MYTHIC REALM: GARDEN'S MANY ANCIENT-LOOKING SCULPTURES AMUSE, ENCHANT

The first thing you see when you enter the enchanted world of Peter and

Robyn Crompton is the gigantic head of Athena, regarding the street through

empty eyes.

Penetrate further into the shady greenery beyond and you feel as if you've

walked through C.S. Lewis' wardrobe into a mythical realm.

Sculpted heads hide within the shrubbery as if fallen from their pedestals

and a pair of elaborately

mosaiced fish coil as one within a labyrinth of spent iris, lamb's ear and

sage.

It has the look of timeworn abandonment -- the remains of a garden that

once upon a time was manicured into classical perfection. But this appearance

of neglect is all by careful design.

The Cromptons are both artists; he does large sculptures, she creates

elaborate mosaics using everything from pottery shards to the bottoms of wine

bottles to shells and other found objects. She also works with tempered glass.

But they also are wizards with stagecraft, he as a theatrical set designer

and she as a professional costumer. Their garden on Santa Rosa's Taylor

Mountain is an elaborate production that unfolds like a stage show with a

series of small gardens, each a separate scene serving to showcase their art.

''I've always really liked overgrown Italian gardens that you kind of

discover,'' says Peter, who speaks with a hybrid accent acquired from a

childhood spent in both his native South Africa and Cambridge, Mass. ''When I

was at Stanford (studying biology) one of my favorite places was this old

garden next to the museum that was totally overgrown.''

So the half-acre they have spent the past 10 years carving out of the dense

overgrowth of a long neglected landscape is all about ''the romance of

decay.''

Frequently moved

In truth it is alive and ever-changing. They give a lot of thought to the

placement of each piece and frequently move things around, like scenery on a

stage. It is no accident that a mask of Athena beckons visitors into the

garden. She is not just the goddess of war, but also the goddess of the arts

and intellectual activity.

Many of the sculptures, nonetheless, began their lives not as fine art but

salvage from stage shows.

Peter has designed over 100 productions, from Summer Repertory Theatre to

the Festival Opera, Opera San Jose, Marin Theater Company, the Diablo Light

Opera Company, Jarvis Conservatory and the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival.

''It is like a set,'' Robyn says of the garden. ''When you have something,

you don't want to upstage it. But you also want it to look like it belongs

where you put it and that it's always kind of been there, or that it suits the

site somehow. A lot of the pieces Peter makes really nestle into the garden

very easily.''

Both Cromptoms move easily among their various worlds, making little

distinction between their art and their stagecraft.

''I like art that's approachable, and I like art that's functional and I

like art that's actually a thing that has been made,'' says Peter, ''which I

guess makes me basically a 19th-century artist in the eyes of most of the art

world. But I like art that can integrate in any setting.''

No artistic snobbery

Robyn, who grew up, coincidentally, in a house just down the street, also

dismisses the notion of artistic snobbery. She got her bachelor's degree in

theater design from San Francisco State University. But her first husband was

not supportive of her career in costume design so she took up quilting as her

''creative endeavor.'' After divorcing she went back to school for a master's

in fine art and sculpture.

After graduating from Stanford, Peter quickly determined that a career in

science was not for him. He took up painting first and then got drawn into set

design. The couple met doing ''Die Fledermaus'' for the Sonoma City Opera, and

thus began a career of collaboration.

The sculpture garden, which they open to the public every October as part

of ARTrails Open Studios and by appointment, has come together organically.

When the couple bought their property a decade ago it was smothered in

weeds and overgrowth. But as they began whacking away they discovered the fine

backbone of an old garden. They also discovered many odd objects left by a

previous owner who clearly was into collecting. Those things, including a

collection of tumbled and natural stone, have been repurposed into the garden.

''We use a similar philosophy to garden design as we do for stage sets,

where you really want to surprise and delight people and make it a journey to

discover things,'' says Peter, who designs the pathways while Robyn's focus is

more on the plants. ''The other thing is, I'm not a minimalist stage set

designer. I always think more is better and that always carries into the

garden.''

Careful thought is given to where each piece will stand. Sculptures and

mosaics are set into the landscape like tableaus. A giant green Tara -- a

Tibetan Buddha representing enlightenment that Peter salvaged from a

Christmas/solstice production -- sits in quiet splendor in front of a gnarled

oak.

''Unlike a lot of Buddhist deities, she's stepping forward to intercede in

human activities,'' he says. ''So she has an active pose with one foot coming

off the pedestal and hands splayed out to the side. We thought her pose

reminded us of the limbs of the oak tree splayed off to the left and right.''

An elongated black Madonna and child, towering some 13 feet tall, is set

within a small redwood grove, where her shape mimics the trees and her color

the bark. She is framed by Robyn's twin mosaic snakes.

Robyn is also drawn to mythical figures, like the Green Man, a pagan god

who frequently shows up in European art and architecture like medieval

churches.

One of her stunning depictions of this ''consort to Mother Nature'' peers

up from the ground near the entrance to her patio garden. If you don't look

down, which you must if you're going to fully experience the Crompton garden,

you'll miss his elusive countenance.

''The idea was that he is a very powerful, quiet god-type character that's

hidden in the foliage,'' she says. ''But you have to know he's there -- or

know to look for him.''

You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at 521-5204 or

meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com.