Adkins Arboretum

Call for Artists: Adkins Arboretum to Sponsor 2020 Juried Art Show

November 6, 2019 by Adkins Arboretum Leave a Comment

“Tributary,” by Baltimore artist Liz Donadio, received the first-prize Leon Andrus Award in 2019 Juried Art Show.

Adkins Arboretum in Ridgely, Md., will sponsor its 21st annual Juried Art Show, to exhibit in February and March 2020. The theme of the show—Discovering the Native Landscapes of Maryland’s Eastern Shore—celebrates the Arboretum’s mission of conservation. The Leon Andrus Awards, named in honor of the Arboretum’s first benefactor, will be given for first and second places.

The show is open to original two- and three-dimensional fine arts in all mediums, including outdoor sculpture and installations. It will be juried by Heather Harvey, Associate Professor and Chair, Art and Art History Department, and Studio Art Coordinator at Washington College in Chestertown, Md. Harvey creates site-specific installations and objects that straddle traditional boundaries between painting, drawing and sculpture. She is interested in hidden infrastructures and invisible ordering mechanisms—things like gravity, quantum physics and radio waves, but also the human body, memory and contradictory emotions like aversion and affection. Her work is suggestive of mental and emotional landscapes and internal unfolding thought processes. Harvey has exhibited widely and has received awards from the Maryland State Arts Council, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Sustainable Arts Foundation, among others. Her art criticism has been published in Art Papers, Sculpture Magazine and NYArts.

The deadline for submissions is Dec. 20, 2019. Digital images of up to three pieces of art by each artist should be sent to art@adkinsarboretum.org. Submissions should include title, medium, dimensions (maximum of 6 feet in any direction, excluding outdoor sculpture) and artist’s name, address and phone number. Works should reflect or interpret broadly the show’s theme of wild nature and landscapes of the Mid-Atlantic coastal plain region.

Artists whose work is selected will be contacted by Jan. 15 to submit the original work ready to hang by Feb. 1. The exhibit will run from Feb. 5 to March 29, 2020, with a reception on Sat., Feb. 8 from 3 to 5 p.m. There is no entry fee, but artists are responsible for all shipping expenses. Selected artists may be considered for future exhibits at the Arboretum.

For more information, visit adkinsarboretum.org, call 410-634-2847, ext. 0 or send e-mail to info@adkinsarboretum.org.

The 2020 Juried Art Show is part of Adkins Arboretum’s ongoing exhibition series of work on natural themes by regional artists.

Adkins Arboretum is a 400-acre native garden and preserve at the headwaters of the Tuckahoe Creek in Caroline County. Open year round, the Arboretum offers educational programs for all ages about nature and gardening. For more information, visit adkinsarboretum.org or call 410-634-2847, ext. 0.

Adkins Arboretum Offers Fall Botanical Art Programs

October 5, 2019 by Adkins Arboretum Leave a Comment

“Maple Leaf,” a watercolor by Lee D’Zmura.

Join artists Lee D’Zmura and Anna Harding for botanical art programs offered this fall at Adkins Arboretum.

Color Pencil I is a three-part series offered Fridays, Oct. 18 to Nov. 1 from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Participants will learn basic color pencil techniques through demonstrations, exercises that explore application and tonal effects, and individual projects. The program is $165 for Arboretum members and $195 for non-members. A list of materials is provided.

In Watercolor: Fall Leaves, participants will learn how botanical illustration depicts the botanical features of the subject while expressing its unique character through composition, design and interpretation. The workshop will explore the wonders of color and the fragility of the fall leaf; students will produce a study of a single leaf. The program is Fri., Nov. 15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is $65 for Arboretum members and $80 for non-members. A list of materials is provided.

D’Zmura and Harding will co-teach both programs. An award-winning botanical artist whose experience as a landscape architect enriches her watercolors, D’Zmura received her certificate in botanical art from the Brookside Gardens School of Botanical Art and Illustration. Her work is in collections throughout the country. Harding, who has studied botanical art for nearly a decade, works on paper and drafting film with colored pencils and graphite. She is a member of the St. Michaels Art League and the Working Artist Forum.

Advance registration is required at adkinsarboretum.org or by calling 410-634-2847, ext. 0.

Adkins Arboretum is a 400-acre native garden and preserve at the headwaters of the Tuckahoe Creek in Caroline County. Open year round, the Arboretum offers educational programs for all ages about nature and gardening. For more information about programs, visit adkinsarboretum.org or call 410-634-2847, ext. 0.

“Listening” by Mary McCoy on View Through November at Adkins Arboretum

October 2, 2019 by Adkins Arboretum Leave a Comment

There’s a peculiar intimacy about the tiny panels of shells, pressed leaves and feathers in Listening, an exhibit by environmental artist and writer Mary McCoy on view through Nov. 29 in the Adkins Arboretum Visitor’s Center. Hung casually alongside printed poems, pencil drawings and large sculptures made with branches or vines, they create the curious feeling that you’re almost hearing the artist wondering about the nature of the plants and animals, landscape and water she encounters living on the Eastern Shore. There will be a reception to meet the artist and learn about her work on Sat., Nov. 16 from 3 to 5 p.m.

Mary McCoy, “What Does a Butterfly Know?”

McCoy uses a wide, unhindered vocabulary when creating her art. Natural materials from stones to butterfly wings mingle with poetry, drawings and colorful acrylic paint. There’s a dramatic drawing of an osprey soaring overhead, but somewhat more unorthodox are a poem written on a deer’s skull, a ruffly oyster shell laid on a bed of antique lace and an 18-foot-long curlicuing sculpture made entirely of greenbrier vines bristling with thorns.

Familiar to many in the area for the outdoor sculptures she creates in collaboration with her husband, Howard McCoy, in the Arboretum’s forest, McCoy’s own work has been deeply influenced by her experience of living on her family’s riverside farm near Centreville.

“I spend as much time as possible outside, walking on our farm, kayaking on the river,” McCoy explained. “Art-making is my method of exploring the world around me and synthesizing my experiences. I guess you could say I’m trying to see nature from the inside out.”

For McCoy, nature isn’t some large, faceless thing that’s “out there.” It’s ubiquitous, familiar and fascinating. Each artwork chronicles a discovery, whether it’s the beauty and intricacy of a butterfly’s wings, an autumn leaf or the irrepressible way vines climb into trees. Some of her works are comic—a wasp’s nest is labeled “Home,” and a panel of assorted beach pebbles is titled “No Two Stones Are Exactly Alike.” Others are poignant. One small painting with three maple leaves brushed with white paint has a line of type that reads, “What if there was no more green?”

It’s important to McCoy that her art be friendly and approachable. Before moving to the Eastern Shore nearly 27 years ago, she lived in the Washington area, where she actively exhibited her work and was an art critic for publications such as The Washington Post, New Art Examiner and The Washington Review. Her experiences taught her that too many people miss out on art because they see it as frivolous, incomprehensible or aloof. In her current art exhibits and her writings on art for The Chestertown Spy, The Talbot Spy and other organizations, she focuses on making art welcoming and accessible and showing how its main purpose may be to present opportunities to consider our viewpoints and think in new, creative ways.

“One of my favorite things about showing art at Adkins Arboretum is that all kinds of people come here, especially kids,” she said. “With all the time we spend on our computers and smart phones, we’re losing out on direct, personal encounters with nature. There’s so much to see and wonder about out there, and you can learn so much. I hope that my work can help open people to that experience.”

This show is part of Adkins Arboretum’s ongoing exhibition series of work on natural themes by regional artists. It is on view through Nov. 29 at the Arboretum Visitor’s Center located at 12610 Eveland Road near Tuckahoe State Park in Ridgely. Contact the Arboretum at 410–634–2847, ext. 0 or info@adkinsarboretum.org for gallery hours.

Adkins Arboretum’s Enchanted Fairyfest is October 12

September 20, 2019 by Adkins Arboretum Leave a Comment

Bring your wings and wands for a day of magic at Adkins Arboretum! The Arboretum’s fourth annual Fairyfest, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sat., Oct. 12, celebrates fancy, fantasy and fun in the forest. Follow a trail of fairy houses along enchanted forest paths, meet Cinderella’s fairy godmother and kick up your fairy feet in a meadow maypole dance.

Face painting, archery and swordplay for elven warriors, a dragon tram and magical games and crafts are all part of the fun. Elves and fairies can make their own bows, search for Rumpelstiltskin’s gold, sip nectar at an acorn tea party and explore the labyrinth in Emily’s Play Garden.

The Fairy Queen (Chelsea Raithby) greets visitors to Adkins Arboretum’s annual Fairyfest. Photo by Kellen McCluskey.

The event includes live entertainment throughout the day, including performances by Shore Shakespeare, Ampersand, Chestertown Ukulele Club and the Sammati Dance Troupe. Unicorn rides provided by Snapdragon Stables, food by BBQ and Beyond and ice cream from Nice Farms Creamery will be available for purchase.

All are invited to enter The Great Fairy House Challenge. Awards will be given in the categories of Most Magical, Golden Fairy, Simply Spellbinding and Enchanted Excellence. Entries must be brought to the Arboretum October 4–6 and will be displayed during Fairyfest. Submission guidelines are available at adkinsarboretum.org.

Admission to Fairyfest is $10 for adults and children ages 3 and up and free for children 2 and under. Admission can be paid in advance at adkinsarboretum.org.

Explore the Tree in the History of Art at Adkins Arboretum

September 11, 2019 by Adkins Arboretum Leave a Comment

Albrecht Altdorfer, Large Spruce, 1517

From early sacred drawings to modern exhibitions, the tree features prominently in art. Join Benjamin Tilghman, assistant professor of art and art history at Washington College, for an October lecture series at Adkins Arboretum that considers instances where artists have made trees the primary subject of their artworks. Woven Mulberries, Abandoned Oaks and Gilded Larches: Exploring the Tree in the History of Art aims toward developing a deeper understanding of the relationships among humans, trees and the environment as a whole. Each of Tilghman’s three lectures can be enjoyed individually or in a series. Programs include:

Renaissance Era: Sun., Oct. 13, 1–2:30 p.m. The program will focus on the Renaissance artists Albrecht Dürer, Albrecht Altdorfer and Leonardo da Vinci. While all three helped to revolutionize artistic depictions of the natural world, their approaches are different in ways that highlight diverging ideas about nature in the sixteenth century.

Romantic Era: Sun., Oct 20, 1–2:30 p.m. This talk will highlight artists such as Caspar David Friedrich and John Constable and will explore how trees played a role in their attempts to bring together the sublime power of the natural world with changing ideas about the environment and national identity.

Contemporary Era: Sun., Oct. 27, 1–2:30 p.m. This final lecture will explore how contemporary artists, including Ai Wei Wei, Andy Goldsworthy and Giuseppe Penone have used trees to highlight the fraught but meaningful relationship between humanity and the environment.

Tilghman specializes in the art of medieval and early modern Europe but maintains an active interest in the art of the Islamic world and modern and contemporary art. His research has focused primarily on objects from early medieval Ireland and Great Britain, with special interest on manuscripts such as the Book of Kells and the Lindisfame Gospels. Since 2010, he has been a core member of the Material Collective, a collaborative working group of art historians dedicated to fostering innovative and humane research in the humanities.

Each lecture is $15 for members and $20 for non-members. Advance registration is appreciated at adkinsarboretum.org or by calling 410-634-2847, ext. 0.

The High & Wides to Headline Adkins Arboretum Beer Garden September 28

September 7, 2019 by Adkins Arboretum Leave a Comment

Local beer, fresh seafood, ice cream and music by The High & Wides are all on tap when Adkins Arboretum hosts its second annual Beer Garden on Sat., Sept. 28.

Like the large-haul trains for which the band is named, The High & Wides project a big, driving sound—mountain music reimagined for a new century. Regional favorites hailing from Chestertown, the group released its debut album, Lifted, to widespread acclaim in 2018. Dubbed the “apostles of hillbilly boogie” by The Washington Post, the group draws from its members’ extensive bluegrass backgrounds to take the music to a place all their own, recalling an era when old-time, rockabilly and proto-rock ‘n’ roll coexisted in a murky soup of hillbilly string band music.

Photos courtesy of The High & Wides

Centreville’s Bull & Goat Brewery will be pulling premium craft beer and homemade root beer, complemented by fresh seafood from Centreville’s family-owned Bay Shore Steam Pot and small-batch “cow to cup” ice cream served by American Corner’s Nice Farms Creamery.

The Beer Garden runs from 4 to 6 p.m. As the day cools down, guests can dance to the band, take a woodland walk or join in games. Admission is $10 in advance and $15 at the door for adults, $5 for children ages 3 to 18 and free for children ages 2 and under. Beer and food are an additional fee. Seating is limited; please bring chairs or blankets to enjoy the event.

Advance registration is appreciated. To register, visit adkinsarboretum.org or call 410-634-2847, ext. 0.

Adkins Arboretum Announces Fall Open House and Native Plant Sale

August 23, 2019 by Adkins Arboretum Leave a Comment

Enjoy fall in the garden! Adkins Arboretum will hold its annual Fall Open House and Native Plant Sale Fri. through Sun., Sept. 6–8 at the Arboretum in Ridgely, Md. The sale will be held at the Visitor’s Center.

Fall is the best season for planting, and the Arboretum offers the Chesapeake region’s largest selection of ornamental native trees, shrubs, perennials, ferns and grasses for the fall landscape. Many native plants produce seeds, flowers and fruit in fall that attract migratory birds and butterflies. Brilliant orange butterfly weed and stunning red cardinal flower attract pollinators to the garden, while native asters add subtle shades of purple and blue. Redbud and dogwood dot the early-spring landscape with color, and shrubs such as aronia and beautyberry provide food and habitat for wildlife.

Native asters add color to the fall landscape and attract pollinators to the garden. Photo by Kellen McCluskey.

Open House hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Fri., Sept. 6 and Sat., Sept. 7 and noon to 4 p.m. on Sun., Sept. 8. Following the Open House, plants will be sold through fall at the Visitor’s Center.

Members receive a significant discount on plant purchases. Presale plant orders, including a ready-to-plant pollinator garden pack, will be accepted at adkinsarboretum.org through Thurs., Aug. 22 and may be picked up anytime during the Open House weekend.

Proceeds from plants sold at the Fall Open House benefit the Arboretum’s education programs. For more information, call 410-634-2847, extension 0 or visit adkinsarboretum.org.

Tidal, Mixed Media Works by Alison Cooley, on View at Adkins Arboretum

August 2, 2019 by Adkins Arboretum Leave a Comment

There’s something dazzling about the pure, carefree joy of Alison Cooley’s mixed media paintings in her exhibit, Tidal, on view at Adkins Arboretum’s Visitor’s Center through Sept. 27. Although abstract, their watery pools of deep, luscious color and the needle-thin lines that scribble and loop across their surfaces conjure seaweed swirling under the waves, wind-whipped grasses and the sweeping movement of flocks of birds or schools of fish. There will be a reception to meet the artist on Sat., Aug. 10 from 3 to 5 p.m.

Artwork by Alison Cooley

Cooley has long been fascinated with the ever-changing margins where water meets land.

“I am always drawn to the edges of land,” she said. “I lived for 14 years on Nantucket Island, and now my studio in Easton is near the water. Even when I lived in cities, I was close to the rivers. The immediacy and intensity of weather and water continue to be a big theme for me.”

Everything is in motion in these paintings. As if glimpsed in a fleeting moment of change, the lush pools of emerald, turquoise and inky blue in “Tidal 7175” seem to billow out of the pure white of the paper. Skinny colored lines make gawky ovals that skitter by on top, while tiny doodles bubble up here and there. The effect is comic, beautiful and as exhilarating as a walk on the beach. You can almost feel the refreshing chill of foamy water streaming around your ankles.

Cooley paints and draws with acrylic ink, oil pastel, pencil, pen and marker. Whether on large gessoed panels or on yupo paper, a super-smooth, waterproof polypropylene paper, she works on ultra-smooth surfaces that allow her ink to flow and bloom with seemingly effortless ease. Like some of the artists she admires, including Helen Frankenthaler, Franz Kline and Cy Twombly, Cooley works spontaneously, listening to music as she mixes drawing and painting techniques in deceptively casual dialogues between color and linework, texture and smoothness, tension and flow.

“I start my work by staining the panel or paper with pools of ink,” she explained. “I find layering, marking and untangling forms an intuitive process, so I move from piece to piece. Sound and music are a huge part of my practice. In the end, I think less about painting and more about being in balance with the harmonies and rhythms of the music or the subtle noises from outside.”

Each of Cooley’s paintings is a wild dance of rich, earthy spills of paint mingling with swooping linework and gatherings of tiny marks. Full of fascinating details that sometimes look almost like what you might find in a tidal pool, sometimes like handwritten secret messages, they allow for many interpretations. But, like both music and nature, each is an energetic balancing act between change and continuity.

Asked what she hopes people will get from her paintings, Cooley said she prefers they form their own ideas, but that they may have “a feeling of the beautiful and relentless cycle of nature and, in larger strokes: harmony and dissonance, certainty and illusion.”

This show is part of Adkins Arboretum’s ongoing exhibition series of work on natural themes by regional artists. It is on view through Sept. 27 at the Arboretum Visitor’s Center located at 12610 Eveland Road near Tuckahoe State Park in Ridgely. Contact the Arboretum at 410–634–2847, ext. 0 or info@adkinsarboretum.org for gallery hours.

Adkins Arboretum Graduates Master Naturalist Class

July 30, 2019 by Adkins Arboretum Leave a Comment

In June, Adkins Arboretum graduated its 2018-2019 class of Maryland Master Naturalist interns. Geared toward the study of the coastal plain, the program provides training for volunteers to learn and share knowledge of the natural world in Maryland and engages citizens as stewards of Maryland’s natural ecosystems and resources through science-based education and volunteer service in their communities. The Arboretum offers Master Naturalist training annually in partnership with Pickering Creek Audubon Center, Phillips Wharf Environmental Center and ShoreRivers.

Pictured are (front row, left to right) Mary Drake, Denise DeOrio, Sue Hauser, Robin Page, Lianna Gomori-Ruben and Gail Raty. Back row, left to right, are Samantha Baker, Mike Morgan, Adkins Assistant Director and Master Naturalist Facilitator Jenny Houghton, Dorie Coleman, Deborah Colborn, Eric Mills, Vivian Stacy, Laura Bittinger, Laura Lindsay, Sara Robins, Susan Green, Dolores Engle and Greg DeCowsky.

Individuals accepted into Master Naturalist training receive 60 hours of instruction, including hands-on outdoors experience. All classes are taught by experts in the subject. The curriculum includes sessions on Maryland’s natural history, flora and fauna, principles of ecology, human interaction with the landscape, and teaching and interpretation. Following training, participants serve in their communities as University of Maryland Extension volunteers.

Applications are being accepted for the 2019-2020 Master Naturalist class. Training sessions will be held monthly from October to July. The program fee is $250. For more information or to apply for the Master Naturalist program, contact Jenny Houghton at 410-634-2847, ext. 23 or jhoughton@adkinsarboretum.org, or visit extension.umd.edu/masternaturalist.

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