Straight is the Gate: NOT!
The Venice Canals are a fantasy-land of visual whimsey. Art and architecture, design and details, color, form, texture and landscaping intersect with the natural world of earth and water, mingling in a magical way. Here, the lines between privacy and the public are both diffused and defined. Visitors stroll past homes that buttress right up to the sidewalk, but often are shaded by trees, and hidden behind hedges, walls and gates, or a combination of all three.
Metal, wood, and foliage flow together to create both art and utility. We are are so caught up in observing the material mix, we forget to peer beyond the gate. Mission accomplished.
Creative cutouts provide contrast to the wood and metal geometry below, and make of this gate a work of art, both two and three dimensional.
No-one is getting past this gate, unless the owner wants you to. So arrested by its beauty, we forget how formidable it is. Flanked by bamboo, the strength of its materials, shape and detailing stops us in our tracks.
The simplicity of repeated squares which form a pattern is further softened by curving grasses, and enlivened by the use of stones on the ground in front.
A similar repeated shape creates a grid, reflecting the larger tile-like stones before it, creating a starker, and more stream-lined feeling.
What magnificent and magical gates have been in YOUR purview lately?
If you feel so inclined, please share about them with us here.
We love to hear from you.
Remember, we are all traversing this thing we call Life, together.
Cheers!
Artissima - Blog of ArtiFactory Studio 
