Boston Flora

Tag: Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture

  • Wednesdays, May 4 – June 15, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Art as a Way of Seeing and Knowing

    The Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture offer a seven week class entitled Art as a Way of Seeing and Knowing, A Journey of Discovery, beginning Wednesday, May 4, from 1 – 4, and continuing through June 15, at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden and Greenhouses in Wellesley, Massachusetts.  This class offers a unique opportunity for serious artists at all levels.  Be inspired and renewed by the awesome diversity of natural forms available year round in the greenhouses and arboretum at Wellesley College.  Or, use your drawings, memory and imagination to develop ideas in the studio classroom.  Draw or paint using materials that suit your expressive intentions.  In a warm and supportive atmosphere, award winning artist/educator Susan Swinand offers critiques and suggests projects to spark your creativity.  WCFH members, $200, non-members $250.  To register, log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH, or call 781-283-3094. Image of work below by Susan Swinand courtesy of Pascarelli Gallery.

  • Saturdays, April 30 – May 21, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Ink Brush Painting Workshop

    Capture the essence of different plants and flowers using expressive gesture strokes based on Asian ink brush painting traditions.  Working with black ink and watercolor, Nan Rumpf (paintings below by Nan Rumpf courtesy of www.needham.patch.com)  helps you interpret plant forms with brush and ink.  Also explore rice paper washes using Assam tea and watercolor.  Join the Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture to learn new skills or brush up on your old skills, on four successive Saturdays, April 30 – May 21, from 1 – 4.  This class can help watercolor artists expand their repertoire of brushstrokes as well as provide a useful transition step between drawing and painting.  WCFH members $125, Non-Members $160.   To register, call 781-283-3094, ext. 4, or log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.

  • Saturdays, April 30 – May 28, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm – Elements of Botanic Illustration: Beginning Watercolor Techniques

    Join Jeanne Kunze (one of her peony pictures is shown below) at the Wellesley Botanic Garden on five successive Saturdays, April 30 – May 28, from 9:30 – 12:30, in an art and plant exploration inspired by the interrelationship of paper, brushes, water, and pigments.  Mixing color and application will be the focus of this beginning watercolor experience, sponsored by the Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture.  Be guided with classroom sequential exercises and demonstrations.  Bring your curiosity and enthusiasm to class and learn techniques to express our “inner artist.”  There will be group instruction followed by individualized attention from the instructor.  Some previous drawing experience is helpful.  WCFH members $225, non-members $275.  To register, log on to www.wellesley.edu/WCFH, or call 781-283-3094, ext. 4.

  • Friday, April 1, 7:00 pm, and Saturday, April 2, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm – Edible Ecosystem Weekend

    Get your hands dirty as you help implement Wellesley College Botanic Gardens’ Edible Ecosystem Demonstration Garden, located on the slope below Whitin Observatory.  This landscape, designed by permaculture experts Dave Jacke and Keith Zaltzberg with the assistance of several Wellesley students, mimics the forest in structure and function while providing diverse yields of food, habitat, and research opportunities.  Begin with an introductory talk Friday evening on the theory behind “edible ecosystems.”  Then join us for as much of Saturday as you can, immersed in a mix of hands-on learning and formal presentations on the design process, land management strategies, and ecosystem design.  Gain valuable experience as part of a work team planting baby trees, transplanting and propagating existing vegetation, and laying down the largest week-suppressing sheet-mulch the town of Wellesley has ever seen.  Workshop participants should dress for a day of work in the garden.  Long pants and sturdy, close-toed shoes are required.  Plan to bring a hat, work gloves, you own tools (label them, please), sunscreen, bug repellent, lunch, water and snacks.  Introductory talk: $10 Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture members, $15 non-members.  Workshop: $60 Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture members, $75 non-members.  Pre-registration required – call 781-283-3094, or email horticulture@wellesley.edu.

  • Tuesday, April 19 – Thursday, April 21, 9:30 am – 4:30 pm – Going Underground: Bulbs and Roots

    Award winning botanical artist/illustrator Elaine Searle from England joins the Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture to share her approach to this often overlooked subject, Bulbs and Roots.  Starting with close observation and tonal graphite drawings, students will work towards a finished watercolor study capturing tangled and fragile roots, translucent colors, and the wonderful papery texture of bulbs.  Elaine has a relaxed and supportive teaching style, which along with her demonstrations and individual guidance will enable students of all levels to make good progress.  Some drawing and watercolor experience is required.  The class will take place at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden on Tuesday, April 19 – Thursday, April 21, from 9:30 am – 4:30 pm, and the WCFH member price is $495, non members $595.  To register, or for more infomation, call 781-283-3094, ext. 4, or email horticulture@wellesley.edu.  Below is Mary Grierson’s painting Colocasia Esculenta.

  • Wednesdays, April 6 and 13, and Monday, April 11, 9:30 am – 2:30 pm – Let it Shine! Painting Reflected Light

    Learn the techniques of capturing reflected light on fruits and vegetables in your watercolor painting with this Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture studio focus taught by Carrie Megan, on three days, Wednesday, April 6, Monday, April 11, and Wednesday, April 13, from 9:30 am – 2:30 pm each day.  Under Carrie’s guidance, achieve the look of a shiny surface with layers of drybrush wash.  This studio course is for Advanced Beginners and beyond, and watercolor and drawing experience is required.  WCFH member price is $150, and non-members will pay $200.  To register, or for more information, call 781-283-3094, ext. 4, or email horticulture@wellesley.edu.  One of Carrie’s persimmon paintings is shown below.

  • Fridays, April 1, 8, 15 and 29, 9:30 am – 3:30 pm – Scientific Botanical Illustration: Orchids

    Black and white drawings have an aesthetic beauty all their own, and were long used for illustrations before color printing.  Under the guidance of Jeanne Kunze, use traditional dip and technical pens to create weighted, broken, hatch, and crosshatch line work as well as stipple to illustrate live orchids.  As many scientific illustrations are done from pressed field-collected material, Jeanne will also show you how to use dried specimens for illustration, including methods of making these samples look fresh and alive.  Dissecting microscopes and other magnification devices will aid you in accomplishing an informative, precise, and aesthetically pleasing illustration.  There are some prerequisites for this Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture course, to take place at Wellesley on four Fridays, April 1 – 29, so email horticulture@wellesley.edu, or call 781-283-3094, ext. 4, for complete details.  WCFH member price is $250, non-members $300.

  • Monday, March 21, 10:30 am – 12:00 noon – Water: When is Enough Not Enough?

    Massachusetts is blessed with relatively abundant precipitation (an average of 45 inches each year) leading many residents to the erroneous belief that there’s plenty of “surplus” water available for human consumption at any time and for any purpose. Russ Cohen of the Mass. Department of Ecological Restoration clues us in to why our water resources can at times be insufficient to support our aquatic ecosystem, how human activities – both historically and today – adversely affected our river and stream systems, and what potential solutions are available to mitigate these impacts.  This event on Monday, March 21, the March meeting of The Garden Club of the Back Bay, is co-sponsored by the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, the Boston Junior League Garden Club, the New England Wild Flower Society, and the Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture.  Garden Club members will receive a written notice of this meeting, along with car pool information to the Wellesley College Botanic Garden, where the event will take place.  The meeting, however, is also open to the public for a small fee ($10 if a member of the Arnold Arboretum, NEWFS or WCFH, $15 if a non-member). Registration may be accomplished at http://www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.

  • Tuesday, March 22 – Thursday, March 24, 9:30 am – 4:30 pm – A Year in the Life of a Tree

    Join botanical illustrator Wendy Hollender for this intensive workshop that follows a tree through all its stages over the course of a year. The 3 days in March will jump start your tree study and give you the tools to work independently over the growing season. While there are different stages in different trees, Wendy will survey identifying markers – even those which require microscopic observation. After choosing your favorite tree to follow, you will create a sketchbook illustrating characteristics found on woody plants during the four seasons as preparation for a finished botanical painting in your specialty medium – watercolor, oil, colored pencil, or graphite. Between seminar sessions, Wendy will be available via distance learning to advise you on the development of your tree study and paintings. Prior drawing and painting or colored pencil experience required. The class, at the Wellesley College Botanic Garden, will take place Tuesday, March 22 – Thursday, March 24 (with an all important snow date of Friday, March 25), from 9:30 am – 4:30 pm. Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture fee is $525, non-members $650. Register at www.wellesley.edu/WCFH.  Illustration from www.ediblegeography.com.

  • Saturday, March 19, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm – Gardening for the Birds

    Join Stephen Kress, author of The Audubon Society Guide to Attracting Birds and Vice President for Bird Conservation for the National Audubon Society, for a lively presentation on desirable gardening practices-from a bird’s viewpoint.  An expert in seabird conservation, Kress successfully led Audubon’s Project Puffin in Maine. He is also an associate at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology where he teaches a Field Ornithology course. He will explain bird-plant interactions and suggest landscaping options for creating enticing and safe habitats. He’ll provide solutions for reducing bird encounters with windows and cats, as well as some tactics for preventing the spread of avian diseases. He will also share tips for learning to recognize common backyard birds by sight and song. His book will be available for purchase and signing. $40 for ELA, WCFH members, Audubon Society members and Arnold Arboretum members, $48 for non-members. Registrations are limited – call 617-436-5838, or email ela.info@comcast.net. This Saturday, March 19 event is offered in collaboration with the Arnold Arboretum, Boston Nature Center, Grow Native Massachusetts/Cambridge, and Wellesley College Friends of Horticulture, and will take place from 9:30 am – 12:30 pm in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum, 125 The Arborway, Boston.