's art.  He was connected to her as a manager in Christine Sibley's own studio.  He knew just which faces at the Bot Garden pool that I was asking about.  In fact, he had been commissioned by the Garden to 'fix' the deteriorating pieces as he had the molds Christine had used to make the originals.


So I visited the Atlanta Botannical Garden the day before a second visit to Carlos' yesterday.  The pieces had been restored and looked wonderfully original!  The link below provides photos of Carlos as well as other artists who have reproduced Sibley's art.
 
http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view/living/0424sibley/

Pilgrimage to Carlos Montano's Studio

In alphabetial order Bridget, Carol, Kitty, Lisa, Mike and Rita made another pilgrimage yesterday to Carlos Montano's showroom/studio and, of course, came back with more garden art and less $.  Having given us fair discounts, I think I speak for the group that it was worth the trip.  Wish I'd paid more attention to who bought what because all pieces will be thought of as prized possessions once established in their rightful gardens.  But 'The Book' wins the Most Outstanding Purchase, 'St. Francis' wins the Most Calming, 'The Plaque' wins the Most Wise, and the 'Stepping Stones' order wins the Most Practical.  'Sunflower Feeder' (shown here) wins a second place Most Practical award.  To see more of Carlos' artwork, visit http://casamontanogardenornaments.com/ .  Be sure to check out the Sibley page on his website.  There's a close connection between the Atlanta artist Christine Sibley and Carlos which makes for a great story coming soon to a blog near you.