Showing posts with label #NYBG. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #NYBG. Show all posts

Sunday, October 2, 2022

Mums the Word: NYBG Kiku Chrysanthemum Art Celebrates Japanese Royalty; Kiku Cocktail Garden-to-Glass Garnish!

 A cascading display of pink and white chrysanthemums in an ozukuri display.

Don’t you love Kiku?  It’s even fun to just say it: Kiku, Kiku, Kiku! 

Kiku is, in fact, the Japanese word for “chrysanthemum” ~ the most celebrated of all Japanese fall-flowering plants. 

For me? I so often “rescue” chrysanthemums from suburban cast-offs left on the street for pick up near our country house and guess what? They rebloom gloriously.  The variety of colors and bloom types are a perfect way to mark the season.

I also feature the blossoms as a pretty Garden-to-Glass, Kiku Cocktail Garnish! 

But for the real chrysanthemum art, running now, is The New York Botanical Garden’s unforgettable presentation of Kiku, painstakingly trained to grow in a mesmerizing variety of forms and sizes, that pays homage to hanami, the traditional Japanese custom of enjoying the ephemeral beauty of flowers.


Saturday, April 13, 2019

Garden Delights at NY Botanical Garden’s Antique Furniture & Plant Sale


This is one of my most favorite events of the year: The Annual New York Botanical Garden’s (NYBG) Antique Furniture & Plant Sale.

It’s an intimate affair, with incredible - and often rare - plants, garden furniture, and accessories - some whimsical, to inspire your garden designs.

Plus there’s always garden royalty and horticulture stars sparkling the tented aisles.

So with a glass of champagne, much “green” bonhomie, you walk the show.
Better Homes & Gardens, Editor in Chief & VP Editorial Director, Meredith (R) w husband Chad, (C) & Hudson Valley friend -- I can't remember name - please forgive me!!  
Left to Right: Charles Yurgalevitch, Director SoPH NYBG, Angie Lambert, Photographer/Storyteller, Louis Bauer, Sr. Dir. Horticulture, Wave Hill, Marco Polo Stefano, founding Dr. of Horticulture, Wave Hill & Hort Hero
Not a Green Thumb!  See, even Hort Legends like Marco Polo Stefano fall prey to plant power. Ha... 

NYBG CEO & President, Carrie Rebora Barratt, always a fashion force was wearing Gary Graham, greeting guests at the Fair
Marc Hachadourian, NYBG’s Director of Glasshouse Horticulture and Senior Curator of Orchids - & soon-to-be-published author of Orchid Modern

Barbara Frelinghuysen Israel - who shows her exquisite antiques every year
Sigourney Weaver - is also an NYBG Board of Trustee member. Love her Garden voice ads -- & support - & that gorgeous green coat...
You shop the Fair’s exquisite selection of fine antiques and garden furniture, and enjoy a fabulous Silent Auction, plus music, signature cocktails, and light fare.

Festivities began with the curated collection of rare and exotic garden plants hand-picked by NYBG’s horticultural staff, who were on hand to advise on the best selections for your home and garden.



Annual early-bird shoppers at the Plant Sale include those passionate plant lovers: Martha Stewart and Bette Midler - (just to name drop some of the more illustrious Fair attendees.)

According to NYBG: “Exciting varieties of spring-blooming trees and shrubs, including cherry, magnolia, serviceberry, dogwood, lilac, deutzia, heath, and azalea… all be on display, as well as a cheerful selection of early blooming herbaceous perennials and woodland ephemerals.

Collectors… could choose from “modern introductions of classic garden favorites such as hydrangea, dahlia, roses, and rhododendrons, alongside unique ornamental conifers.” There were many NYBG Grown selections. The Garden’s curators were on hand to “highlight some of their favorite hard-to-find garden gems, from rare Rock Garden lovelies to some truly bold glasshouse surprises.” Most were sold out by the first hour; the School of Professional Horticulture Students (SoPH) helped buyers get their new collector’s items to their transport.

There was also a Silent Auction featuring a selection of outstanding items to bid on. It’s possible there are still some items you can contact Heather at: hgries@nybg.org - speaking for myself, I’d love to see that Munder Skiles Xylo arm chair in my garden terrace or at one of my clients.

Here are a few highlights of the furniture and accessories I was attracted to. I was also keeping my eyes peeled for some things to put on pedestals, for a friend and garden client so you’ll see more of those looks, perhaps.


I loved these mermaid follies - I can see the ladies in languid repose in a garden by the sea or near a lovely pool:


These were a curiosity. They reminded me of some pieces (new) I saw from Opiary at the Architectural Digest Show.

And these regal Sphinx were commanding. Maybe at your driveway entrance or to mark a stair to a secret garden?

Maybe the ultimate in a folly is this life-sized (for me) statue of Peter Pan and Tinkerbell to bring out the fantasy…
So fun!

You can never have enough garden sprites or cherubs!


Topiaries are so glamorous - especially when set off by such elegant urns and containers:
I saw lovely white garden furniture and accessories. To my eye, white is like a crisp white linen shirt -- accenting the green of the garden and the blue sky - perfect for a moon garden room, too.



Did you say accessories? Finials and garden border markers that make you notice - add the details that really style your garden room:

I saw more mid-century items this year - from bar carts to outdoor furniture. I think it parallels the increase in mid-century gardens I’m hearing clients increasingly ask for:

I enjoy the attendees' utter delight in seeing such gorgeous items -- and I am always impressed with the subdued yet frenzied buying:



The Garden is offering a full schedule for the Garden Furniture & Antiques Fair weekend. Check the website for details.
You can expect to enjoy the “nation’s leading dealers offering classic furniture and fine antiques—some with a modern twist, both elegant and fanciful.

You can also indulge in this year’s exquisite Orchid Show: Singapore, also on view, and take advantage of expert-led orchid care demonstrations.

I couldn’t resist walking the Orchid Show yet again (I covered the opening in this post: The Seductive Orchid Show at NYBG

The show is extraordinary at night! So ethereal. Be sure to visit both day and night - and enjoy the special Orchid cocktail evenings - if you can get your hands on the usually sold-out tickets for this magical experience. So romantic…

   
A preview of the acclaimed NYBG Farmers Market on Saturday and Sunday and live musical entertainment round out this perfect spring weekend.
The featured designers at NYBG’s Garden Furniture & Antiques Fair were the Brooklyn-based, dynamic trio from Manscapers, the exterior design and high-end landscaping firm on the hit Bravo TV show Backyard Envy. Finally, a garden show about garden design and plants (and not a focus on real estate.
   
Garrett Magee, James DeSantis, and Melissa Brasier created an organic, site-specific installation as the Fair’s centerpiece. It was very pretty / very transporting…
Garrett and James will also be on hand on Saturday and Sunday from 12:30 to 2 p.m. so you’ll get to meet these green TV stars, first-hand.

“Mirror, Mirror on the Wall” -- With the last of my iphone battery, I couldn’t resist this mirror - It reminded me of a fabulous garden mirror I bought years ago - and gave to a sister.

According to NYBG, “All proceeds from the Preview Party & Collectors’ Plant Sale benefit NYBG’s Fund for Horticulture, directly supporting the work of the curators and gardeners who are responsible for making The New York Botanical Garden—a major educational institution and a renowned plant research and conservation organization—one of the grandest horticultural showplaces.” So there you have it, you can enjoy a rare exhibit - and a clutch of garden shows and classes - not to mention the Garden in spring - while you’re doing good.

Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Paradise Garden: Georgia O’Keeffe’s Visions of Hawai’i on Display at NYBG for the 1st Time in NYC since 1940




What an epic story. Imagine thrilling plant explorations. Art - nearly 20 paintings not seen together in New York since their 1940 Debut. History. Exotic locale. Botany. Gardens. Endangered flora. Plus, a memorable denouement.

Georgia O’Keeffe may have spent only nine weeks immersed in the Hawaiian Islands in order to produce two images for a Hawaiian Pineapple Company promotional campaign - Dole - but it took many years to put together this extravaganza at The New York Botanical Garden, opening Saturday.

The New York Botanical Garden’s secret sauce for producing compelling, comprehensive events that celebrate the relationship and crossroads of fine art and nature (Kahlo, Manet & more) may have reached its zenith in the Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawai‘i show that opens May 19th and runs through October 28th.


This show is worth at least a two-day exploration because there is so much to see and experience. Yet, while the show is outsize the experience is an intimate one. When you enter the Gallery to see the 20 framed paintings hanging there, it’s exciting to consider that this is the first time this little known body of work is even on display.
It’s a jewel box of botanic art.

At the press preview, we were told the show was most likely sparked by a November 2012 feature in The New York Times that detailed the story behind O’Keeffe’s unlikely sojourn to Hawaii and her artful plant paintings as a result of an equally unlikely commercial commission.

A more recent March feature in The New York Times that I well remember as provocative reading, could’ve only amplified the Garden’s resolve to showcase the urgent need to sustainably manage threatened and endangered species. The article reported that out of the 1,280 endangered animals and plants recognized by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, 557 are in Hawaii. Conservationists have called it the “extinction capital of the world”. The show highlights the importance of plants in Hawaiian culture and the threat the native species face today.

Visions of Hawai’i focuses on the iconic artist’s immersion in the Hawaiian Islands in 1939, evoking the Hawaiian gardens and landscapes that inspired O’Keeffe. And just as O’Keeffe often painted elements as she imagined or saw them -- adding in elements - so too does the NYBG team employ their artful botanical and horticultural expertise to present an extremely lush flower show; exquisitely curated in the Garden’s Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.
 

The walk through the long borders of the Conservatory showcases the remarkable beauty and richness of Hawai‘i’s wild and cultivated flora.



The Hawaiian Paradise Garden is a “starting off or jumping off point” featuring plantings designed by the inimitable Francisca Coelho, former NYBG Vice President for Glasshouses and Exhibitions where she designed and installed the major flower exhibitions in the Conservatory. I believe this is Coelho’s first show since she “retired” from the Garden.

Her touch is evident throughout the exhibit.

The curated plant display is masterfully presented and inspired by O’Keeffes letters to her husband, world-famous photographer, Alfred Stieglitz, charting the chronology of her Hawaii adventure.



There are three flora presented in the show:
  • Native Flora: of the more than 1,200 Native Hawaiian species, 90% are endangered and/or threatened 
  • Canoe Plants: Cultivated plants that made their way to the archipelago more than 1,500 years ago by the Polynesians, including Bread Fruit, Cordyline, and sugar cane
  • Modern Introductions: Plants that arrived with (white) settlers from the late 18th Century for agriculture and ornamentation. 
It’s interesting to learn that many of the plants had to be grown by NYBG, some were grown by others to the Garden’s specifications, while many more were loaned by other botanical gardens.



The colorful tropical garden plants on display there reflect those those Georgia O’Keeffe encountered and painted while in Hawai‘i including: ti plant, frangipani, bougainvillea, heliconia, hibiscus, bird-of-paradise, ginger, and many more tropical favorites.
Pineapple plant. Photo: courtesy Carolyn Campo
 



Coelho’s plant list contains more than 300 types of plants for the exhibition.

This is an inspired introduction to the profound importance of plants in Hawaiian culture.

During our overview, we watched the newly produced video for the show where Georgia writes to her husband how overwhelmed she is by the welcome necklace of flowers - the lei; she describes the astonishing presentation in fastidios floral detail.

Starting in June the outdoor Conservatory Courtyards will showcase a wide variety of Hawaiian plants in beautiful potted and ground-level trough displays.

Pineapples and bananas, among other favorites, will be on view in the Central Courtyard, while hundreds of hibiscus, as well as gardenia and bougainvillea, will fill the Hardy Courtyard - especially a variety of the Hawaiian state flower: Yellow Hibiscus, hibiscus brackenridgei.

Because the brackenridgei is so very imperiled and endangered it cannot be taken across state lines, so you will see the Chinese or “resort” hibiscus, according to Todd Forrest, Vice President, Arthur Ross Vice President for Horticulture and Living Collections.



The set pieces in the Conservatory are designed by Tony Award-winning scenic designer Scott Pask. Beyond the borders, planting beds arranged around an open-sided, thatched-roof pavilion inspired by a traditional Hawaiian hale designed by Pask, tell the story of the canoe plants—those useful plants brought to the Islands more than 1,000 years ago by Polynesian settlers.



Vignettes featuring native Hawaiian plants will teach visitors about modern efforts to preserve Hawai‘i’s imperiled flora, according to NYBG.



O’Keeffe wrote during her visit to Hawaii: “My idea of nature has not been beautiful enough.”
How sweet and authentic is that?

Her immersive works evoking the gardens and landscape of the Aloha state clearly mark her desire to honor and capture that distant beauty and her acclaimed “sense of place.”



Let’s see if I can break down the show into doable categories that will help make it easier to understand and visit because there’s just so much to take in at this epic show.

Botanical Art: In addition to the gardens and landscape art that evoke the spirit of Hawaii already noted, there are a series of outdoor sculptural art installations, designed by contemporary Hawaiian-Chinese sculptor Mark Chai, and fabricated to his exacting specifications in Brooklyn. Mr. Chai and his beautiful wife and manager Makana, were on-site at the preview.


Chai’s outdoor installations are inspired by the forms of the plants that O’Keeffe encountered while visiting Hawai‘i are on view in the Garden. The 13-foot stainless steel sculpture in the reflecting pool near the Leon Levy Visitor Center was inspired by the Heliconia plant.

In addition, the 12 wooden lanterns hanging and illuminated at night, along Garden Way, for evening events celebrate the Hawaiian canoe plants: Kukui (candlenut), Ulu (breadfruit), Ipu (gourd), Awaphuki (ginger), Ohi a ‘Ai (mountain apple), and Hala (screwpine).

O’Keeffe Fine Art: Because this is the first time these paintings are on view in New York -- not seen together here since their 1940 debut, this is a marked occasion for O’Keeffe enthusiasts. Her works depicting Hawaiian subjects garnered critical and popular attention when they were exhibited in 1940 at An American Place, the gallery of her husband, famed photographer Alfred E Stieglitz.

Entering the rotunda leading into the LuEsther T. Mertz Library Art Gallery there are four oversize images of some of her snapshots anchored on giant panels:

Seascapes, Sugar Cane Fields, a Morning Glory, and Lava.


There is also a digitized version of her sketchbook to indulge in.



All the works - 20 in total - were created in 1939 and include:

Heliconia:

Crab’s Claw Ginger (plant depicted is actually a “lobster claw” heliconia)

Pineapple Bud (both of which were used in the (Dole) Hawaiian Pineapple Company’s advertisements and which are held today in private collections.



Hibiscus with Plumeria (loaned by the Smithsonian American Art Museum); and a series of landscape paintings depicting Maui’s interior ‘Īao Valley and lava-studded shorelines (loaned by the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, and a private collector).

The exhibition spotlights a transformative experience in the legendary artist’s life, revealing O’Keeffe’s deeply felt impressions and the enduring influence of the Islands’ rugged topography, dramatic landscapes, and exotic plants.

You cannot miss these feminine, evocative, and really - never-before-seen paintings.




Working together with the Garden’s Curator, Joanna Groarke, the fine art gallery show was curated by art historian Theresa Papanikolas, Ph.D., Deputy Director of Art and Programs and Curator of European and American Art at the Honolulu Museum of Art, the exhibition features these 20 O’Keeffe depictions of Hawai‘i.

In addition, the Garden has published “Georgia O’Keeffe Visions of Hawai’i” landmark volume book, available now in the Shop or online. The fully illustrated exhibition catalog explores this little-known chapter in the artist’s career. It’s a an equally luscious introspective into not only O’Keeffe but the Hawaii of that period. It’s a hardcover coffee table book that beautifully contextualizes the exhibit and explores the pop culture of the time as it relates to Hawaii.



Visitors of all ages will learn about Hawai‘i through complementary events and programs, including a scholarly symposium, an original short film, a film series, and the Interactive Mobile Guide.

A brief backdrop -- In 1939, at the age of 51 (probably kind of “old” in those days), O’Keeffe traveled on the aforementioned commission to Hawai‘i to produce images for the Hawaiian Pineapple Company promotional campaign. Her nine weeks on O‘ahu, Maui, Kaua‘i, and the Big Island of Hawai‘i resulted in stunning depictions of mountains and waterfalls as well as her signature close-cropped views of flowers and plants she observed there.

“Many things are so beautiful they don’t seem real,” she wrote.
At the time of her trip, O’Keeffe was among the most famous artists in the United States, best known for her depictions of the stark landscape and desert flora of her beloved New Mexico.

In the video documentary, you see newspaper headlines of the time, heralding her arrival to Hawaii. We were told that she was whisked into the Island’s High Society, she took took to wearing mumus.
At one point, she was a guest of Willis Jennings on his Hana plantation, where his daughter Patricia took to driving around O’Keeffe. Along with her own motor excursions, the artist painted quickly; often working right in the car.

The curators pointed out the sense of immediacy, brush strokes and liveliness in the paintings.



NYBG offers a rare opportunity to view the O’Keeffe advertising images as seen in the “Woman’s Home Companion” magazine - an example of the many media where her ad art appeared.



Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawai‘i explores this lesser-known chapter in her career, the enduring cultural impact of mid-century perceptions of Hawai‘i, and the natural history of the Hawaiian Islands—one of the most ecologically diverse places on Earth—hidden behind O’Keeffe’s depictions.

A Poetry Tour, organized in partnership with the Poetry Society of America, explores the relationship between nature and people in the Hawaiian Islands. The Tour highlights the work of contemporary poets in Hawai‘i, including former U.S. Poet Laureate W.S. Merwin.

Elsewhere in the Garden - in the Britton Rotunda, an original short film entitled “Off in the Far Away Somewhere: Georgia O’Keeffe’s Letters from Hawai‘i—narrated by Academy Award-nominee and NYBG Trustee Sigourney Weaver—features excerpts from O’Keeffe’s personal letters to her husband, famed photographer Alfred Stieglitz, written during her journey to and around the Hawaiian Islands.



The Britton Gallery features Flora Hawaiiensis: Plants of Hawai‘i, tracing the history of Hawai‘i’s flora, from unusual native plants, to those valued by the ancient Hawaiians, to the ornamental and agricultural plants O’Keeffe painted.



Displays showcase archival photos, illustrations, and letters from the LuEsther T. Mertz Library and specimens from the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium. The exhibit also highlights the work of current and former NYBG botanists in the Pacific Islands, including Collaborators in Hawaiian Botany, Drs. Otto and Isa Degener, who explored and documented the flora of Hawai‘i in their magnum opus, Flora Hawaiiensis (1932–80), and worked to conserve its ecology.

In the Ross Gallery, you can enjoy Georgia O’Keeffe’s Hawaiian Voyage, a display highlighting the artist’s journey from her departure at New York’s Grand Central Terminal through her nine-week island-hopping explorations of exotic flora and lush landscapes.
 




Food: Hawaiian-inspired food will be available for purchase in the Hudson Garden Grill and at STARR Events’ new Poke Truck, which will feature four different types of poke (including a Veggie Bowl), the trendy dish of marinated raw fish served over rice with Asian seasonings.

What, no Spam?

Public Programming Throughout the Garden during the exhibition, there is a rich program of performances, events, and activities for adults and children, celebrating the diverse cultural traditions of Hawai‘i past and present, as well as the beauty and variety of Hawai‘i’s flora.

During Aloha Nights, evening programs will spotlight the culture that captured Georgia O’Keeffe’s imagination. On select Celebrate Hawai‘i Weekends, NYBG, in collaboration with Hawai‘i Tourism United States, will feature performers, artists, and artisans from Hawai‘i, showcasing the time-honored traditions and unique cultural heritage of the Islands.

A scholarly symposium and a film series are also among the planned programming. 
In the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden (ECAG), a 12-acre indoor/outdoor educational facility, children and their families will be inspired to explore and observe nature—just as O’Keeffe did, and as many other artists and scientists do for their work. After walking through the Everett Children’s Adventure Garden entry arch featuring larger-than-life flowers and fruit painted in the O’Keeffe style, visitors will proceed along the main path to discover a child-sized model of the lava forms inspired by O’Keeffe’s painting Black Lava Bridge, Hāna Coast, No. 1 featured in Sun Central Plaza, with black sand representing the beach at the base of the structure for children to explore.

Families can participate in guided activities using real plants and plant parts such as pineapple bromeliads and banana palms to introduce cross-disciplinary activities on concepts of scale and perspective using scientific tools such as microscopes and hand lenses to look closely.

Children will then represent these close-up views of plant parts using watercolor paint on paper. Children will pot up a ginger rhizome, Zingiber officinale, to bring home a bit of the Hawaiian tropics to nurture and observe its growth.
A visually stunning Interactive Mobile Guide, available at nybg.org/mobile, complements the exhibition by transporting users to both the current Hawaiian landscape and back in time to the Hawai‘i that O’Keeffe visited in 1939. 
Features include multiple 360-degree videos of the plants and locations O’Keeffe observed and depicted in her work; personal accounts found in O’Keeffe’s handwritten letters; advanced location-aware technology that will help users engage with content automatically; and vintage photo frames that allow participants to create their own digital souvenirs and share on social media.

Celebrate Hawai‘i Weekends, Aloha Nights, Live Music and Hula, Lei-Making Demonstrations,
and More During Exhibition at NYBG


Georgia O’Keeffe and Hawai‘i: A Sense of Place
Symposium

Friday, May 18; 10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Ross Hall

Moderated by curator Theresa Papanikolas, Ph.D., Deputy Director of Art and Programs and

Curator of European and American Art at the Honolulu Museum of Art, this distinguished

panel explores the importance of landscape as Georgia O’Keeffe’s creative refuge, inspiration,

and source of restorative power. The panelists are DeSoto Brown, Historian and Archivist,

Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Honolulu; Samuel M. ‘Ohukaniōhi‘a Gon III, Ph.D., Senior

Scientist and Cultural Advisor, Hawai‘i Nature Conservancy; and Carolyn Kastner, Ph.D.,

Curator, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe.

Members $25/Non-Members $29

Weekend Performances, Demonstrations, & Film

Saturdays & Sundays, May 19–October 28

Every weekend you’ll be whisked away to the Hawaiian Islands with performances, events,

and activities that celebrate the diverse cultural traditions of Hawai‘i. Enjoy hula, plein air

painting, or see how a traditional lei is made. Explore Hawaiian culture through our Hawai‘i

Past and Present Film Series.

Programs include:

Hula with Music; 12, 1, & 2 p.m.

For full schedule of performance groups, visit nybg.org


Oh - and that denouement? O’Keeffe sent the pineapple company two of her artworks upon returning to New York. The “Dole advertising executives were exasperated to learn that she had painted almost everything except pineapples, including papaya trees, heliconia plants and even fish hooks. So the company had a whole fresh pineapple couriered to her by seaplane, which she graciously did paint.”

Ahhh, the seductions and vagaries of the world according to plants.

Mark your schedule to visit this show. Many times. You’ll enjoy each and every artul discovery inspired by nature --- and the plants…


NYBG's Todd Forrest, Artist Mark Chai, NYBG's Gregory Long