Garden sculptures add character to your garden

Looking to inject some character and beauty into your garden? Consider a garden sculpture or statue - they can add flair and personality to your outdoor garden space.

A work of art in your garden can make a bold statement about your personality and taste. It can also provide colour, interest and beauty in your outdoor spaces. Sculptures are increasingly being found in Australian gardens, a phenomenon which has led to a small but significant explosion in the number of local artists creating garden sculptures.

"As gardens get smaller it's not always possible to create interest with a full planting scheme," says Tony Norris from Leaf & Stone Garden Gallery in Geelong, Victoria.

"Some people only have a courtyard or even a balcony to work with. But you can do a lot to emphasise a space just with one or two garden sculptures, especially things that are a little bit different and that you won't commonly see in any department store."

Adding a visual appeal with garden statues

Tony points to the trend of people looking to extend their indoor living areas to their external spaces as a reason for the upsurge in garden art, including sculptures. "It's just like using art indoors to add life and colour to a room," he says.

Garden statues can range from found objects - that is, sculptures made from foraged materials like wood or steel and representing animals or birds or insects or abstract shapes - to carved wood or stone like limestone, granite or bluestone.

"Stone or wood could be carved into fairly conventional busts or torsos or something like that," says Tony, "or they could be quite modern, fluid or organic shapes."

Many people opt for the good old Buddha, who can provide a comforting presence in our gardens, whether seated, standing or lying. These serene little garden statues are usually cast in bronze or cement.

Leaf & Stone Garden Gallery concentrates mainly on selling original art and garden scupture made by local artists, who often create their art as a hobby, as making a living from this endeavour can be extremely hard work. Prices for original garden statues range from around $50 for a small ladybird or butterfly made from wire and paint, through to several thousand dollars for a more intricate or larger work made from more expensive materials.

You can also purchase garden sculptures from the larger hardware and department stores, and from nurseries and nursery chains. Most of these are mass-produced, but you can still get some really nice pieces, whether they're influenced by the artwork of Bali or even South America.

Find a huge range of garden statues to bring some flair to your outdoor space: