Henk Lamers, Beeldentuin / Garden with figurines

image from Google Streetview

It all started in the early 1990s, when Henk Lamers (1953-2022) bought a decorative ensemble representing Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, an ensemble he placed in the front yard of his house. 

After that there was no stopping him, he continued to buy other figurines and after some twenty years the garden had the appearance as in the picture above.

this image and the next four from the videos
in the documentation

Life and works

Born in the early 1950s, Lamers after his primary and craft schooling got a job as a house painter. He married and the couple moved into a house in Weurt.

The village of Weurt, with some 2025 inhabitants, is part of the municipality of Beuningen, bordering the western part of Nijmegen, one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands, located along the river Waal. 

After twenty years of house painting, Lamers developed an illness in early 1990, caused by wrong substances that were still in the paint at the time, and he was declared unfit for work.

To have something to do, in 1992 he began decorating the front yard of his house with all kinds of fairytale characters and other figurines, an art environment that grew in size over the years. Currently the display is 35 meters long and a couple of meters high.

Lamers' site is comparable to gardens and houses richly furnished with dolls elsewhere in Europe, such as Lubomir Votava in the Czech Republic, Margarita Travkina in Russia and Francis Barale, in France.

Among the hundred or so characters that decorate the front yard are a peacock, a crocodile, a stork, a flamingo, an orange sheep, a kangaroo with glasses, a pig also with glasses and a frog with a football on its head...... 

As for famous personalities, apart from Laurel & Hardy also Elvis Presley, Pinocchio, Puss in Boots and Snow White can be seen, And of course there are gnomes, as pictured below.

Given Lamers' profession, it goes without saying that the figurines are well painted. They form a colorful whole, and are selected to make viewers happy.

Lamers passed away in August 2022. His wife has indicated that the collection will continue to exist.

Documentation

* Article (August 2020) in Michiel van Hunenstijn's weblog 

* Article (April 2022) on website RN7

* Article (August 2022) in regional newspaper, reporting Lamers' death

Videos

* Video (undated, YouTube, 1'08") by Omroep Gelderland

* Video (undated, YouTube, 1'24") by RN7

Henk Lamers

Garden with figurines

corner of Pastoor van der Marckstraat and Dijkstraat

village of Weurt, part of municipality of Beuningen, province Gelderland, Netherlands

can be seen from the street

streetview

Jürgen Farklas, Zwerge im Wald / Dwarfs in the forest

 pictures by Dodo, added to Komoot,

website for outdoor experiences

The community of Bürbach with about 2100 inhabitants is part of the city of Siegen in Germany, located about 90 km east of Cologne. In a forest near the community one can see an arrangement of all kinds of dwarfs.

Life and works

This arrangement was created by Jürgen Farklas (March 8, 1951 - October 2, 2021), He grew up in Siegen and after his primary education followed a technical training with a focus on carpentry. 

After working in that field for several years, in 1984 when he was in his early thirties, he got a job in the technical department of the Siegerland Museum, which belongs to the municipality of Siegen. This city and regional museum not only has an art collection, but it also focuses on the history of the city, mainly its economic and industrial aspects.

 

In 1993 Farklas became a carpenter with the landscaping department of the municipality. In June 2000 he was appointed in that department as executive for central craft activities, this until his retirement at age 65 on January 31, 2016.

For 35 years Farklas was also a member of the Verein fúr Bürbacher Ortsgeschichte und Heimatplege (Association for local history and hometown beautification of Bürbach).

With a background like the one outlined here, it's easy to understand why Farklas began a project after his retirement that allowed him not only to indulge his woodworking skills, but also to contribute to beautifying the forest near his hometown.  

He began sculpting loose stumps and the lower ends of dead trees in the forest into colorful representations of fairytale characters, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, as well as other characters.

Farklas made these creations in an easily accessible, hilly piece of forest near the built-up area of Bürbach. In September 2018, the ensemble of fairytale characters had already taken shape in such a way that a local newspaper reported about it (only a photo, article is behind a paywall).

On the internet only limited information about Jürgen Farklas' art environment can be found. Sadly, the information in this post about his life and work is mainly based on the obituaries published after his death on October 2, 2021.

Documentation

* Website Komoot with an entry about the ensemble of dwarfs 

* Obituary Jürgen Farklas

Jürgen Farklas

Dwarfs in the forest

Hainbornstrasse

57074 Bürbach, Siegen, Arnsberg region, North-Rhine-Westphalia State, Germany

can be visited freely

Google Maps with a series of 11 photos of the site

Isidore Kriesten and successors, Ogród Bajek / Fairy Tale Garden

colored images are screenprints from the video below

The colored images in this post show the fairytale characters as they populate this fairytale garden today. 

But this site has a history of more than a hundred years, and after phases of neglect it has been redesigned several times, often accompanied by the appearance of new figures.

this picture and the next one from old postcards

The story begins after the end of the First World War (1914-1918).  

Some time after the war had ended, Isidore Kriesten, a forest worker and botanist, started making sculptures of fairytale characters, this to pay tribute to the phenomenon of fairy tales and the almighty Spirit of the Mountains. The sculptures got a place in his garden, named Waldmuseum zum  Berggeist (Forest Museum of the Mountain Spirit).

The garden also had small cabins and a welcome sign above a wooden bench, as can be seen in the accompanying uncolored images.

Kriesten lived in a self-built house outside the village of Wölfelsgrund, located on German territory in the years before 1945. After the Second World War by decision at the Yalta conference, there was a border change, and the village became Polish. renamed Międzygórze. 

The village has many houses built in Tyrolean style. Located in the Southern Sudeten, the landscape around is rather rocky. Międzygórze is at an altitude of 680 meters and the sculpture garden is situated between 20 and 30  meters higher.

Seen from the point of view of this weblog - an inventory and documentation of art environments in Europe - most attention should be paid to the creation as it was made by Kriesten. 

Although old postcards and photos of the site are available on the internet, informative texts about his life and works are missing there. All we know is that he worked on the site for about twenty years.

This means that around 1940 he stopped developing or maintaining the sculpture garden. Kriesten may have died around that time or somewhat later. If so, he did not experience the post-war change of the location of the site from Germany to Poland.

A number of successors

Three phases can be distinguished in the history of further concern with Kriesten's art environment.

The first phase covers the period 1940-1974. It is known that in those years the site was maintained by some interested individuals, first Mr. Bobrowski and his family, then Mr. Zubilewicz, a carpenter..

About this period there is also no further information .

A second phase runs from 1974 to 1981. Then the garden was under the care of a group of boy scouts.

Old houses were rebuilt and new houses were added, such as those of Baba Yaga and Snow White. New characters were also added, such as the mountain spirit Rumcajs, the Three-Headed Dragon and the Knight Errant.

In 1981 this involvement of boy scouts ended and the site the site got neglected.

The third phase began in 1985 and continues to this day.

The initiative came from Jerzy Drążkowski, actively involved in the local branch of the PTTK (Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society), accountant by profession, but also a passionate amateur sculptor who created all kinds of fairytale characters.

Financially supported by the local government of Bystrzyca Kłodzka, a village near Międzygorze, he tackled the renovation together with other enthusiastic volunteers, such as Jerzy Kral, Czesław Zawojsk and Jan Walorczyk. A new fence, retaining walls and new paths were built, houses were covered with appropriate roofs, and many shrubs and trees were planted,

Jerzy Kral made an exact stone replica of the former tower of the village of Śnieżnik near Międzygórze, which was blown up in 1973 due to its poor technical condition. Czesław Zawojski produced informative texts burned in wooden tablets that were placed near all kinds of items in the site. Jan Walorczyk took care of management aspects, such as arranging ticket sales

In the presence of a granddaughter of Isidore Kriesten, the renovated garden, now with an area of 2300 m²,  was officially opened on September 14, 1986. Gradually, the fairy garden became a popular destination, especially for parents with small children.

An impression of the fairytale characters in the garden

The  garden currently presents sculptures of fairytale characters from many corners of the world, including characters from Polish stories, such as: 

• Koziołek Matołek the goat, one of the first children's stories in Poland, published in 1932
• Koszałek Opałek, a dwarf, the hero of Maria Konopnicka's novel about dwarfs and the orphan Marysia 
• this Marysia is also the main character in the Polish film Marysia and the Dwarfs (1960) and she is also part of the collection of sculptures
• Bolek and Olek, a Polish animated film series, running from 1962
• Reksio, a Polish cartoon character from an animated TV series that started in 1967

There are of course also characters from fairy tales that are mainly known in Eastern Europe and Russia, such as:

• Baba Yaga, one of the most memorable and distinctive figures in eastern European and Russian folklore, a supernatural being that can take on all kinds of guises
• Masha with the bear, a popular Russian TV series with almost 80 episodes from 2009

And then there are the characters from stories known in East and West, such as:

• Little Red Riding Hood, dating from the 17th century
• Cat on boots, most famous version written in 1697 by Charles Perrault
• Hansel and Gretel, written and published in 1812 by the Brothers Grimm
• Pinocchio, a character that first appeared in episodes in the years 1881-1883
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, a classic, filmed in 1937 in an American animated movie
• Smurfs, known through comic books and animated series

And finally an important character in the mountainous environment of the fairy garden: 

• Spirit of the Liczyrzepa Mountains, a character known in Poland, dating back to the Middle Ages

As is the case with a number of art environments elsewhere in Europe, this garden has acquired a touristic character and attracts many visitors

Documentation

* Wikipedia

* Website of the PTTK with a page about the site 

* Google Maps with the location of the site and a variety of photographs

* Website of the community of Bystrzyca Kłodzka with a series of pictures of the site

Video

* Video by Marina Kalinowska on YouTube, April 2019, 12'56" (viewing the video on weblogs has been turned off by its creator)

Isidore Kriesten and successors

Fairy Tale Garden

Międzygórze, dept Kłodzko,  region Lower Silesia, Poland 

all year open for the public

Joseph Ress, Le logis des nains / The shelter of gnomes

pictures (2018)  courtesy of Sophie Lepetit,
from her weblog

In the Haut-Rhin department in the Alsace region in France the town of Zillisheim is home to a rather special art environment, namely a rather large collection of gnomes, spread over various areas of a private house.

Life and works

This site was created by Joseph Ress (1934-2008), who was a farmer during his working life.    

Joseph Ress was a special person. He felt most comfortable during periods such as around Christmas, when the house could be lavishly decorated and most people would be in a good mood. 

And so he probably got the idea that the house could also be decorated in a more permanent way. When exactly he started collecting gnomes is not known, but seeing the size of the collection, it seems that he started at a young age.

The gnomes were grouped in all kinds of places in and around the house, not only in the garden, but also in various courtyards, in the garage and in the sheds.

The images above and below of the garden show that in addition to the gnomes, other decorations were also placed, such as small-scale windmills, small sculptures, and the like.

In addition to various arrangements of gnomes, several walls of the house were also provided with all kinds of colorful decorations. 

The two images below give an impression of this. 

The first image shows oil lamps hung in a row in front of a wall that is painted with pictures of fairytale figures and some gnomes.

The other image (below) also shows an arrangement of gnomes on a table, from which also hang some oil lamps. The table stands in front of a decorated wall, this time with horseshoes and other decorations, including attributes from the farm.

On a blog started by Joseph Ress in February 2007, he writes in July of the same year that, stricken with cancer, he finds it more and more difficult to care for his gnomes.

Aged 74, he passed away on November 16, 2008,

The family continued to take care of the collection of gnomes, which - as can be seen on Google Streetview - was still in good condition in 2019. A granddaughter has continued the weblog, adding a variety of colorful photos.

Documentation

* Post (August 14, 2021) on the weblog of Sophie Lepetit

* Weblog Le logis des nains .(created February 2007), continued after Ress died by a granddaughter

Joseph Ress

The shelter of gnomes

8 Grand Rue

68720 Zillisheim, dept Haut Rhin, region Grand Est, France

can be seen from the street

streetview (2019)

Fernand Bielle-Bidalot, La maison de Blanche-Neige / The house of Snow White

this picture and the next five (December 2014)
courtesy of French magazine "Jardin et Maison"

The art environment named La Maison de Blanche Neige (The House of Snow White), located in the commune of Sucé-sur-Erdre, near Nantes in France, is characterized in all its parts - interior decoration,  exterior with structures, characters, paths and vegetation - by the dominance of the rustic approach.

Life and works

For Fernand Bielle-Bidalot (1931-2024), the one who shaped house and garden, this rustic approach is related to his memories of the French Pyrenees, where he was born. Growing up in Lourdes, young Fernand was taught a taste for wood and sculpture by his father, who was a carpenter and a roofer. 

Already at the age of seven young Fernand helped his father with the roofing of the dungeon of the Château de Lourdes. 

entrance of the site

After primary school and a training as a carpenter, he left Lourdes at the age of twenty in the early 1950s.

He was able to join the Compagnons du Tour de France, a professional organization for qualified craftsmen who offer a tour of France to professionals such as carpenters, who can thereby supplement their professional knowledge, become familiar with regional techniques, get to know potential contractors and gain access to additional group education.

                                    

After his tour of France, Bielle probably chose the area around Nantes as his field of activity as a qualified carpenter. He got married and at some point the couple will have moved into the house along Tassin Alley in Sucé-sur-Erdre, that would later become part of Snow White's domain.

Located along the river Erdre, Sucé-sur-Erdre is a community of about 6100 inhabitants, some 20 km north of the center of the city of Nantes, 

The living house

An architect was hired for the construction of the house, but it was Bielle-Bidalot who designed the interior in detail, with many wooden elements and specific constructions to achieve the rustic atmosphere that he had in mind.

There is a wooden staircase that winds upwards, the wooden trusses that frame the top of the house can be seen, there is a monumental fireplace with two special niches, the windows with stained glass are reminiscent of nature, and there are decorative elements such as slate sitting dogs.

facade of the living house

As the image above shows, the exterior of the house has a rural impression, with a roof with various dormer windows, an eaves with a few semicircular expanses and the side wall with an overhang supported by a heavy horizontal beam at the height of the eaves at the front side.

The area around the house

In the early 1990s, Bielle retired. His wife Josiane continued to work as manager of the café le Santeuil in Nantes, which the couple had previously acquired.

Of course, after the purchase, under the direction of Bielle the premises were redecorated in his rustic, authentic style,  which certainly contributed to the café becoming a popular meeting place for students and journalists.

In 1994, when he as in his early 60s, Bielle began changing layout and decoration of the area around the house, which is 3000 m² in size. 

The start may have been small-scale, but it soon involved a comprehensive approach aimed at planting trees and shrubs, constructing or renewing footpaths where necessary, installing new structures such as a bridge made of wood, stone elements such as bell towers, masonry walls, and of course decorating specific spots with miniature structures and installations, and with human, animal or fairytale characters.

Indeed, an approach that would keep Bielle busy for many years.

The various images above show that a miniature village has arisen at the front of the residential house. The village, that radiates a Pyrenean atmosphere, has houses, towers, a mill and other elements that characterize village life, and looking closely, one will also see people and animals walking around and miniature trees that grow within the correct scale.

The houses have been made very realistic with ridge caps and pediments, and even cat flaps. The courtyards are paved with stones to scale.

Although Bielle was particularly inspired by the atmosphere of the Pyrenees, he also managed to create a fairytale atmosphere in his art environment. 

That also influenced the naming of the site. One of the structures in the garden is dedicated to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and since this cottage appears to have the same chubby look as the one in Walt Disney's famous 1937 film, the association was quickly made and this designation has become standard. 

The picture above and the one below give an impression of  the way the naming characters are depicted in one of the places in the site. However, near the spot in the garden with a view of the river, there are also creations dedicated to Snow White and the dwarfs.

another view of the seven dwarfs

this picture and the next four (August 2019)

courtesy of the author of the weblog "Our Little Family"

One of the striking characteristics of this art environment is the great diversity of plants and trees that decorate the site. 

This planting has been carefully selected by Bielle, especially with regard to the types of trees that should be planted.

These trees, now mature, evoke an atmosphere of unspoiled nature and now offer about fifty different species of birds the opportunity to nest.

The four images around give an impression of some elements that characterize this art environment.

The top left image shows the view of the river Erdre, a tributary of the river Loire, seen from a viewpoint surrounded by a masonry semicircular wall. Near this viewpoint is a replica of the cottage of the seven dwarfs and there is also a mural of Snow White and the dwarfs.

The image above right shows a slender round tower with a covered vantage point on top. This place can be reached via a staircase from the ground as well as via a small wooden suspension bridge that starts at the rear of the living house.

The two images below show some rustic elements in the middle of the greenery

The paths in the garden are also an important image-defining element. With their meandering course and mutual connections, they form a maze that, in a smaller scale version, resembles the Follies Siffait, an art environment located in the same region around Nantes along the Loire, created in the first half of the 19th century and currently still existing 

map of the site

from the website 24.webself.net

The survival of the site has been arranged

Currently (2021) Fernand Bielle-Bidalot is in his late 80s. His wife Josiane passed away in May 2019. Earlier the couple had already considered the future of art environment and after long deliberation they decided to leave the house and garden to the municipality, a decision that was made public after Josiane's death . 

The municipality sees this as a token of confidence and will prepare for an orderly transfer, for example through an inventory by the municipal landscaping service of the trees and plants in the site.

Fernand Bielle-Bidalot passed away in May 2024. 

Documentation

* Series of photos on weblog Princesse Pepette (July 2020)

* Entry on weblog Our Little Family ((August 2019), with a series of pictures

* Article in local magazine Au fil de l'Erdre nr 164 (November/December 2018), -p,21

* Article in magazine Jardin et Maison (December 2014), with a series of pictures

* A series of pictures on the website génération-évasion (April 2017)

Videos

* Video by TéléNantes (December 2016, 6'00", YouTube)

 

* Video on Facebook with Fernand Bielle-Bidalot talking about his creation

* A video entitled La maison la plus insolite de France (2018,  0'57") by Génération-évasion, can not be embedded here; however, the video can be seen on Facebook

Fernand Bielle-Bidalot 

La maison Blanche-Neige 

55 Ruelle Tassin,

44240 Sucé-sur-Erdre, dept Loire-Atlantique, region Pays de la Loire, France

can partly be seen from the street

René and Huguette Pellé, Jardin decoré / Decorated garden

first two pictures (around 2011) courtesy of Marion Hanna

In the small community of Lézardrieux, on the north coast of Brittany, France, René and Huguette Pellé in the 1990s began decorating the garden around their house.

Life and works

René, who was a carpenter, in 1994 because of Quatorze Juillet constructed a mill which he put in his garden.

This was the beginning of a project that would keep René and his wife Huguette active for the rest of their life.  In the course of the years René made all kinds of wooden constructions, such as cabins, light houses and carriots, but also two- and three-dimensional animals and various other large and small items.

Huguette's share in the project is to paint the constructions, which she often does in blue, a color she likes. And then she will also provide the costumes for the life-sized puppets that animate the wooden constructions.

These puppets have been made in a rather simple way by using straw or a comparable easy to manipulate material to shape the body, a mask as a face and used clothes to dress them. Neighbours will help the couple in gathering sufficient material.  

In the course of the years the garden has grown into a colorful, charming and alternate assembly of creative constructions.

general view around 2007

picture by Denis Lavaud as published in Zon'art ¹

I couldn't find information about the birth dates of the Pellé couple, but I suppose they are from the 1930s, so when this text was published  (2013) they might be approaching or be in their eighties. In 2022 a regional journal published a list of people from Lézardrieux who had died, among whom René Pellé who had died on January 1, 2022 at age 91 and Huguette Pellé who had died in 2021 at age 86.

Documentation, more pictures

* Paskal Larsen, "Art brut, art du bord des routes en Bretagne"  in: web-magazine Foutraque, 26-3-2006 (not available anymore)

note

¹ Zon'art isn't available anymore on the internet; see also OEE-texts

René and Huguette Pellé

Jardin décoré

7 rue Saint Jean

22740 Lézardrieux, dept Côtes d'Armor, region Brittany, France

can be seen from the street

Pavel Bezrukov, Поляна сказок / Fairy tale garden

all pictures courtesy of the 

Glade of Fairytales Museum (as in 2013) 

Located north of Yalta on the Crimea peninsula, the Polyana Skazok Museum (Glade of Fairytales Museum) is an outdoor site of over 300 sculptures, all relating to fairies and folk tales ¹.

Currently a top amusement park in Crimea, it has its origins in a simple fairy tale garden, created by a Russian self-taught artist, Pavel Bezrukov ².

Life and works 

Bezrukov was born in 1890 in a family of fisherman that lived in Eisk, a port city by the Black Sea in the south of Russia. Already as a young man he demonstrated an artistic talent, especially in the field of wood carving.

However the family couldn't afford an education at an art school, so the young man somehow trained himself in wood working, using as examples the old houses and peasant farms, traditionally decorated with carved porches and architraves.

In the late 1920s Bezrukov succeeded in participating in art expositions.

When in the 1930s he got tuberculosis, he moved to the Crimea to seek recovery. Staying on various locations, he would finally settle in a green, mountainous area north of Yalta, where he recovered from his illness.

Bezrukov with his two daughters 
and the head of the giant

Bezrukov, a self-taught artist,  all his life has somehow been active in wood crafting, however it probably was at some moment after he returned home after World War II, so at a time he already was in his late fifties or early sixties, that he began exposing these sculptures outside his house.

Anyway, during the 1950s Bezrukov displayed such a number of wooden sculptures around his house and on a nearby field, that in 1960 the Fairy Tale Garden more or less officially became a public attraction.

Taras Bulba, 
character from a novel by Nicolai Gogol 

The fairy tale garden became famous, it was a beloved place, visited by a lot of people, both locals and tourists on holiday in Yalta.

Children liked to come and learn the stories from folklore and fairies, as represented by the various sculptures.

Vasilisa the beautiful, 
a Russian folk tale

The black and white pictures, from the collection of the current museum, give an impression of the kind of wooden sculptures Bezrukov made: Tara Bulba, Vasilisa the beautiful, and of course Baba Yaga (her hut was also present on the premises), Pinocchio.....

"Черный триумвират" 

(black triumvirate)

Wen the Glade of fairy tales had existed for some ten years, local artists had a dispute about the site  with the local authorities. I couldn't fully figure out what exactly was the issue, but it probably had to do with their position. 

There was a threat that the site would have to disappear, but public opinion did not accept this and the the authorities had no choice but to give the site a formal position and organize it as a public attraction, where artists other than Bezrukov could also contribute.

The new garden got sculptures and constructions made by various professional sculptors from the then USSR, a collection that grew to over 300 exhibits representing the work of some 45 authors.

Pavel Bezrukov took no part in these developments. After the transformation of the garden into a public attraction he returned to Moscow, where he died in 1978, almost 90 years old.

the former home page of the Museum Polyana Skazok
(not available anymore)

The new fairy tale garden, with an area of several hectares and over 300 sculptures/sculpture groups, became one of Crimea's popular attractions. On the garden's former website Bezrukov was paid tribute.

Documentation/more pictures

* Website Beauty will save with a series of pictures of sculptures by Bezrukov and others in the Glade of Fairytales

* Website (2011) with a review and a lot of pictures of the Glade of Fairytales
* An official website of the open air museum was available when this post was first published in 2013. Currently (2020), the Open Air Museum Glade of Fairy Tales is on Facebook, it has an entry on VK with a referral to Bezrukov and it is on Instagram, with a variety of pictures
* Article (in English) on website Discover Ukraine (published before Crimea became Russian)

notes
¹  I learned about Bezrukov from a post in 2013 by Bruno Montpied on his weblog
² This blog has some other examples of amusement parks that grew out of activities of a self-taught artist, Wim de Vries (Netherlands) and Frantisek Jáich (Czech Republic). In a more modest sense, this also applies to the sculpture garden of Isidore Kriesten (Poland)

first published August 2013, last revised December 2021

Museum Polyana Skazok (Glade of fairy tales)
Kirova Street
Yalta, Crimea