Garden gurus Little and Lewis will their estate

to IslandWood.

Last winter, acclaimed Bainbridge garden artists David Lewis and George Little surprised IslandWood by arranging a bequest to fund an arts endowment for the educational facility’s Artist-in-Residence program.

On Thursday, after a festive fund-raising luncheon, IslandWood Executive Director Ben Klasky turned the tables by announcing that Lewis and Little – the keynote speakers – will be able to help children learn about the arts while still on terra firma.

Some $170,000 to date has been raised to begin the artist-in-residence program that Lewis and Little envisioned would commence only after their deaths.

“It was a total surprise to us,” Lewis said after the luncheon, attended by about 90 people. “When George and I made our bequest, we always wondered how the people at IslandWood would get rid of us. It kind of gives us a little life insurance.

“We believe strongly in the arts and the arts is one of the curricula at IslandWood. The Little and Lewis Artist-In-Residence Fund will allow local artists, statewide artists and national artists to come in and teach the children the beauty of art,” Lewis said.

Lewis called the amount of money raised “incredible” and said he and Little are pleased that they will have the opportunity to watch the endowment grow.

“Particularly special to us is the opportunity for the children to be exposed to the arts,” he said. “In some special way, George and I wanted to offer our help in continuing and strengthening this vital arts education at IslandWood.”

After Lewis and Little told their friends they wanted to start an artists’ fund, “a couple of people came to us and we drafted a letter (to send to more friends),” IslandWood co-founder Debbi Brainerd said. “Now that it’s public, we invite others to join us.”

Art is the essence of Lewis and Little’s lives.

Little, a watercolorist and sculptor, and Lewis, once an archaeological illustrator, work together on almost everything.

Public and private gardens across the country display their paintings, signature water features, pergola columns, fanciful concrete sculptures, mood-enhancing colors and stunning foliage.

They sign both their names to every piece and have garnered international acclaim. Their Wing Point garden-gallery is open by appointment.

“As artists we are always asked to give time or money or art. We figured out a creative way to support something that we so believe in,” Lewis said. “We are leaving some legacy to the community and to IslandWood…and can see it before we go.

“We should be so proud to have this on our island. There’s a soul about the place, from the founders on down.

“If we can just take one of these children and…make an artist instead of another lawyer or doctor, we have done our work.”

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Glorious gardens

David Lewis and George Little’s Garden-Gallery, located on Wing Point Way, is open by appointment only. For reservations, call 842-8327. Their book, “A Garden Gallery: The Plants, Art and Hardscape of Little and Lewis” (Timber Press, $29.95, with photography by islander Barbara Denk) is available in bookstores. For more information, visit www.littleandlewis.com.

For more information about IslandWood, see www.islandwood.org.