LYNDEN SCULPTURE GARDEN LAUNCHES “CONVERSATIONS AT THE INTERSECTION OF ART AND NATURE”

July 28, 2010

For further information:
Polly Morris, (414) 446-8794
pmorris@lyndensculpturegarden.org
lyndensculpturegarden.org

Guest or Invader? Buckthorn in River Hills, August 11

What do buckthorn, sculpture and River Hills have in common? The Lynden Sculpture Garden hosts Guest or Invader? Buckthorn in River Hills, the first in a series of Conversations at the Intersection of Art and Nature in conjunction with its current exhibition, Inside/Outside: Linda Wervey Vitamvas & Kevin Giese. The conversation, moderated by Executive Director Polly Morris, takes place on Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 5:30 pm at the Lynden Sculpture Garden, 2145 W. Brown Deer Road. Admission to the event is free; day membership (which includes the ability to roam the gardens and visit the art collection in the house from 10 am to dusk that day) is $9 for adults and $7 for students, seniors and active military. Children under 6 are admitted free with an adult. Annual memberships are also available.

Kevin Giese, whose outdoor installation, Immigrant, is constructed from carved buckthorn trunks and live buckthorn trees, will talk with Darlene Lochbihler, a Master Gardener familiar with invasive species in River Hills, about the history of the buckthorn, biodiversity, and how artists can help us see nature in new ways. An initial focus on Giese’s intervention in the landscape and the particular problem of buckthorn proliferation in River Hills will lead to a broader investigation of how we talk about and continually redefine our relationship to the natural world. What elements--science, culture, history, geography--shape our determination of what is natural or unnatural, native or invasive? The audience is encouraged to participate in this conversation.

The title of Giese’s piece, Immigrant, points directly to the metaphor of invasion and the way the language of political conflict permeates the discourse on nature. “Fifteen years ago I discovered the beautiful orange heartwood of mature buckthorn trees,” says Giese. “I quickly learned that they are considered invasive.” First introduced in this country from Europe in the 19th century, buckthorns—with their elegant curves and small stature--were prized as ornamental trees. Giese has worked with the wood in many forms, from furniture to installation. The trees for Immigrant were harvested from the Lynden grounds. “As a naturalist I lament the losses inflicted on our native habitat by these trees. As an artist I am intrigued by the dynamic between their visual beauty, strong resilient characteristics and their pariah status: unwanted, disliked, and overlooked.”

“Invasive plants threaten biodiversity,” observes Lochbihler, “and maintaining biodiversity is a dynamic process. In an environment where invasive plants have gained a foothold, allowing areas to ‘go natural’ can be as hazardous as the monocultural landscaping and manicured lawns of prior decades.” Lochbihler is intrigued by the way Giese’s use of buckthorn allows us to see our habitat differently. “Immigrant challenges us to really look at buckthorn and recognize it around us.”

Over the course of many years, Kevin Giese has produced work that is shaped by Buddhist philosophy, a deep knowledge of and affection for the natural world, and an extensive understanding of traditional wood joining techniques. Giese views his artistic project as one of repair and re-presentation of natural objects; he employs processes that echo nature’s slow and repetitive rhythms as he reconstructs pieces of the physical world in his sculptures and installations. His web site is: kevingiese.com. Darlene Lochbihler, a former landscape designer, has been a Master Gardener since 1990 and a member of the River Hills Committee on the Environment since 2001.

Inside/Outside: Linda Wervey Vitamvas & Kevin Giese is the first in a series of temporary exhibitions featuring artists working in the gallery and on the grounds. The exhibition in the gallery remains on view through August 11, 2010; the outdoor installations, though temporary, will remain as long as they are intact. By choosing Inside/Outside as an inaugural theme, the Lynden Sculpture Garden hopes to initiate a dialogue between the new indoor gallery and the environment--both sculpture and nature--beyond its walls; to explore Lynden’s transition from a private, domestic space to a public space; and to define Lynden’s new position within the local and regional art community.

Future installations will spawn new conversations on art and nature, conversations that will draw on many disciplines to reframe and illuminate a variety of subjects.

The Lynden Sculpture Garden, formerly the Bradley Sculpture Garden, offers a unique experience of art in nature through its collection of more than 50 monumental sculptures sited across 40 acres of park, lake and woodland. The sculpture garden is open to art and nature lovers of all ages on Wednesdays from 10 am to dusk and on Sundays from 12 noon to 5 pm.


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