Florence Deeble Rock Garden

Our Guide from the Grassroots Art Center took us over to see the Florence Deeble Rock Garden.  Florence was influenced by S. P. Dinsmore and watched him construct the Garden of Eden.  So she decided to use rocks that she brought back from her travels to build a very unusual garden.  She started building her artistic creations when she was 50 and she continued creating until she was almost 100 years old.  Her earlier efforts were a lot better and more artistic.  She was showing her age in the ones from her later years.
 

Her front porch, however, the artwork 
here belong to someone else.

I think you can tell that this creation was 
made after a trip to South Dakota!

This creation was after a trip to Capital 
Reef National Park in Utah.

This creation was after a trip to Oak 
Creek Canyon in Arizona.

I'm not sure where this creation was inspired but it kind of reminds us of the Rocky Mountains.  I'm sure our guide told us but without writing it down at that moment, the words are lost!

Our guide told us that the yard was always full of blooming flowers when Florence was alive and so it isn't nearly as pretty as it used to be.  Also, the colors in her art have faded some.

After looking at Grassroot artists' creations today, I've decided that my Mom would have made a great Grassroots artist.  I probably should have kept some of her sculptures and other art.  I don't know if they would consider her a grassroots artist or not because she didn't have her art work take over her whole place and she didn't have a yard to display it in! I will say that her sculpting work was better than Florence's in my opinion!

The house itself if now used by another grassroots artist, Mri-Pilar.  The next post will continue with her art.