What is the art of water?

What is the art of water?
It is the use of water features to beautify a landscape

What features make water art and not just water?
The art of water depends partly on movement. When mobile and fluid, water gives the mind a feeling of being freed from form and rigid constructs. To maintain a sense of artistry, however, fluidity must be focused. Some type of geometric boundary or structure is necessary to lend aesthetic to the scene at hand. When these two elements are combined proportionally, the art of water then functions to compliment and reflect both organic and inorganic landscape elements. Vegetation looks more supported by the very stuff of life itself, and architecture becomes more dynamic and preeminent as it is reflected from a variety of angles that magnify its preeminence and sense of proportion.

How does the art of water support architecture?
Fountains are very important elements to landscape architecture. As masonry forms, they mirror the geometry of homes, patios, and outdoor buildings. As water moves out of these structures, it gives life and emergence to these forms. Putting lights in a fountain adds an even greater dimension to the scene.

Reflecting pools and infinity ponds create mirrored surfaces that actually reflect the forms of buildings. Structures then take on new significance, and smaller landscapes can be made to look much larger and complete with this effect.

How does the art of water support softscape?
The art of water is essential to creating a landscape that looks like Nature, so to speak. Even in the driest parts of the world there are rivers, oases, and beaches, so few topographies exist that do not have water somewhere in the scenery. When we create a backyard landscape to represent a wilderness area, elements like natural pools play a very critical role in establishing a sense of getaway from the big city. Streams and waterfalls are two other designs that can be added to a backyard to add a sense of movement and freedom.

More refined European garden designs can be customized by adding water features. Fountains can be placed at the heart of small parterre gardens, for example, in order to magnify their sense of proportion and aesthetic impact. Koi ponds can occupy the central positions of entry garden courtyards. Waterfalls can actually be built to act as lighted walls at night and separate one portion of the landscape from the rest, or even one property from adjacent yards. The art of water in these landscape designs always helps to create a sense life energy that is emerging, dynamic, organic, and diverse.

What landscape designs benefit the most from the art of water?
While the art of water is used in every landscape master plan to some degree, its greatest benefits are seen in contemporary and modern landscape designs. In contemporary landscape design, we find an aesthetic that is extremely mentalist, mathematical, and abstract. Vegetation is scarcer in this landscape style than in any other aesthetic. Consequently, since organic life is minimized, the stuff of life itself—water—is often used as a substitute for vegetation.

Custom fountain work is therefore very important to both commercial and contemporary residential landscapes. In patio design, it adds vertical presence to a horizontal plane. In other areas of the yard, such as the central entryway to the front yard, or in a special seating area in the back yard, contemporary fountains create movement and a feeling of vitality without having to deviate from an essentially inorganic design form.

Modern landscape design is not quite so abstract or inorganic as contemporary landscape design. There is more vegetation, particularly in styles like modern tropical gardens. The art of water here not only adds a sense of life, but it also provides linkage between living elements and nonliving structures. Modern garden décor will often call for a blend of high-grade material constructs, such as glass walls and steel columns, surrounding by plants of various species. Turning the glass wall into the backdrop for a waterfall fountain is a good example of what we mean by water becoming more than water, transforming itself aesthetically into the literal art of water.