A World View: Gardens at Clemmons Elementary help it live up to its global perspective

At Clemmons Elementary School you can stand in the savannas of Africa and look across the deserts of Mexico, over the Eiffel tower and see into a Japanese garden. In the future, you will be able to perch on an iceberg and gaze into the tropics of South America.

With a lot of community assistance, a group of volunteers has created a global garden, divided into continents. Four core volunteers, spearheaded by art specialist Frann Paige, have served as the planning and implementation crew -- and a host of hands, large and small, have helped. The garden is a series of beds each containing the plants of its region and highlighted with a sculpture.

The Asian garden is in the shadow of a large torii, a traditional Japanese gate that marks the division between a sacred and a profane site and is often used as a symbol of Japan. Asia is also represented with an arched bridge crossing a dry-stone stream and with many plants, including a large Japanese maple spreading dappled shade through its deep wine leaves.

Clemmons Elementary is designated a school of global communication. Rich Griner, a parent and volunteer coordinator at the global garden, believes that learning and communication happen on different levels. "Kids learn in many different ways," Griner said. "Bringing them out in the garden might make it stick a little better."

Ron Montaquila, the principal, agreed. "The garden is being used in math class as the kids measure the area of brick, in art class as they mix colors, in English as they sound out the names of plants. The music teacher led a unit on medieval European song out here. The kids have used the garden to create Haiku or they just come out to feel the sand between their toes," Montaquila said.

Paige, who took on the responsibility of overseeing the garden two years ago, has incorporated the work of local artists into the garden. So far, she has Jan Deter's African memory vase, a large urn covered in mosaic pieces. Charles Cummings made a miniature replica of the Eiffel Tower out of rebar. Above it flies the flag of the European Union. Dempsy Calhoun is finishing a "symbolic and stylized sculpture of giraffes" made from recycled steel.

"The sculpture is indicative of biodiversity, adaptation to environment and conservation of resources through recycling," Calhoun said.

Calhoun has concentrated on the giraffe's ability to navigate through the long thorns of the acacia tree to grasp leaves with its long tongue. He has emphasized the tongue by making it stainless steel.

Paige hopes to commission other artists as the gardens representing the remaining continents come together. She has been able to use the garden in much of her work with students.

"During a unit on Monet, I take the students to the Japanese Bridge and look at all the flowers and plants that are indigenous to that area," Paige said. "We also observe the architecture and construction of the bridge so we know how to draw it. I have used the flowers from the garden to create a still life for my fifth-graders to draw. I have also introduced the local artists and their type of art --mosaic, sculpture and mural art. We have also used recycled material to teach the students about reusing material for art."

Europe is the center of the garden. A wall made of cinder block and faced in stone by Jose Vasquez and Tim Queen of Triad Stone Works resembles the turrets of a castle. Nearby is a clock tower reminiscent of Big Ben.

In the North American region, a totem pole with an eagle, a raccoon and a rabbit stands above a group of blueberries, a North American native plant. The totem was created by Chainsaw Jack, a carver out of Washington state who gave the school a deal on the sculpture.

"Chainsaw Jack did the carving, and the kids painted it to his specifications," Griner said. "We hope to get him to do a polar bear for the upcoming Antarctica section." Plans also include boulders painted white to resemble glaciers.

Jesus Ruiz of Mi Pueblo restaurant was a local sponsor of the Mexico section. It is planted with salvias, yuccas, hibiscus and sedums and features a recycled, air-conditioner pad refinished to resemble adobe and displaying an Aztec solar calendar on one side and a metal gecko made by Marco Polo, a Mexican artist, on the other.

The idea for the garden came from Heidi Wicker, a former art teacher at Clemmons Elementary. She is now the lead teacher for visual art in Winston Salem/Forsyth County Schools.

"I am so pleased to see the Global Garden come to fruition through the hard work of Rich Griner, the Clemmons Elementary School PTA, and Frann Paige," Wicker said. "It will be a great pocket garden for the community as well as a great teaching space for the teachers and students of Clemmons Elementary."

This garden required a huge investment in volunteer time and money. The four core volunteers working with Paige are Sprigg Parker, a landscape designer; Frank Sink, the owner of Franks Perennials and a parent of Andy, 8, a student at the school; and Jay Jordan, parent of Anna, 9, and Emily, 8. Griner, who serves as coordinator, has a daughter Madeline who attended Clemmons Elementary from first to third grade. His son Richmond is currently in first grade at the school.

Parker said that "ideas that are put into action have to be filtered through several criteria. We tried to make all of the plant material indigenous to each continent or where substitutions had to be made, at least in keeping with each particular theme. The sculpture, plants and layout of the garden also needed to be safe, fun and engaging for elementary-school-age children."

"Rich and I discuss some general ideas about the layout of the garden, and Sprigg Parker provides us with a more detailed plan with measurements and plantings," Jordan said. "Rich does a great job organizing construction of the garden, from deliveries of sand and mulch to getting everyone together to plant."

Funding has been as creative as the design. There have been bake sales by the Girls on the Run at the school. Bricks in the paved area of the European section are available to be bought, and are named in honor of the contributor. A student art fair raised more than $1,000. Lowe's hardware awarded a $5,000 Toolbox for Education grant to the garden, and several other local businesses have been generous with money and materials.

"If you really ask people, get them excited about a project, they are really willing to help" Griner said.

■ If you have a gardening question or story idea, write to David Bare in care of Features, Winston-Salem Journal, P.O. Box 3159, Winston-Salem, NC 27101-3159, or send e-mail to his attention to gardening@wsjournal.com