Boston Flora

Tag: isabella stewart gardner museum

  • Thursday, September 8, 7:00 pm – Gardner Museum Landscape Lecture: Chris Reed

    Join The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum for our annual series of engaging and inspirational presentations from leading voices in the field of landscape architecture. Internationally renowned designers present their recent work articulating landscape as a medium of design for the social, cultural, and ecological life of the city. On September 8, at 7 pm in Calderwood Hall, Chris Reed will give the inaugural 2016/2017 lecture. Chris Reed, the founding principal of Stoss, is known for his innovative approach to the design of public spaces. Reed’s recent work includes the award-winning Plaza at Harvard University, which sits above the Cambridge Street underpass on the Harvard campus. This flexible open space accommodates events, pedestrians, and visitors who come to pass the time. Reed’s research interests include the impact of social sciences on design thinking and city-making strategies informed by landscape systems and dynamics. His work at Stoss has been recognized with the 2012 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Landscape Architecture and the 2010 Topos International Landscape Award. Tickets can be reserved online, in person at the door, or by phone: 617 278 5156. Museum admission: adults $15, seniors $12, students $5, free for members.

  • Thursday, April 14, 7:00 pm – Mario Schjetnan

    Thursday, April 14, 7:00 pm – Mario Schjetnan

    Mario Schjetnan is a landscape architect, architect, and urban designer based in Mexico City. He is known for his work on large urban parks, including Chapultepec Park in Mexico City and El Cedazo Park in Aguascalientes. Both projects won the ASLA President’s Award for Design Excellence. Schjetnan views public parks as an expression of environmental justice, offering urban order with a sense of place and ecological balance. His work on the restoration of the historic Xochimilco Ecological Park (pictured) was an environmental restoration on an unprecedented scale that also addressed challenges of urbanization in the Mexican context.

    The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Landscape Lectures concludes the season with a lecture by Mario Schjetnan on Thursday, April 14. Landscape Lectures begin at 7 pm in Calderwood Hall. Lectures include Museum admission and require a ticket; tickets can be reserved online at www.gardnermuseum.org, in person at the door, or by phone: 617 278 5156. Museum admission: adults $15, seniors $12, students $5, free for members. Image from www.toposmagazine.com.

  • Thursday, February 11, 7:00 pm – Margie Ruddick

    Hear Margie Ruddick on Thursday, February 11, at 7 pm as part of the Gardner Museum Landscape Lectures 2015-16. Over the last 25 years, Margie Ruddick has gained recognition for her pioneering, environmental approach to landscape design, forging a design language that integrates ecology, urban planning, and culture. Ruddick’s completed international projects include Shillim Institute and Retreat in the Western Ghats of India (pictured below) and the Living Water Park, with artist Betsy Damon, in Chengdu, China. This was among the first ecological parks in China, cleaning polluted river water biologically. In the U.S., she is known for transforming Queens Plaza in New York City, a design which has won many awards for promoting ideas of nature in the city. Landscape Lectures begin at 7 pm in Calderwood Hall at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Lectures include Museum admission and require a ticket; tickets can be reserved online at www.gardnermuseum.org, in person at the door, or by phone: 617 278 5156. Museum admission: adults $15, seniors $12, students $5, free for Museum members.  Image from www.dwell.com.

  • Thursday, November 12, 7:00 pm – Walter Hood

    Walter Hood is an artist, designer, and educator based in Oakland, California. His studio, Hood Design, has worked on landscape, architectural, urban design, and art installation projects since 1992, including the award-winning gardens at the new De Young Museum in San Francisco. Splash Pad Park in Oakland and his work with residents of the Hill District in Pittsburgh are considered transformative landscapes. His design for the University of Buffalo’s Solar Strand incorporates 5,000 solar panels into a large public space. Hood received the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award for Landscape in 2009. He will speak at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on Thursday, November 12 beginning at 7 pm in Calderwood Hall. Lectures include Museum admission and require a ticket. Tickets can be reserved online at www.gardnermuseum.org, in person at the door, or by phone: 617-278-5156. Adults $15, seniors $12, students $5, free for Museum members.

  • Thursday, November 12, 10:00 am – From Landscape Gardening to Landscape Urbanism

    The Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America will hold its annual fall membership meeting, lecture and luncheon on Thursday, November 12 beginning at 10 am at The Country Club, 191 Clyde Street in Brookline.  Charles Waldheim will give a talk entitled From Landscape Gardening to Landscape Urbanism.

    Charles Waldheim is the John E. Irving Professor of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. His lecture will focus on the evolution and current trends in ‘Landscape Urbanism’, a term coined by Waldheim to describe the recent emergence of landscape as a medium of urban order for the contemporary city. Professor Waldheim is a Canadian-American architect, urban theorist, and educator. His research examines the relations between landscape, ecology, and contemporary urbanism. At the same time that urban sprawl has distanced the population from the landscape, environmental literacy among designers and scholars has grown, giving rise to an architectural discourse known as ‘landscape urbanism’. In his lecture Waldheim, who is at the forefront of this movement, explores the origins, the current context and the aspirations of this relatively new field that is inspiring the future of city making. Waldheim is author, editor, or co-editor of numerous books on the subject, and his writing has been published and translated internationally. He has taught at Rice University, University of Toronto, University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Michigan. Charles is also the Ruettgers Consulting Curator of Landscape at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

    The event is open to members of Garden Clubs affiliated with The Boston Committee and their guests.  Garden Club of the Back Bay members will receive separate invitations and a car pool notice in the mail.  For more information email info@bostoncommittee.org.

  • April- Hanging Nasturtiums at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

    Cascades of blossoming nasturtium vines make their brief but dramatic appearance above the Courtyard, celebrating the arrival of spring at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. (Nasturtium blooms last about three weeks.) The annual Hanging Nasturtiums display continues an annual tradition started by Isabella Stewart Gardner during the week before Easter, marking the valiant return of color to The Fenway.

    Nasturtium vines (Tropaeolum majus) are planted in late summer and cultivated in the Gardner Museum’s greenhouses throughout the winter to prepare them for their spectacular spring debut. The vines require continuous care in the greenhouse to ensure dramatic length—up to twenty feet—and require up to ten workers to install in the Museum. The result is a stunning display that cannot be found anywhere else!

    In the Courtyard garden below, typical companions include azaleas, blue cineraria, ivory and cream daffodils, and Cymbidium orchids punctuate a green background of ferns, palms, and pines. The Gardner Museum’s signature Clivia miniata are also often on display and now include beautiful lemon-colored blossoms from Allen Haskell’s nursery specimen, playing off of the orange variety that have been a part of the Museum’s collection for over forty years. Abutilon stiratum (flowering maple) are often used to flank the steps and the statues to complement this amazing exhibit of springtime color. A trip to the Gardner Museum in the coming weeks is a profound experience for the senses. The Hanging Nasturtiums Courtyard display is made possible in part by the Museum’s Sorenson Fund for Horticulture.  Photo: Siena Scarff, 2012.

  • Thursday, April 9, 7:00 pm – Gardner Museum Landscape Lecture: Claude Cormier

    The Isabella Stewart Gardner’s final Landscape Lecture for the 2014/2015 season concludes April 9 with Claude Cormier. Cormier’s internationally recognized practice extends far beyond conventional landscape design to forge bridges between urban design, public art, and architecture. His landscapes celebrate the artificial and surreptitiously alter reality. His work is distinguished for its inventiveness and its tenacious optimism in the power of design. Based in Montreal, in 2009 Cormier became a knight of L’Ordre National du Québec, the highest distinction for individuals who have contributed to the development and leadership of Québec. He was also selected as an Emerging Voice for North America by the Architectural League of New York.

    Landscape Lectures begin at 7 pm in Calderwood Hall. Lectures include Museum admission and require a ticket; tickets can be reserved online, in person at the door, or by phone: 617 278 5156. Museum admission: adults $15, seniors $12, students $5, free for Museum members.  Purchase tickets online at www.gardnermuseum.org.

    When a lecture sells out, the Museum will offer a limited number of obstructed view seats the night of the event via a signup sheet at the admissions desk. The signup sheet will become available at the desk at 6 pm. We will make every attempt to seat everyone but cannot guarantee a seat once we are at capacity. Seats will be assigned 5 minutes prior to the lecture time. These obstructed view seats will be free of charge.

  • Thursday, February 12, 7:00 pm – Gardner Museum Landscape Lecture: Kathryn Gustafson

    The Isabella Stewart Gardner’s Landscape Lecture series continues Thursday, February 12 with Kathryn Gustafson. Gustafson is a partner in both Gustafson Guthrie Nichol in Seattle and Gustafson Porter in London. Her work incorporates the fundamental sculptural and sensual qualities that enhance the human experience of landscape. She is only the third landscape architect to have received the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Gustafson is also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and a medalist of the French Academy of Architecture. Along with her partners at Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, she received the National Design Award for Landscape Architecture from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

    Landscape Lectures begin at 7 pm in Calderwood Hall. Lectures include Museum admission and require a ticket; tickets can be reserved online, in person at the door, or by phone: 617 278 5156. Museum admission: adults $15, seniors $12, students $5, free for Museum members.  On line tickets may be purchased at www.gardnermuseum.org.

    When a lecture sells out, the Museum will offer a limited number of obstructed view seats the night of the event via a signup sheet at the admissions desk. The signup sheet will become available at the desk at 6 pm. We will make every attempt to seat everyone but cannot guarantee a seat once we are at capacity. Seats will be assigned 5 minutes prior to the lecture time. These obstructed view seats will be free of charge.

  • December, 2014 – A Holiday Garden at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

    Holidays are a special time to come to the Gardner, where the festive Courtyard, featuring dark forest greens and shades of red and silver, adds to the excitement of the season. This holiday tradition showcases masses of flowering jade trees, silver curry plant, and the white and dark red winter blooms of amaryllis, all of which brighten winter shadows.

    The jades (Crassula argentea) in the Courtyard have been raised in our greenhouse for many years. The largest, with trunks five to six inches in diameter, are over forty years old. Their small, starry, white flowers cover the large spreading branches that are over three feet high. The Latin word crassula means thick and fleshy, describing the jade’s leaves.

    The Courtyard features plants that are actively growing and constantly changing. Courtyard images include plants that are representative of each display, but plants will be added or replaced over the life of the display. For more information visit www.gardnermuseum.org.

  • Through November 30 – Chrysanthemums at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

    Dozens of varieties of chrysanthemums appear in the courtyard in late October. Japanese-style single-stem chrysanthemums mix with traditional types in an explosion of color and texture.

    To create this unique exhibit, Museum gardeners and volunteers work from June to October using Japanese cultivation methods to create a single stalk and a single flower on each specimen plant. Over the spring and summer, each plant is pinched weekly (this is called disbudding) and fertilized at specific intervals. This style, which produces a large single bloom, is called ogiku.

    The Japanese technique of training chrysanthemums became popular in the West around the turn of the century. Within Isabella Gardner’s lifetime, many chrysanthemums were grown on her Brookline estate, Green Hill, and won awards at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s fall flower shows. The Museum later won top awards from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for its chrysanthemums in 1934 and 1936.

    Chrysanthemums were first cultivated as an herb in ancient China and arrived in Japan in the 8th Century. Cultivation of the flower was originally permitted only in the gardens of the emperor and the nobility. They were introduced to the western world in the 17th Century. Today, sumptuous festivals are held in celebration of the flower throughout Japan.

    The Chrysanthemums display is made possible in part by the Barbara Millen and Markley H. Boyer Endowment Fund for Horticulture. The Museum thanks Longwood Gardens and the Botanic Garden of Smith College for their generous donations of single-stem chrysanthemum cuttings for the 2014 Chrysanthemums display.

    The Courtyard features plants that are actively growing and constantly changing. Courtyard images include plants that are representative of each display, but plants will be added or replaced over the life of the display. For more information visit www.gardnermuseum.org.