Director's Note 4/1/16

April 1, 2016

I had been hearing rumors of the rafter of turkeys roaming the grounds last week, but mostly missing all but the stray turkey or two, until one morning I looked up from my computer and saw them, directly in my line of sight, under the trees at the western edge of the garden. They eddied and flowed, pecking at the ground, occasionally erupting into what looked like frantic circular chases--a trick of the perspective. Saturday morning the snow necessitated a circuitous route up to Lynden, and when I went to unlock the front door, two large toms were peering through the windows, silently opening their beaks as if preparing for mating season. They swayed across the patio, lifting and placing their feet carefully as if wary of sharp objects or hot stones, but still willing to interrupt their slow progress to nibble at unseen specks and contemplate Sorel Etrog's The Source before heading off in search of their companions.

The turkeys appeared unaffected by Saturday's changeable weather; in no time they will be making their way around the more reflective sculptures--Tony Smith's Wandering Rocks, Heinz Mack's Three Graces--chasing their reflections and each other. The scores of kindergartners who have visited Lynden for field trips recently as part of the SHARP Literacy program have proven equally stoic about the mercurial environment. When indoors, many of them took special pleasure in Kim Cridler's Field Study 15: Bur Oak, a significant part of her current exhibition. Field trip season is ramping up fast, and then it's on to summer camps.

In addition to our usual activities for children, families and dogs--art drop-in, School's Out and family workshops, Tuesdays in the Garden, a homeschool day, Story Time in the Garden and dog day--we have some special opportunities in April. On the 10th we kick off two new activities: a conservation framing series with Bruce Knackert, who manages our collections, and the first of a couple of bird walks with poet Chuck Stebelton. For those whose interests extend in both directions, it's possible to make a morning of it, with an opportunity for some coffee and bagels in between. Stebelton will be seeking out avian residents and migrants, and Knackert, focusing on works on paper, will demonstrate framing practices and pitfalls to help you speak knowledgeably to framers and preserve your own collection. We'll celebrate International Sculpture Day with a grow workshop on April 24, and Lynden's land managers leap into gardening season with another hands-on workshop: Rain Gardens...A Beautiful Solution to Water Pollution. We go out with a bang, welcoming Elizabeth Berg, author of The Dream Lover (hint to Francophiles: this is a novel about writer and iconoclast George Sand) to the Women's Speaker Series.

While we are talking about books, we'd like to remind all art lovers that our friends at Boswell Book Company are bringing photographer Sally Mann to town on April 30, Independent Bookstore Day, to talk with writer Liam Callanan about Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs.


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