![\"Webster's](\"http:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/WdS1bNEUtubJB7fHkeRXDtUs60yz2AvGKYoXDyr7bk8.jpeg\")
<\/a>Webster’s Column, 2010, by Patterson Webster<\/p><\/div>\n
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Frequently, the image given back by glass is distorted or broken into segments, whether the glass is in the windows of an old sugar camp…<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Windows in an abandoned sugar camp reflect the surrounding forest.<\/p><\/div>\n
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or in the square panes of a high-rise.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>A building in downtown Montreal reflects the urban landscape\u00a0\u00a0around it.<\/p><\/div>\n
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The properties of metal are\u00a0different and in a garden create different effects. Some metals reflect light more than the surroundings, and that can be a disadvantage if the reflection is a glare — as it can be, for instance, when sunlight hits chrome. The steel fish that swim through the air above a small stream\u00a0at Glen Villa don’t glare. Rather, they \u00a0give off a warm\u00a0glow.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>The fish are swimming against the current — all but one who is heading in the opposite direction. They represent my view of my family. No telling which one is the loner!<\/p><\/div>\n
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The type of metal and the way the surface is treated make an enormous difference to metal’s\u00a0reflecting qualities. Below, another airborne fish\u00a0flies through the treetops. I saw this shark by the artist Xavier Veilhan several years ago at Hatfield House in England. Made from sections\u00a0of highly polished steel, the creature sends a menacing message, quite unlike the golden tones of the fish at Glen Villa. (They were swimming there before I saw Veilhan’s shark.)<\/p>\n
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<\/a>A shark flies through the air at Hatfield House in England like a bomber on a mission.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Contrast the shark’s smooth sides with the irregularity\u00a0of this sculpture by Zhan Wang. What the metal here reflects is not its surroundings but its heritage. Inspired by\u00a0Chinese garden traditions that prized the misshapen rocks from Lake Taihu, this contemporary\u00a0sculpture conveys to a modern viewer the same qualities\u00a0that were valued in\u00a0the Tang dynasty (618\u2013907 AD<\/span>): asymmetry, resonance when struck, a glossy surface and a resemblance to mountainous landscapes.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Artificial Rock, 2005, by Zhan Wang, reflects the Chinese preference for vertically oriented rocks riddled with cavities and furrows.<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rocks that looked like mountains were used in Chinese gardens to make\u00a0a point: that a part could suggest the whole. A wrinkled upright rock could stand beside a smooth horizontal one to create a universe that was balanced even if\u00a0asymmetrical.<\/p>\n In the western tradition, symmetry is used\u00a0more often to create balance.\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes the symmetry is simple duplication, as it is below at Sezincote, a house and garden in Gloucestershire.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Elephants face off at Sezincote, a house and garden with Indians influences that reflect England’s colonial past.<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Many French and Italian gardens bear witness to the same fondness for symmetry, where elements reflect\u00a0each other like mirror images. This fondness persists, whether the garden dates to the 1500s, where we\u00a0see the mirrored effect in a tree-lined approach to a French chateau…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A tree-lined drive leads to Chateau de Chenonceau, built in the early 1500s. The trees were planted more recently.<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n or is from\u00a0the present day, where we see it in the columns that flank a path at Bosco della Ragnaia, a contemporary\u00a0Italian garden. In both settings, the mirrored elements reflect each other — and reflect an attitude towards what constitutes balance in a garden.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>