Rock artist creates one-of-a-kind garden

Right in his own backyard, Green Valley resident Steve Brown has found all that he needed to create an amazing rock garden.

Just as Jerry Seinfeld found his comical niche by seeing humor in ordinary everyday occurrences, Brown sees art in ordinary rocks and has created a work of nature unlike any other.

Creating art and designs from pebbles, stones and rocks that surround his home and community at Esperanza Estates, Brown simply collects and transports what he considers “interesting rocks” to a new location. Then he creates his unusual masterpieces based on what he “sees” in the various rocks.

To soften the stone/rock/pebble works of art, Brown said, he transplanted some area cactus; it serves as a divider between the various creations while adding some green.

Brown started this unnamed cactus and rock garden behind his home because he said the area was boring. “It was barren and I wanted to make it more interesting; it's stuff that was already out there.”

The four-year old creative endeavor of nature doesn't have a name or a master plan and there's no plan to. It's totally unstructured and that's how Brown likes it. He said it just evolved and will continue to.

The genesis for this 100-yard-long creative undertaking started when Brown wanted to fill in a gap under a mesquite tree. Gathering some rocks from his immediate surroundings he built a small house and he's been adding to it since starting in June 2003.

“Most of the rocks came from an arroyo by the wash; it was spilled rock from a wash improvement,” he said.

Not an artist or a naturalist during his working years, Brown said he and his wife Nancy lived in Colorado for 30 years. “We'd go camping and I'd bring back a single rock, then scatter it around the garden as a reminder of where we'd been.” That was his only prior connection to collecting rocks, he said.

Inspiration from rocks

Staring at the various art forms Brown has created from rocks, the immediate question was, “What's your usual inspiration in deciding what to create from a collection of rocks?” Brown's response was in line with his art-loose and free-form.

“I look at the rocks to see what I can do with them; as I put them together it (an idea) kind of comes together. Then I have to decide if it will be a structure… something with walls or an entrance, or a creature or animal.”

Brown's creativity easily leaves viewers speechless. His works are whimsical and a delight to look at. There's a dinosaur with teeth made of small white pebbles, a country general store built with pieces of ocotillo, a church with a small angel watching guard and a mini replica of the “Super Bowl” that even includes two separate lines of red and white pebbles in front signifying two teams.

One creation honors his son-in-law, who is a musical composer. Creating a figure from rocks, Brown placed a length of ocotillo facing up in each hand signifying two batons.

Asked his favorite rock creation was, Brown's response was quick.

“The turtles; they look more real than anything,” he said. To add to the immediate area by the turtles, Brown likes to roughen up the soil a bit so it looks like the turtles have just emerged from the water.

While inspiration for these rock creations appears to be in the eye of this creative artist, Brown believes that growing up in New Mexico has influenced his thinking.

“Those who were there before the white people believed in a power bigger than themselves; they built structures that reflected that,” he said. That, along with photos from Arizona Highways magazines and Father Kino, who influenced San Xavier de Bac and Tumacacori, has also influenced Brown.

Delightful dinosaur

His largest work to date is a dinosaur named “Sonoran Sonitasaurus” that stands outside his rear patio opposite his long rock and cactus border and is an absolute delight for passers-by. “The dinosaur came together pretty quick; it was done in about two hours,” Brown said. The legs are made from ocotillo and the rest is made from pieces of palm leaves and a few cow ribs.” Simply said, it's one different and delightful dinosaur.

Ellen Sussman is a freelance writer for the Green Valley News.