A new memorial opened last month in D.C., this one honoring Veterans Disabled for Life. I’ve watched its progress from the U.S. Botanic Gardens across the street, and seen it presented to a reviewing agency, so was excited to finally see it open. Here’s a fun 2-minute video of its construction and finally, dedication, from […]
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Posted by
Susan Harris on November 13, 2014 at 8:52 pm This post has 12 responses.
For just this month a 6-acre strip of lawn on the National Mall has been turned into a portrait in sand and dirt by Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada called “Out of Many, One.” Commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery, it’s a composite of many ethnic groups, a generic face of Americans. About...
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Susan Harris on October 16, 2014 at 8:32 pm This post has 4 responses.
Wandering around Pittsburgh I came upon this fabulous mural depicting cherry blossoms in bloom and a charming collection of old homes. It was off the beaten track, enlivening not a park but the parking lot for a neighborhood restaurant. How does something so wonderful get done, anyway? By an...
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Susan Harris on September 4, 2014 at 4:57 pm This post has 19 responses.
This year’s international Park(ing) Day falls on September 19, a mere two weeks from now. On that day, individuals, groups, and businesses in cities around the world will commandeer on-street parking spaces and convert them to temporary parklets. These people-friendly spaces might include plants, seating, bike parking, games, exercise...
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Evelyn Hadden on September 3, 2014 at 3:08 am This post has 3 responses.
From my recent stay in Pittsburgh I’ve shown you Randyland, which writer/adventurers Susan Reimer, Ginny Smith, Carrie Engel and I stumbled upon while playing hooky from hotel conference rooms. We were on our way to another destination, installation-art gallery the Mattress Factory, which had been called a “must-see” by keynote speaker...
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Susan Harris on September 2, 2014 at 3:03 pm This post has 7 responses.
Is a particular plant a weed? Is a garden a work of art? And who gets to decide? If you’ve read our recent rantings, you’ve likely noticed these questions do not have simple answers. The answers vary, depending on the gardener. Many gardeners (like me) learn their land slowly....
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Posted by
Evelyn Hadden on July 2, 2014 at 3:09 am This post has 21 responses.
The Royal Hort Society is holding a debate I’d love to hear. The topic is: “Are Gardens Art?” and get a load of the line-up of debaters — a critic, a designer, a plantsperson and a philosopher: Andrew Wilson (Chair of the debate panel) – Award winning Garden Designer,...
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Garden Rant on June 17, 2014 at 1:40 pm This post has 25 responses.
For decades,Washingtonians have known about a Marc Chagall mosaic in the back garden of a private residence in Georgetown and have strained to see mere glimpses of it from over the garden wall. Homeowner Evelyn Nef and her husband had been great friends with the Chagalls, who spent summers...
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Susan Harris on May 23, 2014 at 8:21 am This post has 3 responses.
Just in time for local wildflower season (finally), the Burchfield Penney Art Museum is mounting a show of Charles Burchfield’s early botanical drawings. Along with them, they have the models made by another artist, Paul Marchand, who specialized in dioramas and other 3D displays for the local science museum’s...
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Posted by
Elizabeth Licata on May 6, 2014 at 7:07 am This post has 2 responses.
We are what we eat, right? What we wear says a lot about us, doesn’t it? Basically, everything we put out into the world says something about who we are, and people are reading those cues all of the time. So during this holiday season, I did a thing...
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Posted by
Ivette Soler on December 27, 2013 at 5:23 pm This post has 24 responses.
A lot of us gardening addicts think we live in our own little particularized universe, isolated by our allegiance to perennials, seeds, bulbs, vines, compost, mulch, pruners, trowels, and topsoil. Nobody we know cares about gardening as much as we do. I know I feel that way. That’s why,...
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Posted by
Elizabeth Licata on December 2, 2013 at 9:05 am This post has 3 responses.
I recently ventured to Virginia to a place I’d never been before – the Pentagon Memorial to the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack. Its design by two young architects had been selected in a heated international competition by a group that included family members of the victims, as...
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Posted by
Susan Harris on November 29, 2013 at 11:01 am This post has 9 responses.
Not the kind that goes on your finger. We’re talking boulders here, folks. Specifically, one large boulder in the middle of a lawn. What’s up with that? What statement is it making? Is it being displayed as a natural sculpture? Is it being used to add a little textural...
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Posted by
Evelyn Hadden on November 20, 2013 at 2:31 am This post has 25 responses.
This is the time when the newly emerged hostas look their freshest (“June Frost,” below)—no slug damage, leaves torn by the sprinkler, or other signs of wear yet. It’s also the weekend of our annual art festival, which brings “sunshine artists” from far and wide into my neighborhood. You’d...
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Posted by
Elizabeth Licata on June 10, 2013 at 7:46 am This post has 5 responses.
Thanks once again to my Hollywood brother for this one, who actually managed to cast an actor to do most of the heavy lifting.
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Posted by
Amy Stewart on December 22, 2012 at 12:28 pm This post has 6 responses.
At first I wasn’t sure that showing the paintings of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera together, along with all the biographical drama that comes with that, was such a great idea. I’m somewhat of a purist when it comes to looking at art—I want to be able to assess...
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Posted by
Elizabeth Licata on November 5, 2012 at 9:39 am This post has 4 responses.
Walking through an exhibit made to look like an old house filled with the characters and stories and artifacts from a book I wrote…that is a weird experience. And I realize that it sounds like shameless self-promotion to talk about it, but–it must be talked about. It’s happening at...
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Posted by
Amy Stewart on May 30, 2012 at 4:25 am This post has 15 responses.
As long as we're talking about booze today, here's a strange and marvelous thing: the people at Hendrick's Gin are injecting their usual madcap absurdity into London Cocktail Week, an event it pains me greatly to miss. Anyway, they've created an Umbrella Emporium to pay tribute to the cocktail...
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Posted by
Amy Stewart on October 19, 2011 at 6:27 pm This post has 6 responses.
Now that the book tour madness has settled down a bit, I'm hoping I'll get to pick up my paintbrush more often. I always paint small–it's all I have time for–and the most expedient way to move them out of my attic and on to someone ele's wall seems...
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Amy Stewart on July 6, 2011 at 2:00 pm This post has 6 responses.
How cool and interesting and weird is this? Here's what I know about it: The Crocker Art Museum will open the world’s first photosynthetic restaurant this spring. Conceptual artist Jonathon Keats has developed a gourmet cuisine for flora by filtering and mixing different wavelengths of sunlight. Keats’ installation will...
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Posted by
Amy Stewart on June 1, 2011 at 1:20 pm This post has 10 responses.
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