The Cohasset Garden Club presents Books in Bloom, a unique event in which Cohasset Garden Club members assemble floral arrangements that interpret a book’s title, jacket, or theme. Free admission, along with a free floral arranging demonstration on Thursday, June 20 at 1 pm. The three day event takes place June 20, June 21, and June 22 at the Paul Pratt Memorial Library in Cohasset. Due to limited space, pre-registration for the floral arranging demo is necessary – visit http://cohassetlibrary.org to do so.
2024 is an especially special year for the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club. It is celebrating the Club’s Centennial and hopes you will join the members at one of its upcoming events! “We have both historic and celebratory happenings coming up, with several nods to recounting the Club’s stunning history. Several fundraisers and some members-only events will be sprinkled in, and it all promises to be a lovely tribute to all the founding members and Garden Club members who followed have contributed to the Island over the past 100 years. The Club’s perennial fundraiser, Blooming Art. is slated for June 14, 15 and 16, so we hope you will join us to celebrate the diverse art of Island artists and the talent of its Garden Club members with this annual art and floral event. This year the work of over 35 Vineyard artists will be exhibited with all art available for purchase. The art sold at Blooming Art will benefit the Club. A portion of the proceeds is donated by the artist to the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club’s charitable projects.”
Blooming Art Event will be open to the public on Friday, June 14 and Saturday, June 15 from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm and on Sunday, June 16 from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm. No pre-registration is necessary, an admission fee of $15.00, will be taken at the door and all art will be available for purchase. For more information and a list of participating artists, visit https://www.marthasvineyardgardenclub.org/blooming-art—preview-2024.html
According to the Icon Museum and Study Center, “An icon is an image of a holy person or event created by an iconographer who follows the strict standards of the Orthodox Church.”
Peter D. Gerakaris, artist on view at BBG, and Kent dur Russell, Russian iconography scholar, will talk about their areas of expertise and then converse on what becomes the shared meaning between them on Friday, June 14, from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Berkshire Botanical Garden with a reception to follow. While showcasing many time-honored processes — such as Byzantine painting and gilding with gold leaf on panel — Peter’s artwork shifts our focus toward luminous images of the natural world. Motifs such as endangered flora and fauna are filtered through his artwork’s kaleidoscopic lens to create contemporary nature-based icons. In this lecture, he and Kent will explore iconography as it relates to traditional art history and the natural world. BBG members $25, nonmembers $40. Register at https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/cross-talk-byzantine-and-nature
Artist Peter Gerakaris’ show, “Microcosms,” is on view June 8 through Aug. 4, in the Leonhardt Gallery at BBG. Kent dur Russell is the founding director of the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, Mass., and will discuss Byzantine and icon roots in broader and contemporary contexts.
What is it about ‘New England’—as both a setting and a subject—that has captured Impressionist painters’ attention for over a century? Artist colonies popped up in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut in the late 19th century, attracting some of America’s best-known painters. Gloucester, Provincetown, Old Lyme, Ogunquit, and others continue to have thriving local art communities today. On display at Heritage Museums & Gardens in Sandwich now through October 20 in the Special Exhibitions Gallery, this exhibition celebrates New England–its natural beauty through the seasons, its people, its small towns, and its glorious light–as seen through the eyes of local painters and poets.
Included artists: Sam Barber, Gerrit Beneker, Sheila Benzer, Matilda Browne, William Chadwick, Oliver Chaffee, Anne Ramsdell Congdon, Joseph DeCamp, Frank Vincent DuMond, Harold Dunbar, Charles Ebert, Joseph Eliot Enneking, Loretta Feeney, Gertrude Fiske, Lillian Hale, Childe Hassam, Charles Webster Hawthorne, Henry Hensche, Aldro T. Hibbard, Felicie Waldo Howell, Wilson Henry Irvine, Louise Kamp, Nellie Augusta Knopf, Susan Ricker Knox, Harriet Lumis, Dodge MacKnight, Elmer MacRae, Willard Metcalf, George L. Noyes, Hillary Osborn, Pauline Palmer, Marguerite Pearson, Jane Peterson, Doug Rugh, Frank Vining Smith, Mary Bradish Titcomb, John Twachtman, Edward Charles Volkert, Carol Whorf Westcott, John Whorf, Mabel May Woodward, New England-based poets Amanda Davis, Lauren Wolk, and Rich Holschuh were invited to create or share works inspired by Fall, Summer, and Winter, respectively. Also included is a Spring-themed poem by Provincetown poet Mary Oliver. For hours and information visit www.heritagemuseumsandgardens.org
Tickets are now on sale for the 2024 Newport Flower Show, June 21 – 23 at Rosecliff, 548 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. You may also reserve your spot at the Opening Night Reception, the start of Newport’s summer season. For more information visit events@newportmansions.org.
The 2024 Newport Flower Show will be back at Rosecliff, its original home, with the theme of “At Home” – celebrating the variety of florals and horticulture that we enjoy in our own homes.
As visitors step into the foyer of Rosecliff, the air will be filled with the fragrances of abundant summer blooms. The enchanting exhibits will include an array of displays that showcase the relationship between flowers and the homes they beautify. The popular Botanical Arts division will include artists’ interpretations of items found in many homes: dolls, picture frames, the family dog and more.
After viewing the displays in the Salon, Ballroom and Dining Room, guests will step onto the Terrace to admire the Horticulture entries and then the oceanside back lawn to explore a beautiful central garden display including a cutting garden, home orchard and pollinator garden, along with ideas to create a picturesque setting for outdoor living.
Be sure to leave some time to browse the Marketplace, offering a variety of floral and plant options as well as home decor items for purchase.
“At Home” will be a celebration of the beauty that flowers and plants bring to the spaces we call home. Whether you’re a flower enthusiast, a gardening hobbyist or someone seeking inspiration for home decor, this show promises a feast for the senses and a unique perspective on the intersection of nature and your home, indoors and out.
The Brookline Department of Public Works and Open Space hosts the 25th Annual Studios Without Walls at Riverway Park in Brookline. The Opening Reception is Saturday, May 25 from noon – four pm. The exhibition features site responsive sculpture in Riverway Park by artists Sarah Alexander, Gail Bos, Anne Eder, Janaal Eversley, Barbara Fletcher, Gateway Artists, Liz Helfer, Linda Hoffman, Janet Kawada, Chris King, Bette Ann Libby, Mary McCusker, Silvina Mizrahi, Rachel Shatil, Adrienne Shishko + Suzanne Moseley, Marnie Sinclair, Allen M. Spivack, and Dan Rocha. There are daily self guided tours and an Art Treasure Hunt. For all information visit http://www.studioswithoutwalls.org/
Todd McGrain’s “The Lost Bird Project” recognizes the tragedy of environmental destruction by immortalizing North American birds that have been driven to extinction, including the Passenger Pigeon, the Carolina Parakeet, the Labrador Duck, the Great Auk, and the Heath Hen. The Berkshire Botanical Garden exhibition includes large-scale outdoor sculptures and an indoor gallery show (beginning August 10) featuring smaller-scale versions of the same sculptures, supplemented with original drawings and other related artwork. “These bronze sculptures are subtle, beautiful and hopeful reminders,” McGrain says. “The human scale of each outdoor sculpture elicits a physical sympathy. The smooth surface, like a stone polished from touch, conjures the effect of memory and time. I model these gestural forms to contain a taut equilibrium, a balanced pressure from outside and from inside — like a breath held in. As a group, they are melancholy yet affirming. They compel us to recognize the finality of our loss, they ask us not to forget them, and they remind us of our duty to prevent further extinction.”
From May 17 through October 20, Heritage Museums & Gardens in Sandwich will host a solo exhibition of works by sculptor Alfie Glover, of Cataumet. Frequent visitors to Heritage may recognize Glover’s whimsical, folk-art style sculptures, as one of his pieces, “Garden Gate,” has been installed in the McInnes Garden for several years. This show brings his bold, colorful depictions of animals, trees, and other wildlife to the rest of Heritage’s grounds and gardens. Glover’s work has been displayed in venues throughout the Northeast, most notably at Cape Cod Museum of Art, Cahoon Museum of American Art, Highfield Hall & Gardens, Mass Audubon Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary, Boston Children’s Hospital, Falmouth Hospital, and Cape Cod Hospital.
Rhododendron, lovingly known as “Rhodies,” are a genus of woody plants native to Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia. They grow in temperate deciduous forests often along hillsides and mountain slopes. This spring, the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society brings you a show that will immerse you in the world of rhodies.
The event includes fabulous rhododendron flower displays, educational lectures and workshops, and opportunities to purchase unusual and rare rhododendrons, azaleas, and other compatible plants grown by society members. As a portion of the event, rhododendron flowers grown by society members will be entered into competition, grouped, and judged by type. A guided informational tour of the show’s entries will help you learn what qualities to look for in your own flowers. Bring your questions! Expert growers will be on-hand to help you learn more about all things rhododendron.
The New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill will host the two day event. On Saturday, May 18, the sale will begin at 10, and at 2:00 pm, there will be a lecture on Interesting New Rhododendron Hybrids for New England Gardens.
Sunday, the show and sale will take plae from 10 – 4, sale while supplies last, and a lecture Intro to Rhododendrons and Their Care (2 pm.)
On both days, there will be a Guided Flower Show Tour from 12:30 – 1. For more information visit www.nebg.org
The Massachusetts Pollinator Network, with the Erving Public Library, as part of the Popular Pollinators Series, presents the Pollinator Art Show at the Library, 2 Care Drive, Off Route 63, Erving, Massachusetts 01344. The opening reception will take place Sunday, May 19, at 2. The show itself will be on display during library open hours in May and June.
One artist, Daisy Hebb, works with native plant and pollinator experts to design brilliant watercolor paintings, laced with notes and fun facts about our ecosystems. Artist John Barnett aims to capture natural beauty that we overlook because of its small scale. He uses macrophotography to explore local biodiversity, particularly of bees and other pollinators.
