Orchids in Paint Art Exhibit • Voted Florida's Best Garden
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ORCHIDS IN PAINT ART EXHIBIT • VOTED FLORIDA’S BEST GARDEN • THE YEAR OF THE CARILLON The Vol. 2 | Issue 1 | Winter 2010 A newsletter from Bok Tower Gardens www.boktowergardens.org 2 | The Garden Path | Winter 2010 FROM THE PRESIDENT When Edward Bok wrote in the forward of his book America’s Taj Mahal, ”The gardens are the stuff of which dreams are made,” he must have known the profound effect his lasting gift would have on visitors in the future. Many tell us how their childhood experience visiting the Gardens long ago created a lasting memory. Some came with parents on a weekly basis in a ritual after- church picnic; others may have only come once on a family vacation. A friend told me that as a young girl growing up in Michigan she had a photo of the Singing Tower hanging in her home and often wondered where it was. Was it some ancient temple deep in the forest? Who built that beautiful building and what did it honor? My friend went on with her life and retired in Sebring. To her surprise, that ancient temple of her childhood dreams was standing in a subtropical forest near her new home. One of the world’s greatest architectural treasures with its surrounding gardens was created to honor Bok’s grandparents and their love of beauty. It is a place to celebrate what is good in the world and the best of what man can be. The inner sanctum of the temple, inside the Founder’s Room, is adorned with a high arched ceiling, stone carvings, tile mosaics and fine iron work. Carved above the fireplace are the words given to him by his grandmother by which Bok lived his life, “make you the world a bit better or more beautiful because you have lived in it.” The value of exposing children to beauty is incalculable. Whether it is in art, architecture, music, home, community or school, beauty is internalized by A young visitor enjoying the beauty of the children and will have a positive influence for a lifetime. Bok Tower Gardens Gardens in bloom. is as much a place as it is an idea and a philosophy. I invite you to share that View from inside the Founder’s Room of the philosophy with a child or a friend throughout the new year. Singing Tower. The Great Brass Door’s 30 panels depict the biblical story of creation. David Price, President Photos by Martin Corbin, John Moran by Photos The David Price President Cassie Jacoby Editor Martin Corbin Graphic Design 1 2 3 Editorial Contributors Nick Baker Jennifer Beam Marjola Burdeshaw Robert V. Burt Cindy Campbell William De Turk Sandra Dent Christine Foley 4 5 Jane Hink IN THE MEDIA Steve Jolley Patricia Jones Katrina Noland 1 4 President David Price welcomed WUSF’s A two-hour special on Fox 13’s “Good Sue Paetzold classical music host Bethany Cagle back as Day Tampa Bay” made it a GREAT DAY for Cheryl Peterson the emcee of Sunset & Symphony. We also Christmas at Pinewood when hundreds of David Price hosted eight travel writers from throughout visitors arrived to follow in Charley Belcher’s Pirjo Restina the United States and Canada for a picnic footsteps; Joan Thomas during the concert. The media event was one 5 Orlando Sentinel garden writer Tom of four familiarization tours during 2009 that MacCubbin promoted us on his “Better Homes resulted in national, state and local coverage and Gardens” network of 22 radio stations Mission Bok Tower Gardens seeks to carry garnering approximately $2.5 million in statewide. In addition to offering Friendship out Edward W. Bok’s founding non-paid editorial for the Gardens and Polk Passes as contest prizes, Tom urged his listeners inspiration: County. We’ve received the following major to give the Gardens as holiday gifts which Wherever your lives may be cast, make you the world a bit better or more media coverage: helped increase our membership to almost beautiful because you have lived in it. 2 TV host Karen Creed and her crew from 4,200! By preserving and sharing the Dublin, Ireland showcased the Singing Tower Thanks to all our media friends for beauty, environment, architecture, music, art and history while on her show, “Unravel Travel,” also watched continuing to spread the word. If you have inspiring others to carry on the by 19 million viewers in Dubai, United Arab a friend in the media, please recommend the tradition. Emirates; Gardens as a potential feature story. Bok Tower Gardens, a nonprofit 503 (c) 3 The new luxury lifestyle magazine “Blu organization, is supported by tax-exempt gifts and contributions and is sponsored in Tampa Bay” that featured the Gardens in a 10- part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, Florida page photo essay; Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. MM/6.5M/0110 4 | The Garden Path | Winter 2010 ART EXHIBITS Artist Gary Gessford’s larger than Bok Tower Gardens is offering three-day workshops for life paintings of orchids explode intermediate & advanced students of watercolor, with color through the interplay acrylic and oils. These workshops have limited between color, light, form and texture. enrollment so sign up early! From Paris, France to Germany, Florida and Washington, D.C., Gary has painted, taught, lectured and Floral Painting Architecture in exhibited for more than 30 years. He Workshop with Landscape Workshop trained at the Ringling School of Art, Gary Gessford with Gary Gessford Corcoran School of Art, Georgia State March 12 – 14 from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. May 21 – 23 from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. University and the University Learn how to create compositions Paint textures and details in of South Florida. for floral paintings, get the most architecture using Mediterranean- out of color in flowers. How to style Pinewood Estate and the photograph and sketch from life, Singing Tower as your subject. “Orchids in Paint” art and then turn them into paintings. exhibit open through January 28 in the Visitor Center. For registration information visit us online or contact us at 863.734.1221 “The interplay between the color, light, form and texture of the subject moves me. How I feel when those inspirations flow out through my medium onto the canvas or paper captivates me always. My artwork goes much deeper than the surface of what one may see.” Winter 2010 | The Garden Path | 5 Arthur Morris 26-year career in public gardens was inspired when, as a child, he visited Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina and saw the stone One of America’s top nature photographers and writers, Arthur and bronze sculptures displayed in a garden setting. Morris will display a stunning collection of his bird photographs. Artie is an official Canon photographer and a member of its Meet the Artists: Saturday, January 30 prestigious “Explorers of Light” campaign. His photographs have Reception & Gallery walk: 6 - 7 p.m. been published in hundreds of magazines, books and calendars. Slide-lecture: 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. He is the author of “The Art of Bird Photography.” Book signing: 8:30 - 9 p.m. David Price Limited seating. Pre-registration required. Call 863.734.1221. Bok Tower Gardens’ president David Price is a self-taught artist whose bronze sculptures capture the form and function of “Birds as Art” & Winged Creation art exhibits anatomy and convey the attitude of the subject. His art and open January 30 – April 1 in the Visitor Center. Watercolor On Thursdays Art Classes January 28 through April 14 Sebring artist Owen Jolly will teach new techniques, strengthen drawing skills and get your creativity flowing with on-location and studio work, demonstrations and constructive critique. Still life, floral, landscape and portrait subjects will be included. Classes are held mostly indoors. Beginner and intermediate classes available. For more information visit us online or contact us at 863.734.1221 6 | The Garden Path | Winter 2010 Edward Bok designed the Singing Tower as a place like no other that would stand the test of time. But after 80 years, rust is tarnishing his dream. Crafted from natural materials of Georgia marble, brick and coquina, the Singing Tower was built to weather all the elements. Today, water poses its greatest threat. Rust has corroded the steel structure that supports the massive colored tile grilles surrounding the carillon. The eight cast iron grilles, created by J.H. Dulles Allen of Enfield Pottery and Tileworks, are 35 feet tall, 10 feet wide and six inches thick. Glazed ceramic tiles are embedded on the front of each panel. Both the front and back sides are filled with mortar. Started in 1927 and dedicated on February 1, 1929, the 205-foot-tall structure is undergoing the final phase of a four-part restoration project. The work on two of the eight grille panels on the northeast and east sides is part of a pilot restoration project that will help determine how the other six grilles will be restored in the future. Winter 2010 | The Garden Path | 7 Photo by Cassie Jacoby by Photo Construction on the 205-foot Singing Tower was started in 1927. Mike Gilbert rappels from the Tower while conducting architectural forensic research in preparation for the Tower restoration project. A tile grille being raised into place during construction of the Singing Tower. As keepers of Edward Bok’s dream, the work to preserve this National Historic Landmark is complex and challenging. Visitors will be able to see the swinging scaffold erected on the corrosion on the horizontal beams.