LAST SUMMER, PAINTER Lauren Knight decided that if she couldn’t find creative fulfillment indoors, she’d venture outside. Knight, who paints bright botanicals, portraits, and still lifes, needed a new project. Her three children were at home, and she didn’t have her usual long, uninterrupted chunks of time to lose herself in her art. The garden beckoned her, and with an edger and trowel she carved out a 16-by- 19-foot expansion next to her already lush flower and vegetable patch.
For Knight, the project was the perfect balm for the chaos of 2020. “It’s almost like a moving meditation,” she says. “I don’t like to sit still and do yoga and meditate, but when I’m out in the garden, my hands are in the dirt and I’m quiet and calm. There’s a peacefulness that comes over you, because you can’t focus on all the craziness that’s going on.”
Designing the garden addition turned out to be a creative endeavor itself. Knight’s goal was to create a space that looked beautiful no matter where she was standing in her yard. She lined the border with brick, added four raised cedar beds and, to draw the eye up, a birch trellis— and got to planting. Zinnias, tomatoes, and peppers all went into the ground, and then Knight let the pie pumpkins take over.
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Cut from the Same Cloth
“Turkey Tracks” is a 19th-century quiltmaking pattern that has the appearance of little wandering feet. Patterns like the tracks, and their traditions and myths, have been passed down through the generations, from their frontier beginnings to today, where a generation of makers has embraced the material as a means of creating something new. Olivia Jondle is one such designer. Here, she’s taken an early turkey track-pattern quilt, cut it into various shapes, and stitched the pieces together, adding calico and other fabric remnants as needed. The result is a trench coat she calls the Pale Calico Coat. Her designs are for sale at The Rusty Bolt, Jondle’s small-batch fashion company based in St. Louis. —SAMANTHA STEVENSON
Color Block
A background in sculpture trained artist Aly Ytterberg to see objects more fully.
A Modern Story
How a little log cabin went from being a home to a guest house
IN GOOD TIME
With the help of interior designer Robert Idol, a Kirkwood couple creates a home that pays homage to the past, yet feels just right for their modern young family.
Let's Dish
"Food Raconteur” Ashok Nageshwaran wants to tell you a story.
The Right Move
New shops and showrooms bring exciting opportunities for local designers, makers, and arts organizations to sell their wares to home enthusiasts here and everywhere.
Green Dreams
Painter and gardener Lauren Knight branches out.
Cultivating Kokedama
Chris Mower of White Stable Farms discovered the Japanese style of gardening in Italy. Now, he’s bringing it to St. Louis.
Graphic Mood
Letters, icons, and illustrations that speak in a hand-drawn language
AUDRA's New Digs
Audra Noyes, of the Saint Louis Fashion Fund Incubator’s first class, opens an atelier in Ladue.
