Furniture Library Garden Installations Underway

March 12, 2014  by in Community / Charitable Support, Industry   

The gardens are a culmination of a two-year renovation project at the library.

Four different sculptures are included in the gardens, named for Pat Plaxico, a nationally recognized interior designer renowned for the reuse of historic buildings.

"Knowing the Bienenstock's personally and being a board member of the Furniture Library for 38 years, I was deeply honored to have the gardens bear my name," Plaxico said. "The house interior with its lovely Arts and Crafts details and fabulous book collection has always been very welcoming. Now the exterior grounds will follow suit."

This is the latest in a series of projects that included creating conference rooms for industry and academic use, remodeling the interior, adding an elevator, cataloging every book in accordance with the Library of Congress taxonomy, and awarding scholarships for both interior and furniture design. Paved parking and ambient lighting will complete the project.

The gardens will be dedicated April 4, the day before High Point Market www.highpointmarket.org officially opens. 

The statues are each unique structures designed by various designers. "See, Speak, Hear No Evil", a collection of three bronze coated statuettes, was designed by Raymond Waites and donated by Mark Phillips and Julie Phillips of the Phillips Collection.

The Red and Blue Chair is a reproduction Gerrit Rietveld design, representative of the De Stijl art movement. The chair sculpture is made of stainless steel ad was donated by Martha Sutton and Charles Sutton.

"Jitterbug" was donated by a private benefactor to honor board member and industry design icon Paul Brayton. The stainless steel, geometric sculpture is just over 10 feet tall. "Jitterbug" is also a fountain with water flowing down the support column into a stone base.

A book sculpture, entitled "Imagination", was inspired by Albert Einstein's "Imagination is more important than knowledge" quote. Three bronze books represent knowledge while an open mirror, polished stainless steel book invokes imagination. The sculpture was donated to the library in honor of Charles Sutton, long-time board member and president of the board from 2011 until 2013.

The garden was designed by landscape architect Sally Pagliai of Greensboro, N.C. It is a combination of classic and contemporary elements combining plant and hardscape materials to create outdoor rooms, gathering areas and places for sculptures.