Unique garden gifts: Ceramic Fish add artistic touch to any space

There’s no reason not to have Fish In The Garden, thanks to ceramic artist extraordinaire Tyson M. Weiss.

Whether you have a pond stocked with koi or not, there’s always room for these impressive, artistic fish in a multitude of colours. I’ve admired this unique form of garden art since the first time I saw a picture of them and always wondered where they would look best in my garden.

The simple answer: Almost anywhere and everywhere.

These exquisite ceramic fish, in a multitude of colours and sizes, bring your garden to life as schools roam through ornamental grasses, ferns, mosses and flowers bringing a sense of movement to the garden. Groupings of three, five, nine … weave between moss-covered rocks in the Japanese-inspired garden and can remain there throughout the winter months bringing colour and style year round. They are at home in any garden – running up a dry river bed, rising just above a pond or even submerged to create the illusion of real Koi in a pond devoid of fish.

A school of fish wander through the garden over sedum around a birch clump and through the ornamental Japanese blood grasses creating movement and a sense of style in the garden.

This school of cobalt-coloured fish swim through the ferns and grasses of our Japanese-inspired garden creating a flow down a small hill and around a moss-covered boulder.

Tyson refers to the “flow” created by the schools of fish as a “fluid aesthetic” created by the curves of the swimming fish as they “move” as one through a garden.

“With the multiples, we can create these curves, and with those curves, (the fish) can curve in response to an element of the landscape,” he explained in a 2012 article in the Portland Press Herald. “Around a rock, and then curve back this way around a tree, so it fits. No garden gnome or concrete bunny rabbit will ever have context like that.”

In fact, by creating schools of fish, he explains in the article, it’s possible to “perfectly match the shapes of diverse landscapes and architectural elements. Channel the fish around a rock, through plantings and back out again. Our sculptures — brushes, if you will — bring out the artist in every gardener.”

Sharing this creative process with gardeners is, without a doubt, one of the greatest benefits of his inspirational garden art.

“Our sculptures are exquisitely crafted of a variety of high‐quality materials. They are moderately priced, somewhat above low‐end polymers and plasters, and well below expensive garden sculptures of stone and metals,” Tyson explains. “They’re even more affordable than some small shrubs and trees.”

Tyson explains that every component in the “school” reflects the hand of the artist.

“The sculptures are hand‐sculpted detail and hand‐painted. No two are exactly alike. Ten years of experience has evolved a proprietary process to meet high demand and yet preserve our founding vision. There is no mass production.”

How to place the Fish In The Garden

Unlike most garden art, where homeowners are left with only the decision of where best to place it, Tyson’s ceramic fish provide gardeners with a multitude of artistic decisions ranging from where to place the school, how many fish should be included and how to organize them for best aesthetic value. This process is, in itself, both artistic and immensely satisfying when done well.

But even when it doesn’t work as well as you hoped, it’s easily changed.

Did I say the entire experience is more fun and certainly easier than planting a new garden bed or large container. Take my word for it, whether you consider yourself creative or not, experimenting with these schools of fish might be the most fun you’ve had in the garden in years.

If you are unsure about how to place the fish in your garden creatively, Tyson’s informative website at Fish In The Garden includes several videos providing examples on how to best creatively place the fish in your garden.

The impressive site provides complete details on what styles of fish are available, how to order them, prices and other details about his artistic ceramic fish. (For details on his colourful Koi ceramic fish go here.)

The smaller ceramic fish are perfect for container plantings. Here, three work their way around Northern Sea Grass and petunias in one of our window boxes.

Can I give Fish In The Garden as a gift?

For those who might want to give the fish as unique gifts to gardening friends and family, there are even gift cards available to purchase on the site that can be sent directly to the recipient. (Information on the gift cards is available here on his website.)

The fish are the perfect gift for homeowners, especially those who appreciate the artistic whimsy that the fish can provide. These schools of art look just as much at home in a woodland garden as they would in a small, contemporary urban garden. In fact, the splash of colour that the more colourful koi provide, might just be the punch of colour to take the small urban garden to new heights.

And, by ordering the gifts from Tyson’s website, the fish can be delivered directly to you or the recipient of the gift wherever they choose to garden. The perfect gift for a friend or family member who lives in a different country, state/province or far off city.

Fish In The Garden can be shipped worldwide

Tyson is quick to point out that they can ship to virtually any address in the world, adding that that there are restrictions on some products, and some products cannot be shipped to international destinations.

The enjoyment homeowners get from having the fish in the garden, however, does not compare with the enjoyment Tyson gets from knowing his artwork is gracing gardens in his hometown of Falmouth, Maine and in gardens around the world.

“I love it. I invented something that makes people really happy that could last indefinitely,” he says. “If you read the reviews online there are SO many stories of people meeting their neighbors and making new friends over passersby seeing these fish and asking about them.” he explains in an email to Ferns & Feathers.

“There was a long stretch where most people didn’t get it at all because there was nothing like it out there,” Tyson explains.

“The early adopters were the landscape architects, interior designers, art gallery owners: People who were both intelligent and creative that had an eye for something new. Now that people have seen them in so many shops, botanical gardens, private homes, magazine articles, social media awareness of this new idea is spreading a lot faster.”

To say his fish have made an impact worldwide is an understatement.

“Last week we shipped four orders to Australia. I've shipped to Ireland, England, Germany, Switzerland… Singapore…. Lots of people from abroad have bought them in gift shops and carried or shipped them home,” Tyson explains.

And if that is not enough, his fish are even likely gracing the home of a former American president.

“Last year a gift shop owner in Florida told me (former president) George Bush Jr. and his wife, Laura, came in and bought a bunch of fish,” Tyson writes.

Now that’s something to get excited about.

To say his clients are impressed with his work, is an understatement.

He recalls one woman who purchased 90 of his fish to give as gifts to her family.

His website is full of clients proclaiming their love for the garden art and the joy the fish have brought to them. One of his clients writes about their experience on his website:

“I had recently expanded a patch of ornamental garden this year with a Japanese theme, using traditional plants, and was searching for the most perfect and unique ornaments to add other than the typical “Buddahs” and “pagodas,” water basins and fountains that you can find anywhere,” writes one gardener.

“These fish are perfect! It looks so magical to see my koi “swimming” through my garden and have gotten many compliments on how unique and “clever” they are. If you want that little “extra” that sets your landscaping apart from your neighbors and friends... you need these fish! I am completely happy when I see them and I will most definitely be purchasing more to increase my “school.”

A grouping of fish look as good on boulders as they do in garden greenery.

Fish placement in our garden

In my garden, different schools of fish move from the front to the back gardens depending on my mood.

In the Japanese-inspired garden, a school of fish swim around our elegant ghost fern, down a small hill heading for a moss-covered rock. By adding a few more fish, the school travels past the rock over the mossy ground creating a natural curve as they head for the safety of a massive boulder.

A few small changes and the school is off in a completely different direction.

Changing the design involves nothing more than pushing a metal stake (provided with each order) into the ground.

Not far from the Japanese garden, a school of three small fish swim through the colourful and lush planting of our window box providing a little whimsy for garden visitors and one that can be seen from both outside and inside our home.

Even a single fish in the widow box or in a small container works well to add a touch of colour. They would look as good in a container on a garden patio as they would on a balcony overlooking a skyline 20-storeys high.

In the backyard, a larger school of fish work their way up past the dry river bed, over the sedum, through the blood grass and around one of our birch tree clumps. Their presence contributes to the feeling of movement in the garden. Just down along the river’s bank, a small group of fish peek out from the tall stems of native obedient plant looking to join the larger school.

In another area, I move a group of three fish to see how they look hiding in the fountain grass and provide visitors with an unexpected surprise as they walk out into the woodland garden.

As the seasons change, so too do my artistic opportunities to move the schools of fish throughout the garden.

So much fun.

No amount of traditional garden art will provide so many creative possibilities and opportunities to play with natural design in our gardens.

Certainly none will provide the same natural movement that Tyson’s fish create. Nor will they work so seamlessly into the natural landscape quite the way the fish organically fit naturally in the garden.

A single fish adds a splash of colour as it swims above the plants in the patio container water garden. It would look just as good in a window box 20-storeys up overlooking a city skyline.

What makes this garden art so special?

• The fish can stay outdoors in any climate, including freezing Maine or Canadian winters.

• The fish are in gardens from Alaska to Arizona

• They will not break in the cold or fade in the sunlight

• All fish come complete with a rod for placing them at the proper height in the garden

• They come in a tail left and tail right design. Schools of the fish look best (natural) with both tail directions being used to create flow

• The fish can be submerged in water for stunningly realistic results or simply to add to an existing stock of real pond fish.

Fish bring Woodland garden to life

For woodland gardeners, the schools of fish provide a multitude of opportunities to not only add a natural artistic element to our gardens, they are so easy to move around the gardens that they create changing possibilities throughout the seasons

These fish form the perfect garden art that so many of us have been searching for to bring our gardens to life in a stylish, yet subtle and convincing natural way.

Display ideas for Fish In The Garden in your Home and Garden

In the Garden:

Use schools of fish swimming among ornamental grasses and allow the grasses to hide parts of the fish for a truly natural look. Let your visitors discover them as they stroll through and around your garden.

• Place the fish among your ground covers to add interest and create the illusion that the ground cover is the sea floor and the fish are floating just above it.

• Place the smaller fish in window boxes and patio planters for year-round interest

• Bring your dry river beds to life with a school of large trout or koi running up through it around driftwood and boulders.

• Use the fish on a stone wall, large boulders or fountains and even in bird baths and on patio tables

• Incorporate the fish in your man-made ponds either swimming above the water or submerged with real fish.

In the Home:

• The fish look just as good in the home as a splash of colour for shelves, sitting on a table, on a fireplace mantle or even used much as they would in the garden but in house plants such as ferns, string of pearls and other exotics.

Use the fish in the garden throughout the spring, summer and fall months, but get the most out of them by bringing them indoors for inspirational decorating throughout the winter months

A school of fish make their way through our Japanese-inspired garden.

Garden fish idea hatched out of economic downturn

Although the idea to create artistic ceramic fish was hatched out of necessity, their birth was never guaranteed.

In fact, their creation was a 10-year process of trial and error that started with simple sketches on a notebook and grew over time to what they are today.

It was a long, arduous journey for Tyson and his fish with many iterations of the art form.

The idea of Fish In The Garden actually had its roots in 1998 when Tyson took a pottery class at Unity College, America’s Environmental College.

The teacher encouraged students to keep a notebook of their ideas to use as a building block and reminder for potential projects. That notebook – which he still has – filled with scribbles and photos and sketches including rough initial illustrations of his fish, was eventually the catalyst that led to the development of his art work.

But before that, Tyson had to deal with the necessities of life and started a successful landscaping business.

In 2008, after operating the landscaping company for ten years, and with an economy on the downside, Tyson decided it was time to make changes in his life.

The years of working in landscaping and experiencing gardens either devoid of, or lacking appropriate garden art at reasonable prices, convinced him to go back to the drawing board to further refine his ceramic fish and work on them until he was able to get his creations to look the way he wanted.

Tyson returned to an earlier version of the fish in his studio – a smaller, thinner fish that gardeners could manoeuvre to angle up or down.

Unique garden art discovered at first show in 2008

Everything changed in January 2008, when Tyson did his first show at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.

Landscape architects, garden store owners, even interior designers took notice of his artistic creations that found a place both in the garden and in the home on fireplace mantels and coffee tables. By the end of the next year, orders poured in forcing Tyson to begin considering alternate ways to create the highly-sought after fish.

It was around that time that he also decided he needed a new work space to help make creating his artwork a little easier.

“Several years ago I bought a dairy farm because the “barn” was a heated and insulated 4,000-square-foot space with running water. It took 2 months of carpenters working 7 days a week and $70k to get it where it is today. My house is 50 feet away. Its a nice spot, 20 acres of pasture and no neighbors.”

Up until then, each fish was made by hand and demand was beginning to outstrip his ability to create the fish. Creating twenty fish during a 50-hour work week, wasn’t going to cut it.

Creating the ceramic fish, made from sturdy stoneware clay fired to around 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit, can take up to two weeks. This process enables the ceramics to withstand extreme temperatures from severe heat to even the coldest climates.

But success was not guaranteed and the work needed to create the pieces of art was never easy.

“It is a very hands on process. Now we are casting them from molds made of my originals. It’s very labor intensive. The mold that makes the large fish weighs 90lbs. And 1 in 10 of all the fish breaks in the process, usually before the first firing when the clay is very brittle,” Tyson explains.

Looking back on his plan to create a successful company, Tyson told his former alma mater Unity College: “Business isn’t about being impulsive or emotional. It’s research and planning and bringing your idea to a place where it mirrors the vision in your head. If that means making a bazillion fish to get it right, that’s what you have to do.”

To see a YouTube video of Tyson in action check out this informative 2016 video from WMTW of Maine here.

The fish and the Pandemic

Like many companies, the pandemic hit the on-line sales of his artistic fish. Tyson is not one to dwell on negatives and says the pandemic has been difficult, but came with both a downside and upside for his business.

“I’d say it evened out” he explains. “Our Spring trade shows in Atlanta, Orlando, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Seattle, San Francisco and Boston were a disaster. But then during the whole lockdown people were gardening and ordering things online, and using social media like never before so that offset the early losses.”

For instance, he explains in the email: “The Northwest flower Show opened on a Wednesday. On Thursday the fist case of Covid in the USA was announced… In Washington State. LOL! And I was happy about the lockdown and ‘compromised’ Trade show series.

“In April 2020, I remember working at ‘the farm’ on a granite retaining wall, listening to the peepers as the sunset light filtered through the pines to the west, sipping cheap box wine in 50F degree ‘hoodie’ weather, no bugs out yet, no iPhone to distract me. It was the happiest I’ve been in many Years.”

There is no denying the fall in sales, however.

“Pre pandemic we were at 1,000 fish per week,” he explains. “Now I think we are half that. Most likely 500 per week. Ninety per cent of this is to garden centers, art galleries, gift shop and botanical gardens that resell them.” he explains. “It’s basically a non-profit.”

But he is not letting this latest pitfall stop him from moving forward, and he hopes to use the slowdown as an opportunity to help others who are less fortunate or struggling in these difficult times.

“Soon I’ll go back to making one of a kind originals that are numbered and signed. I want to sell them for $1,000 a piece, but the client has to make a $1,000 donation to one of 5 charities I choose ( veterans, cancer research, conservation, feeding the homeless etc) and then I’ll make them a fish that comes with a letter of providence and everything. The goal is to make 1,000 fish and in doing so have raised $1,000,000 for good causes. I call it 1,000 for 1,000. There’s a wall in the studio where I plan to hang up all the receipts from the donations.”

What’s in store for the future?

I asked Tyson if he has plans for any new ideas for the future – new designs, colours and fish styles maybe?

“Oh yes,” he says enthusiastically. “There’s 10 other businesses I want to start, all of which offer new, colourful totally unique and creative items, but I need to stay focused on the fish for now. I’m already being copied many times over so I can’t say a lot about what lies ahead, but its going to be EPIC!!!!

Why the fish as garden art are so unique

• The schools of fish bring a fluid aesthetic to any garden space. Where there is no water they imply water.

• The more fish you have in a school the better it looks

• The fish can help to bring year-round colour to your garden space

• They provide the perfect focal point in the garden even when there are no colourful plants

• Consider creating a school that represents your family with large and smaller fish

Using Kintsugi to repair broken ceramic fish

Tyson is the first to point out his ceramic fish are tough. Leave them out in freezing temperatures, or let them bask in the Arizona sun. Either way these fish can stand up to a lot more than you might think.

But accidents do happen.

I was lucky enough to receive almost a dozen fish to create schools to photograph in my garden.

Only one of the fish that arrived via regular post in the large box was broken. I decided it was the perfect opportunity to experiment with the ancient art of Kintsugi to repair the broken ceramic.

First, let’s say this was my first attempt at Kintsugi and I am sure the masters are cringing at the result. For my purposes, however, I am more than satisfied with the results.

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold — built on the idea that in embracing flaws and imperfections, you can create an even stronger, more beautiful piece of art.

I have to admit that the finished result looks totally appropriate in our Japanese-inspired garden.

Ceramic repair was simple

The break was clean so I knew the repair would be relatively easy
After researching the best glue for ceramics, I chose Gorilla Glue known to hold up well both indoors and outdoors in severe weather.
The glue calls for a clean damp surface for ceramic.
After applying a moist towel to the broken ceramic edge, I added a thin line of glue to both sides of the broken ceramic fish. (Directions state to use only a little glue to keep it from spilling out the sides and messing up the repair. I used a small amount but it still spilled out the sides a little. I was not concerned, however, knowing that I was going to use gold paint to cover the repair.)
The glue calls for clamping down the repaired object for up to two hours to allow for proper curing of the glue. Without the proper clamp, I decided to hold it for an hour until the glue dried.
With the fish repaired, I let it cure for a couple of days prior to painting the crack with a thin layer of gold-leaf paint purchased from a local arts and craft store.

The finished result adds a lovely artistic touch to an already beautifully finished piece of ceramic and allows the fish to once again take its place in our garden.

And example of Tyson’s metal Fish In The Garden adding an artistic element to a cedar shake wall.

Steel Fish In The Garden offer another option

In addition to the ceramic fish, Tyson offers a beautiful line of stainless steel fish on his website that are certainly worth checking out.

The metal fish can either be used in the garden much like the ceramic fish, or mounted to a wall as artwork. (Check out the website here to see them used in the garden.) They appeal to a different group of people and work well in the garden as well as in the home.

Tyson explains that the metal fish are made with heavy–gauge and hand–cut stainless steel that weathers the elements beautifully. In the summer, they shimmer with life and, in the winter, they form an organic partnership with the snow and ice.

“The steel people are drawn right to the steel fish,” Weiss said. “They don’t see the clay fish, and they don’t ask about them. And vice versa. So by doing the steel, I hit on this whole other customer, which tends to be more men.”

Fish In The Garden: Style, movement and a touch of whimsy