Story Keeper: Works by Melanie Yazzie opens

Planting Seeds in the Dirt at Wide Ruins, acrylic on canvas, 30" x 30", 2010.

Story Keeper: Works by Melanie Yazzie marks the first of an innovative, year-long look at contemporary Native arts that explore ideas and issues facing today’s American Indian communities.

This new body or work created by Melanie Yazzie (Dine, the term Navajo use to identify themselves) tells plant-inspired stories. While colorful and whimsical, her work has serious undertones, and references Native post-colonial dilemmas. She often brings images of indigenous women to the forefront, alluding to matrilineal systems and pointing to the possibility of female leadership.
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Henry Moore’s Inspiration from the Natural World

“Sculpture should always at first sight have some obscurities, and further meanings. People should want to go on looking and thinking; it should never tell all about itself immediately.” – Henry Moore, 1968

The impressive and seamless interaction of Henry Moore’s sculptures with the landscape of the Gardens gives the impression that Moore (1898-1986) had been working intently with form and landscape from the early days of his art career. However, it wasn’t until he was nearly 50 years old during the end of World War II that he began to focus on creating sculpture for landscape, and it wasn’t until he was well into his 60s that he began to reference natural objects in his sculpture work.

"Goslar Warrior" (LH 641, 1973-74) Reproduced by permission of the Henry Moore Foundation. Photo by Scott Dressel-Martin.

After losing his home and studio in London to damages from air raids, Moore and his wife moved to Perry Green at Hertfordshire in 1940. The lush rolling hills enveloped by the Chestnut and Beech trees became inspiration for Moore to focus on creating dialogue between sculpture and landscape and a source for working pure, organic forms into his work.

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Terry Maker Artwork Installed at the Gardens

As Denver Botanic Gardens celebrates the re-opening of Marnie’s Pavilion, another meaningful addition has been installed in the grand staircase of the renovated orchid house. Artist Terry Maker’s Garden of Nineveh: Sweet now glows against the cool tones of freshly painted white walls. The work was originally created for installation at MCA Denver in 2008 and represents only half of the two-part mixed media work. Relying on found objects as source material, Maker has a “desire to challenge herself and the viewer to investigate her complex surfaces and meanings.” 

 Courtesy of the artist and Robischon Gallery.  

Pictured Above:  Terry Maker participating in the installation and a glimpse of the end result.

Explore Moore’s Modernism with Michael Parke-Taylor, Art Gallery of Ontario

Pictured here: Moore, Warrior with Shield, 1953-54 (LH 360), bronze, edition of 5 + 1. Height: 152.5cm. Art Gallery of Ontario, Gift from the Junior Women's Committee Fund, 1955. #54/12.

Join Art Gallery of Ontario’s Curator of Modern Art, Michael Parke-Taylor, at the Gardens this Thursday, June 10 at 7 p.m. for the Curator Lecture Series: “Henry Moore: Reputation/Reception/Recuperation.” Examine a darker side to Henry Moore that comes to the fore in the 1930s, informed by contemporary developments from both surrealist and abstract camps (Picasso, Giacometti and Arp).

Once Moore had achieved international fame after WWII, what was his reception in the U.K. and particularly in Toronto? How does his reputation need to be recuperated in order to assess his true achievement? How have contemporary artists responded to Moore? Turner Prize winning British artist Simon Starling will provide the test case.

Schools Out! Is your child coming to Garden Camp?

Throughout the last week or so, shouts of joy have come from thousands of children across the city as they celebrate the end of school.  Now that summer is starting to sink in, some parents may begin to wonder “what am I going to do with them all summer!”

Denver Botanic Gardens has your answer – our week long Garden Camps offer a fun and educational way for kids to spend the summer.   Each week we explore new plant and garden related themes with garden explorations, hands-on activities and projects that you can take home. 
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Last Chance to See Southwest Paintings by Joellyn Duesberry

As weather acts as a catalyst for spring fever, visitors to the Gardens won’t want to miss the final days of “Joellyn Duesberry’s Southwest: Sharpening the Edge.” The renowned Colorado artist’s methods of blending plein-air painting with abstracted forms result in unique landscapes. Last day to view the exhibition is this Sunday, April 4. Click here for more information.

Art Exhibit: Mid-Century Modern Interpreted

A Final Celebration of 50 Years at the York Street Site 

Sharon Feder, Denver Botanic Gardens North, 24" x 36", oil on panel

Opening this Saturday, November 21 in Gates Garden Court Gallery is an art exhibition featuring the work of nine Colorado artists celebrating Denver Botanic Gardens’ unique architectural features. Working in a variety of media, artists in the group show include: Jamie Bolane (Boulder), Eric Dallimore (Denver), Sharon Feder (Denver), Amy Giertz (Lakewood), Dan Hartline (Erie), John Lencicki (Denver), Christopher Phelps (Centennial), Cheryl Price (Conifer), and Katharine Smith-Warren (Denver).

Be sure to visit the El Pomar Room to experience an exhibition component that explores the important design contributions of Victor Hornbein and Edward White, Garrett Eckbo, Koichi Kawana, Saco DeBoer and new structures by Tryba Architects.

A cell phone audio tour highlighting architectural details both inside and outside is available. 

Technology + Nature = Great Art

Boulder artist Bonny Lhotka combines innovative printing methods with an age-old subject matter in the “Alchemy Garden” exhibit at Denver Botanic Gardens. Her mixed media artworks blend the precise methodology of laser engraving with soft, natural forms such as flowers to achieve an effect that begs investigation. When not referencing the natural world directly, Lhotka’s work addresses the passing of time and the change it brings.

 “Alchemy Garden” presents 13 works created specifically for installation in the Gates Garden Court gallery space. On view through September 20; free with Gardens’ admission. Pictured here is Lhotka’s “Lavender,” mixed media engraving on birch boxes.