In Mary’s Garden

This picture-book account introduces artist Mary Nohl, who preferred making and building things from whatever she could find. As a child, she helped her father build a house near Lake Michigan. After traveling and encountering art in many places, she returned home and collected objects from the beach with her dogs, Sassafras and Basil. She imagined those found materials as parts of larger creatures, then used cement, supports, and collected odds and ends to create sculptures in her yard. Her home and garden became places for her art.