Shirley Alexandra Watts is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, studied at the Ecole du Louvre in Paris and Tyler School of Art in Rome. She is principal of sawattsdesign an award winning design build firm that works in gardens all over the Bay Area. With her background in fine arts and nearly twenty years of working in the field she has developed a personal design style using new and salvaged materials, plantsmanship and an ability to bring a surprising element of contemporary culture to a garden. Each project is an individual exploration of people, space and site. Her inspiration touches all elements of gardens from hardscape and layout, to custom furniture and lighting designs. The work has been featured in many publications including Garden Design magazine, Sunset, the SF Chronicle, New Garden Design by Zahid Sardar , the New Low Maintenance Garden by Valerie Easton and Stephen Orr's upcoming book Tomorrow's Garden: Design and Inspiration For a New Age of Sustainable Gardening.