FEATURE
San Diego Uptown News | June 25-July 8, 2010
9
Living walls turn empty space into functional vertical gardens
UrbanGarden Joel Berlin
Living Walls are becoming the latest
gardening trend. In the past, attempting to create your own living wall was a chore. One had to make boxes for the plant material or use chicken wire stuffed with soil and wrapped with sphagnum moss. Then came the daunting task of hanging it on the wall, which was tedious and often futile. Today, companies such as BrightGreen have made it easy for living walls to be assembled,
Derek Benson draws a new image on his three children’s lunch bags every day. (Courtesy Derek Benson)
Local artist bags recognition for lunch-sack artwork blog
By Meiko Patton SDUN Reporter
Mission Hills resident Derek Benson has been chosen as one of 20 members of the 2010 Sharpie Squad.
The squad’s artists and blog-
gers are a group of passionate Sharpie marker users who serve as vocal brand ambassadors, shar- ing their enthusiasm, creativity and unbridled passion for Sharpie products.
A Namco Games employee by
day, Benson creates art for video games. But away from gaming he is known for his lunch bag art, consisting of intricate drawings of cartoons and super heroes, which he showcases on his blog,
lunchbagart.tumblr.com.
Benson has been using Sharpie markers all his life, he said. The father of three children ages 9, 5 and 3, Benson began drawing art on their lunch bags every day as they went to school, eventually adding 370 entries to lunchbagart. com.
“I do this mostly as a hobby for my kids,” Benson said. “They re- ally have the final say in what goes up on the blog, I definitely take constructive criticism from them. “I like to draw things that are
weird and what I feel is cool. Right now, if you check out my blog,
you’ll see I’m drawing things from this cool comic line called Dream- land Chronicles.” Benson is formally trained
as an artist but insists that daily practice is a better teacher. “Only draw what you are pas- sionate about,” he said he advises prospective young artists. His art is displayed on the walls of his son’s preschool and has been published on the front page of the San Diego Union-Tribune and on the cover of Parents magazine. “It’s an honor to have been chosen to be on the Sharpie Squad, but actually I was very proactive about it and I actually contacted them myself to see if I could become part of the squad,” he said.
As a Sharpie Squad member, Benson will be tweeting, blogging and sharing his out-of-the-box creations and ideas on what is possible with a Sharpie marker throughout 2010. In return, Sharpie will provide Benson new product news and shipments, virtual meetings with the Sharpie brand team, and pub- licity through blog posts, Twitter and Facebook. To meet the rest of the Sharpie
Squad and to check out their latest endeavors, go to sharpieuncapped. com.u
urban settings, small gardens and courtyards where actual planting space is prime real estate. We are seeing them in boutique shops, restaurants, hotels, shopping malls and even on the walls of public schools.
What is so exciting about these living walls is getting to paint with living plant material. By grouping colors and textures together, many geometric and organic shapes are formed, creating a peaceful, serene and impressionistic painting. Indoors these vertical gardens can grow several popular houseplants and tropicals, while the outdoor vertical gardens often use succulents and herbs. The key is to use plants
Designs for living walls – indoors or outdoors – can vary based on the size of the space, but no matter what shape is installed, it is watered through a convenient drip system. (Courtesy BrightGreen)
watered and grow into healthier plants. They are pushing living-wall design boundaries by allowing any vertical surface to become a place for planting, regardless of size or shape. The 80-percent recycled plastic trays clip onto support rods for easy installation. These trays, which now have deeper pockets angled about 30 degrees, hold the soil effortlessly. Each tray locks into position with the tray below. A simple ¼ drip system feeds water to the top tray. The water then passes through the trays from top to bottom via a vascular water track dispersing the water evenly to each plant. Any excess water just drips out the bottom. Should the wall be indoors, a collecting trough just clips right on. Living walls are becoming focal pieces in
that have shallow root systems and heights of no greater than a foot. This will keep pruning and maintenance of your living, growing art piece down to a minimum
The benefits to these vertical gardens are not only the possibility of growing your own food but they reduce the urban heat island by absorbing solar energy, helping our planet stay cooler and greener. And any living wall will increase that wall’s “R factor,” keeping your home cooler during the summer and warmer in the winter.
If you want to create an interesting, cool focal piece in your garden, look at your vertical
see Walls, page 13
RESIDENTIAL + COMMERCIAL
(619) 269-9930 Richard Osborn
New Work Old Work Upgrades
license #923896
Lunchbagart.com contains more than 370 pictures of Benson’s artwork, which earned him a spot on the Sharpie Squad. (Courtesy Derek Benson)
OzElectricSD.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28