Pearl Fryar
Encyclopedia
Pearl Fryar is an African-American topiary
artist living in Bishopville, South Carolina
.
Born in Clinton, North Carolina
, Pearl was the son of a sharecropper. Since the early 1980s, Pearl Fryar has been creating fantastic topiary at his garden in Bishopville, South Carolina. Living sculptures, Pearl’s topiaries are astounding feats of artistry and horticulture. Many of the plants in Pearl’s garden were rescued from the compost pile at local nurseries. With Pearl’s patience and skilled hands, these “throw aways” have thrived and have been transformed into wonderful abstract shapes. Pearl Fryar and his garden are now internationally recognized and have been the subject of numerous newspaper and magazine articles, television shows, and even a documentary, A Man Named Pearl. Today, the Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden draws visitors from around the globe.
Visitors to the Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden experience a place that is alternately beautiful, whimsical, educational, and inspiring. Pearl’s garden contains over 300 individual plants, and few are spared from his skilled trimming. His extraordinary topiary is complemented by his “junk art” sculptures placed throughout the garden. Pearl’s garden is a living testament to one man’s firm belief in the results of positive thinking, hard work, and perseverance, and his dedication to spreading a message of “love, peace, and goodwill.”
In 2006, the Friends of Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden and the Garden Conservancy formed a partnership with Pearl Fryar. Through this partnership, they hope to preserve and maintain the Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden and to further Pearl’s message of inspiration and hope.
He is the subject of the 2006 documentary film, A Man Named Pearl.
Topiary
Topiary is the horticultural practice of training live perennial plants, by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, perhaps geometric or fanciful; and the term also refers to plants which have been shaped in this way. It can be...
artist living in Bishopville, South Carolina
Bishopville, South Carolina
Bishopville is a city in Lee County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 3,670 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Lee County.-Geography:Bishopville is located at ....
.
Born in Clinton, North Carolina
Clinton, North Carolina
Clinton is the county seat of Sampson County, North Carolina, United States. The population of Clinton is 8,639 according to the 2010 US Census. Clinton is named for American Revolution General Richard Clinton.-History:...
, Pearl was the son of a sharecropper. Since the early 1980s, Pearl Fryar has been creating fantastic topiary at his garden in Bishopville, South Carolina. Living sculptures, Pearl’s topiaries are astounding feats of artistry and horticulture. Many of the plants in Pearl’s garden were rescued from the compost pile at local nurseries. With Pearl’s patience and skilled hands, these “throw aways” have thrived and have been transformed into wonderful abstract shapes. Pearl Fryar and his garden are now internationally recognized and have been the subject of numerous newspaper and magazine articles, television shows, and even a documentary, A Man Named Pearl. Today, the Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden draws visitors from around the globe.
Visitors to the Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden experience a place that is alternately beautiful, whimsical, educational, and inspiring. Pearl’s garden contains over 300 individual plants, and few are spared from his skilled trimming. His extraordinary topiary is complemented by his “junk art” sculptures placed throughout the garden. Pearl’s garden is a living testament to one man’s firm belief in the results of positive thinking, hard work, and perseverance, and his dedication to spreading a message of “love, peace, and goodwill.”
In 2006, the Friends of Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden and the Garden Conservancy formed a partnership with Pearl Fryar. Through this partnership, they hope to preserve and maintain the Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden and to further Pearl’s message of inspiration and hope.
He is the subject of the 2006 documentary film, A Man Named Pearl.
External links
- The Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden - official site
- Official movie site, A Man Named Pearl
- The Garden Conservancy, a national, nonprofit organization founded in 1989 to preserve exceptional American gardens for public education and enjoyment, has designated Mr. Fryar's garden as a Preservation Project.
- Aug 1, 2008 Wall Street Journal article on Mr. Fryar and his work
- July 24, 2008 LA Times article: "Pearl Fryar, Topiary Hero"
- A weblog, The Human Flower Project, is an international newsgroup, photo album, and discussion of humankind’s relationship with the floral world. They have a rather lengthy article on Fryar with photos.
- article with photos of some of Fryar's work