Horticulture and art have a long and storied history, often co-mingling and inspiring each other to exciting ends. In this near-daylong program in Providence—America’s “Renaissance City”—join Garden Conservancy President & CEO James Brayton Hall on a visit to the house and garden of acclaimed artist Andrew Raftery in the morning, followed by lunch and a visit to the RISD Museum in the afternoon. James, who began his career in Providence, eventually serving as Deputy Director of the RISD Museum, will discuss the rich interchange between Andrew’s garden and artistic practice. At the RISD Museum, one of America’s foremost university art museums, this discussion will expand to consider a rich array of design objects that draw on horticultural themes in a private session with museum curators Emily Banas and Kate Irvin. This program is currently sold out but join the waitlist at https://www.gardenconservancy.org/events/gm26-art-design-in-providence
The Garden Club of the Back Bay’s February meeting will take place at The Chilton Club, 152 Commonwealth Avenue, at 10 am. The Club welcomes James Brayton Hall, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Garden Conservancy.
Gardening has been an important part of American history since even before the country’s founding. In this illustrated talk, Garden Conservancy President and CEO James Brayton Hall will look at both 18th and 19th century high points in American Garden design and theory, and discuss why he believes that in the post-pandemic age we are entering a third golden age of gardening in the United States.
James joined the Garden Conservancy as president and CEO on June 1, 2017. For the previous four years, he was deputy director of the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he worked on the planning and design of the Norman Foster-designed museum expansion and sculpture gardens. From 2010 to 2013, he was executive director of the Providence Preservation Society in Rhode Island, overseeing all programming, fundraising, and relations with the board, donors, and community. From 2006 to 2010, James served as assistant director of the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, after holding various other management and curatorial positions at the school since 1985. James earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Virginia and a master’s in landscape architecture from Rhode Island School of Design. In addition, he was awarded a Royal Oak Scholarship to attend the Attingham Trust Summer School in Architectural and Landscape History in London, and, separately, participated in the Victorian Society’s summer program in architectural history, also in London. In 2016, he completed Attingham’s Royal Collections Course. He has spoken widely on architectural and landscape design and has been a member of the graduate program faculty at the Rhode Island School of Design.
