Director's Note 11/1/11

It’s true. I haven’t owned a camera in 19 years. So when I set out on Tuesday with the Lynden camera to take a few pictures of the autumn color to post on Facebook, things did not go entirely well. I was three quarters of the way around the lake before I figured out how the zoom worked (funny how I remembered the zoom!). And I spent a lot of time trying to frame the shots so that I didn’t include any sculpture, because the artists who made the sculptures retain the copyright and therefore the right to reproduce images of their work. I had hoped that a few photos of the glorious maples would entice you out to Lynden this weekend, before the leaves are all gone. (Of course, without Photoshop and the ability to color correct the files, I have produced a series of miniature landscapes littered with doubtful pink trees.)

And yet, it’s really the light I’d like you to see: the fall light as the sun passes just above the tree tops in the late afternoon, sparing neither the stark and leafless elms nor the gaudy maples. You’ll have to come and see that for yourself, and if you don’t make it this week, I suggest that you join us on November 5 for our first plein air painting event. Why, you ask, did we wait until early November to paint outside? Well, because it took some time to settle that gnarly copyright issue, and figure out how to open the grounds to artists without discreetly draping the man-made works with sheets or declaring them otherwise off limits. We do hope this will be the first of many such events, and that it will be equally attractive to rank beginners and seasoned professionals.

November is also the time for a Willow Reed Basket Workshop and the second of Heather Eiden’s Chakra Workshops (you can still attend the first workshop, on the Root Chakra, on October 30). If you still have a Yoga in the Garden class card, these are good occasions to use it. We will be open on Thanksgiving weekend: Friday, 10 am- 5pm and Saturday and Sunday, 12 noon-5 pm.

Still to come in October: the jurors who will choose the next seven Nohl Fellows will give a public talk at Inova on October 27 before repairing to Lynden on Friday to begin their work (winners will be announced November 7); and it’s not too late to sign up for our first School’s Out Workshop on October 28.