MALAKOFF - The Historic Bartlett House and Heritage Gardens and two private sculpture gardens never opened to the public before are the showpieces of the 2012 Sculpture Gardens and Art Tour Guide on Saturday April 28.
The daylong tour is sponsored by the Greater Malakoff Area Garden Club and County Line Magazine. The proceeds of the tour will benefit the garden club's renovation of the Bartlett House, which was constructed in 1929 and bought by the garden club in 2008 to create a community attraction that would also draw visitors to the city.
In the 1930s and 1940s the owners of the Bartlett House and its gardens hosted larges parties, and the property was renowned for its beauty. The house is known for its elaborate concrete architecture, which includes a flat roof with pillars forming a fence like structure topping its outside edges, concrete pot finials and yellow brick columns. The house was built by T.A. Bartlett, owner of the Acme Brick Co, who designed the yellow brick especially for his new home and never again manufactured the style.
The James Surl Sculpture Gardens, which includes 20 pieces of sculpture created by the internationally-famous sculptor and work by other artists, is a memorial to Joe Surls, the artist's father, who also lived in Malakoff. The main house and its artwork also will be open for the tour.
The Jim and Barbara Stewart Sculpture Gardens features a landscape designed by landscape architect Jason Osterberger on their lakeside property. The property is graced with thousands of blooming flowers in the spring, accompanied by lush bushes and trees.
Other sites on the 115-mile driving tour include the Lindy Mall exhibition between Athens and Malakoff featuring artist Margaret Tarrance; Bruce Peil Fine Art Studio and Gallery, Sojourn Gallery, Charlie Bullock Art Studio and Gallery and Athens Gallery, all in Athens; Flying Fish Gallery, The Blue Moose, Secret Garden Embroidered Art and Gifts, Harrison and Son Knifesmith, and Rave Art Gallery, all in Ben Wheeler; The Old Firehouse Gallery, Zeke and Marty, Potters Brown, Ken Carpenter Jewelry, Arbor Castle Birdhouses, Blue Moon Gardens and Roseland Plantation, all in Edom; Mill Creek Ranch Resort in Canton featuring artists from the North East Texas Fine Art Alliance and Beacon Hill in Kemp featuring a waterfall and fallen log sculpture designed by Texas sculptor Billy Williams and one of the longest manmade waterways in the world featuring natural rock artisan pools flowing into ponds and homesites designed by Kenneth Phelps of In-Control.
Tickets for entrance to the two sculpture gardens and the evening reception at Beacon Hill are available online at www.malakoff-texas.com for $25 in advance. Tickets at the door, which can be obtained at Malakoff Community Center, 503 N. Terry, Malakoff, are $35.