Keeyla Meadows, Albany, CA

@keeylameadows

“Many areas of my life, from food presentation to a spiritual visualization practice, center on the wonders of plants. My paintings and sculpture result from a dynamic exchange with the garden. I have even composed piano music while observing a photograph of a California redbud.”

KEEYLA MEADOWS Albany, CA

Keeyla Meadows is a painter, sculptor, garden designer, and environmentalist who sees gardens as full-scale works of art that you can walk into and be a part of. Keeyla is a pioneer in weaving the colors of the hardscape materials with the colors of the plants and making painterly expressions. Her gardens in San Francisco’s Bay Area are vibrant in every sense of the word: color is used to invite, delight, and sustain people as well as local pollinators, including “hummers,” bees, and butterflies. Through her practice and her books, Fearless Color Gardens (Timber Press, 2009) and Making Gardens Works of Art (Sasquatch Books, 2002), Keeyla shares her ideas for creating deeply personal gardens, even on a small-scale, by filling the garden “frame” with meaningful and considered detail. These expressive environments incorporate painterly pavings, wavy walls, mosaic benches, sculptures, and lush, colorful plantings. Keeyla has been an Open Days garden host since 2010, is a regional ambassador, and has hosted several Digging Deeper programs, on topics including habitat gardening, fearless color, and situating art in the garden.