You have to admire the sheer audacity of sculptor James Mason for presenting the Columbus Parks and Recreation Department with a plan for converting the old Deal School Park into a grand topiary-garden interpretation of artist Georges Seurat's masterpiece painting, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (Chicago, Art Institute). And you have to admire the enthusiastic support of Parks and Recreation Director Jim Barney, who might well have been skeptical of such an ambitious proposal. Fortunately for art lovers, nature lovers, gardeners, and tourists, Mason's idea has indeed become a reality Its realization is the fruit of imagination and vision, determination, artistic and political skills, careful planning, hard work, and additional funding from Motorists Insurance Company and the Town Franklin Neighborhood Association.

Over the past four years, Mason has designed the layout, welded dozens of massive bronze armatures to support the plantings, installed them on-site, selected the appropriate varieties of yew plants, and begun the long and arduous process of carefully training the many evergreen shrubs into the familiar figures in Seurat's painting.  Assisted by his wife and partner Elaine, Mason has new completed 54 topiary "people" outfitted in Victorian garb.  Following Seurat's painting, he has also included three dogs, a monkey, and several boats set in a real pond.

Until now, James Mason was best known for his folk-inspired sculptures--usually executed in wood or metal--that could easily fit inside a gallery or collector's living room. Yet he was unfazed by the monumentality of and non-traditional medium required for the topiary project. His sculpture students at the Cultural Arts Center, where he has been teaching since 1978, watched with amazement as he adapted his long-practiced skills to the creation of an art work that would eventually assume the size of a city block,

Elaine Mason, an arts administrator based at the Cultural Arts Center, has served as a tireless and vital collaborator with her husband throughout the entire undertaking. While not professionally trained as a horticulturist, she has spent countless hours researching and traveling to topiary gardens throughout the United States in order to learn more about the ancient gardening practice of nurturing and selectively pruning the common yew (Taxus) in order for it to take on fanciful shapes. Her organizational and administrative skills have been invaluable in garnering funding and volunteer support for the project.

Together, the Masons have created a permanent, site specific installation that can be enjoyed by the people of Columbus for years to come. Because of its grand scale and totally unique status in the worlds of both art and horticulture, it had already begun to attract international attention.

We've all looked at hundreds of paintings of landscapes; now we have the opportunity to see a landscape of a painting. In fact, Mason is quick to acknowledge his enjoyment of the visual pun. The added dimension of actual, spatial depth enables the viewer to literally enter the scene and become a part of it. And though the figures are static, much like Seurat's, they are also continually growing and changing, according to the season the time of day, even the amount of rainfall. Indeed, this very aspect of the Topiary Garden brings to mind the Impressionists' and Post-­Impressionists' fascination with changing light, seasons, and atmospheric conditions.

Formal dedication of the Topiary Garden is scheduled for June 14. 1992.It promises to get even better as the years go by. The topiaries will fill out, the trees will mature the new lawn and groundcovers will become firmly established, and the flower gardens will bloom. Plans are underway to add lights, paths, park benches, and informa­tional signs.  The Friends of the Topiary Park, an enthusiastic volunteer support group, has been founded to assist in the ever-necessary pruning, gardening, and maintenance chores, as well as fundraising, publicity, and education related to the park.

How appropriate that the Parks and Recreation Department now has an entire public park based on a painting of people enjoying various forms of outdoor recreation. You'll want to join these topiary "people" as they stroll, chat, walk their pets, sail, and just gaze at the scenery as they relax or a Sunday afternoon.

The Deaf School Park Topiary Garden is located at the corner of Town Street and Washing­ton Avenue, just behind the Columbus Metropoli­tan Library in downtown Columbus. It is open during daylight hours year-round and admission is free.

 by Sandra Kay Mires