People looking for an eye-popping experience will find it at Elmore, Ohio’s Schedel Gardens, where man-made art and natural beauty are blended together by a team of gardeners along with citizens from the surrounding communities.

Several University graduates are among those who have produced artwork in the form of paintings, drawings and sculptures as part of an ongoing relationship the gardens have with the University and its School of Fine Arts.

Garden events coordinator Veronica Sheets praised the “talented local artists” who have contributed to the gardens.

“[The art and gardens] seem to fit in so well together,” Sheets said.

School of Fine Arts professor Dennis Wojtkiewicz agreed.

“The artwork helps to elevate the gardens and the gardens help to elevate the artwork,” Wojtkiewicz said. “It’s a beautiful relationship.”

Wojtkiewicz, Philip Jackson, Paul LaJeunesse, Jason Lewis and Christopher Ryan are presenting the “Point of Departure: Five Contemporary Realists” exhibit at the gardens from June 6 through July 31. Lewis is a professional exhibitionist in Pennsylvania and Jackson, LaJeunesse and Ryan teach at the University of Mississippi, Western Oregon University and Hiram College.

Each received their Masters of Fine Art at BGSU and had Wojtkiewicz as a teacher, influencing his decision to ask for their participation.

“There’s a certain kind of precision in their work, kind of an eye toward the craftsmanship in realist painting that I certainly appreciate,” Wojtkiewicz said.

Wojtkiewicz said that realism is based upon creating an illusion of the physical presence of the painted object, which can range from food, plants, landscapes and still-life, noting the familiarity of the objects make the exhibit accessible to a wide audience while leaving room for various interpretations.

“You can appreciate the painting on other levels,” Wojtkiewicz said. “If you have an understanding of paint, you could appreciate it as a peer.”

Lewis believes that realism offers a wealth of artistic possibilities.

“For me, realism is not just about making an image that looks believable,” Lewis said. “A realist artist uses all manners of artistic devices to create images that evoke the thoughts, moods or feelings they wish to convey.”

One mood conveyed is appreciation for the smaller details in everyday objects, according to Jackson. He added that people often become desensitized to these objects because looking at them is routine.

“Realism in general has to do with getting someone to slow down and look at what is in front of them,” Jackson said. “A painting of it is like a new experience of looking. It’s a way to get the viewer connected in another reality.”

Ryan said that art students could appreciate the types of realism in the exhibit and discover the various ways that University graduates can find inspiration “in the larger world.”

“I hope all visitors … appreciate it for what it affords: five artists who ‘speak’ a similar pictorial language, but have diverse and unique stories to tell.”

The gardens prove to be an ideal setting for telling the stories, with LaJeunesse citing similarities in goals of the gardeners and artists.

“[This work] concerns itself with the aesthetics of structure,” LaJeunesse said. “The gardens offer the same ideas in a different physical manifestation.”

The conceptual unity between the gardens and the art is intentional. Wojtkiewicz said that some of his paintings are of flowers from the gardens and cites Rodney Noble, the executive director of the gardens, in perpetuating the goal of unifying art and nature.

“What he’s trying to do is create this synergistic relationship between the art of landscape, gardening and the visual arts,” Wojtkiewicz said.

To do this, the gardens run several ongoing art exhibits. One notable exhibitor is fellow University graduate Manny Enriquez, who is creating a stone sculpture known as “Flamenco Dancers.”

“The gardens are wonderful,” Enriquez said. “You would have to go to Cleveland or Columbus to find gardens as manicured and as well taken as Schedel.”

Enriquez, who received both his BFA in painting and MFA in sculpture from the University, is known for creating the “Who’s Up?” bronze sculpture at Fifth Third Field in Toledo and the “Metamorphosis” stone sculpture on the University’s campus.

“Most art is a reflection of society,” Enriquez said.

The manner in which art can present messages and reflect its surroundings leads Lewis to reflect on his experience with the University’s School of Fine Arts.

“I feel that too many art schools are pushing students to be creative and forgetting to teach them about their craft,” Lewis said. “If you are using paint to communicate … anything, then paint is your language. The more you know about your language, the more articulate you are in using it.”

Ryan emphasized that his experience at graduate school led him to forge strong professional and personal relationships with professors.

“These relationships can endure far beyond graduation,” Ryan said. “I think this show is a prime example of what can come from the ongoing collaboration that began back in school.”