Art is recycled, not derivative

The back fence in Corona del Mar resident Claudia Schmutzler’s yard is a living art gallery of staghorn ferns.

The exotic ferns, which don’t require soil and get moisture from the air, explode like pieces of 3-D art from recycled picture frames Schmutzler hung on her fence.

She got the idea after her dog, a springer spaniel named Russell, sniffed out an old picture frame that someone had thrown out in the trash one day.

Since then, she’s hunted down old picture frames at yard sales to add to her collection, or made her own using scraps of wood.

In the landscaping business for more than 10 years, Schmutzler likes to use recycled and found objects in her work. Now she’s started building custom decks and patios.

Schmutzler was in the structural concrete field for 16 years. She helped pour the concrete for the Getty Center in Brentwood before leaving the construction industry and starting her own landscaping business in 1995.

“I was at a crossroads in my life, where I was thinking, ‘Now what am I going to do,’” Schmutzler said.

Schmutzler had always loved gardening. Word of her green thumb spread after she planted a garden for a friend.

Schmutzler’s latest venture is designing custom decks. She hopes to garner interest from people moving to smaller homes in the current rough economic climate.

“Because of the economy, fewer people are planting gardens, but a lot of people are downsizing from their McMansions and want to build decks on their smaller homes,” Schmutzler said.

One of her recent deck projects for a friend in her neighborhood also uses recycled materials. Schmutzler designed the expansive deck with a peek-a-boo ocean view with overhead trellises and built-in seating. She used recycled windows from a house she once owned in Huntington Beach in her design.

The whitewashed windows are suspended from a chain on one side of the deck above a built-in sofa, creating an unusual, floating effect.

Schmutzler also used a recycled material called Trex for the flooring of the deck. Made out of repurposed plastic shopping bags, the material looks like wood. She also used dimmers for lighting on the deck to cut down on energy costs.

“We’ve all got to do our part for the environment,” she said.

Reporter BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.