Gardens, Pools & Spas
In Artistic Harmony
An appreciation of art and love of nature unfolds into a sculpture garden for all seasons.
BY
Lucyann Boston
PHOTOGRAPHY
Jim Diaz



It was the land that first drew Connie and Jordan Heiman to their Olivette home 55 years ago. And it is the land and living gently upon it that keeps them there. In every season of the year, their garden reflects their two great passions: ecology and art. A series of intertwining, wide, permanent pathways, designed by Connie and Anne Lewis of Lewisites Landscape Architects, makes walking easy. The walkways allow the couple and visitors to view every aspect of the garden and the art collection no matter what the weather.

Both Connie and Jordan grew up in University City. Connie, as the oldest child, took care of the garden for her mother and grew to love plants. Her love for art drew her to study the subject at Washington University, where she worked with textiles, weaving and stone sculpture, which are still her passions today. “You do everything when you’re in art school,” she says, laughing. For many years she has been associated with Craft Alliance.

Jordan brought to their partnership an engineering background with a specialty in heating and cooling. In retirement, he works with groups promoting environmentally friendly construction and homebuilding techniques in rural communities.

It was Connie who found the property they have called home for over half a century. “We were living in University City, and I used to take the Girl Scouts to this area of Olivette for nature study field trips,” she recounts. “When I found out they were going to begin building houses here, I told Jordan, ‘That’s where we’re going to live.’”

Some of the plants in the garden, particularly the evergreens, “have been here the entire time. When we first started out we couldn’t afford plants higher then this,” she notes, holding her hands no more than a foot off the ground. “A number of times, we’ve had to move trees as other things grew.”

The land itself dictated certain garden features. “We created our first pond because water from other areas funneled into our yard,” she explained. More recently, Jordan designed a front yard “rain garden” that collects water from hard-surface run-off areas such as their roof, a neighbor’s roof and their driveway, and directs it into a low spot in the front yard, which is filled with moisture loving native plants.

At the same time the Heimans were collecting plants, they also were collecting contemporary art, which they both love, and weaving it into the fabric of their garden. “We saw places in the yard that seemed empty,” Connie said. “(Local sculptors) Bob and Gail Cassilly were new and young. We wanted to support them, and we did,” she says. “One of Gail’s pieces is a headless lady. The head had accidentally broken off in her studio, and we decided we liked it that way.”

They’ve collected other pieces on vacations. “We’ve traveled all over the U.S. and the world on Craft Alliance trips, and we’ve kept our eyes open,” Connie says.

A piece that drew their attention on a trip to Minneapolis was an orange polyresin sculpture by Louis von Koelnau entitled Middle Clef. It now stands as a glowing centerpiece of their garden, changing tones and hues in the shifting light of the sun and the moon.

Both Connie and Jordan appreciate the art in nature. One “exhibit” in the sculpture garden is a weathered tree claimed from a bank along the Meramec River and adorned with the contorted branches, glossy green leaves, and spreading white blossoms of a climbing hydrangea.

Plants and art also merge on the inside of the Heimans’ home. A huge solarium lined with raised planters spans the back of the residence. Light flows into the room via a wall of windows designed by Connie and inlaid with a pink, purple and green stained glass pattern resembling tied-back draperies. Ever the artist, Connie selected plants with the same tones in their leaves, stems and blossoms to complement the glass.

In addition to being lovely, the stained glass also serves a practical purpose. “I designed the pattern so you couldn’t see the electrical lines outside the windows,” she says, laughing. Jordan also has put his design stamp on the solarium, creating a louver system below the glass ceiling that automatically adjusts to let in the right amount of light as the sun moves across the sky. Sculpture in the solarium includes a piece by Ernest Trova titled Tree #12.