Visit twelve private gardens created by local working artists. Enjoy the art! Enjoy the gardens!
There is much new to see. Experience paintings - watercolors, oils, and acrylics, plus sculpture, ceramics, fused glass, pyrography, photography, calligraphy, jewelry, and other works of art. The diverse gardens include a field of massive cairns, water features, stone arches, and two greenhouses made from recycled windows. There are sculpture gardens, orchards, berry patches, oh-so-pretty vegetable gardens, and flower beds filled with Canterbury bells, hollyhocks, nepeta, peonies, roses and poppies.
Art work, much of it horticulturally inspired, will be available for purchase. Individuals, families and groups are welcome. Bring your camera or sketch book if you wish. This relaxing self-guided tour through Ashford, Coventry, Mansfield and Willington in the beautiful hills of northeastern Connecticut is free.
For more information and a map, please visit:
ArtGardenCT.com
Willington
Holes in the Woods, 17 Lustig Road, 860-878-0768
A labor of love, this garden includes streams, a half-acre pond, a colorful wildflower meadow, and acres of blooming mountain laurel. Two miles of named woodland trails wind through a lavish display of ferns, moss, boulders and ledge. And, oh yes, there are traditional flower beds too. Trail maps available.
Host Artist: John C. Starinovich uses natural holes from downed trees combined with metals, crystals, deer antler, bone, shells, seed pods, various woods, LED lights, and most importantly, mirrors to create his sculptures. He works with both hand and power tools to create his one-of- a-kind art. John was featured on CPTV and has won numerous awards for his work. He has more than 100 wall hung and pedestal sculptures in his gallery.
NC Bunnell Studio, 12 Red Oak Hill Road, 860-377-7817
Nancy calls her garden "a bit of heaven painted on earth." Through the years, she and her husband, a retired landscaper, planted flowering shrubs including azaleas, lilacs, hydrangeas, dogwood and a towering thirty-foot rhododendron. There are flower beds and vegetable gardens and a fishpond surrounded by butterfly bushes.
Host Artist: Nancy Cooke Bunnell is an award-winning pastel and acrylic painter. Her work ranges from realism to energetic abstractions. She is inspired by Ireland, landscapes, flowers, cows, lambs and recently, octopuses. She divides her time between creating paintings and teaching others. She is presently teaching abstraction at the Glastonbury Art Guild and a skill and creative based program for homeschool children at Willington Library. Her awards, too numerous to list, include first in state at the Connecticut Pastel Society.
Guest Artist: Julie M Beckham's work is characterized by a vibrant, shimmering color palette which she transforms into flowing, whimsical abstract and realistic compositions. She draws inspiration from nature with the aim that her paintings summon a joyful and blissful response. Julie's work reflects a lifelong fascination with nature and the movement of water.
Storrs/Mansfield
FentonRiver Studio, 287 Gurleyville Road, 860-429-3646
This flamboyant cottage garden surrounds an old button factory located next to the Fenton River in the quaint, historical neighborhood of Gurleyville. It is resplendent with pink, purple, red and white peonies, iris, and poppies. Displayed amongst the flowers are garden sculptures including colored cement leaves, a large lighted fairy house, and a beautiful Koi pond and waterfall.
Host Artist: Shauna Shane works in oil, pastel, watercolor and sculpture. Her goal is to share her love of the natural world with others through color, light and energy. Her studio is filled with 150 impressionistic paintings. Her garden is filled with sculptures. Shauna has won many awards for her work and has been a teacher and mentor for many Connecticut artists.
Flying Dragon Farm Studio, 533 Chaffeeville Road, 860-429-5222
An expansive, colorful garden surrounds the spacious barn studio. Guests can wander through a lush mix of fruit trees, berry bushes, flowers and vegetables. Amidst this profusion of horticultural delight, there is an unusual aquaponics garden in a hoop house and a fish pond. Birds and bees abound. Located near the historic Gurleyville Gristmill.
Host Artist: Mary Noonan works in oil, water colors, encaustic , graphite and collage. Using multiple styles and techniques, Mary reflects her relationship to the people and natural world around her in each of the pieces she creates.
Guest Artist: Elizabeth Clark creates jewelry, ornaments, Dragon Eyes, fairy doors and more. She uses metals such as silver and bronze, various woods and stones, beads, resin, and glass. Her work reflects her love of nature and gardens. Indeed, she even makes miniature gardens!
Khuyay Farm, 441 Warrenville Road, 860-377-3016
Two years ago, Janet began converting the perennial gardens on her alpaca farm to native gardens. Among the flowering shrubs and mature trees, she has made a native woodland shade garden and a native full sun garden. It is an exciting and ongoing process. Her alpacas are very friendly and enjoy visitors.
Host Artist: Janet Dauphin makes gorgeous window decorations, night lights, dishes, trays, and jewel-like pendants in fused glass. This winter she focused her work on reactive glass and the interplay between copper and sulphate, creating interesting color effects.
Guest Artist: Nora Charters says that "deep down" her work " is ... a celebration of beauty." Her photographs capture gardens, nature, a small Connecticut farm, a local greenhouse, "the smile of a perfect flower. " She has framed and unframed images on paper and canvas.
Scott Rhoades Studio, 422 Browns Road, 860-423-9779
Ellie and Scott Rhoades have created a picture-perfect garden around their house and the studio Scott built himself. There are stone arches, formal borders, terraces, a pool, fruit trees, a highly productive vegetable garden, an old-fashioned swing and a wealth of specimen shrubs, trees and perennials.
Host Artist: Scott Rhoades works in the style of traditional realism using acrylic paint mostly on gesso primed panel. The smooth surface enables him to work with fine details. His award-winning paintings are inspired by his travels around New England: the wilderness, weathered barns, historic buildings, people, and animals. His works are shown and collected throughout the US and internationally.
Michelle Allison Metal Art, 638 Browns Road, 860-933-5072
There are four interconnected yet distinct spaces in Michelle's spacious and deeply creative gardens. There's a front meadow, a sculpture garden, a cairn field, and a perennial garden with a small pond and intriguing architectural elements. A visual feast!
Host Artist: Michelle Allison makes fabricated and welded metal sculptures using both new and recycled materials. Her work is impressively scaled for stunning outdoor display. She finishes her pieces with modern hot rod paint in vibrant colors or a traditional rusty patina. Much of her work explores the vessel form which she constructs of ribs and rings, thus allowing the viewer into the interior spaces.
Coventry
Barbara Timberman Watercolor Paintings1194 Main Street, 959-929-2112
Visitors in June will delight in the abundance of lettuces planted in red-and-green patterns; garden peas and snap peas coming into harvest: chard, broccoli, beans and other later vegetables all laid out in pleasing blocks of greenery with the startling explosion of color from the central poppy walk. The herb garden supplies all the culinary flavors needed in the kitchen. Surrounding the entire edible garden are the delightful flowers of late spring: foxgloves and roses, Canterbury Bells and columbines
Host Artist: Barbara Timberman begins her watercolors with a close observation of plant structure and form, drawing on her background in botany. She is keenly interested in color relationships. In her work, Barbara often juxtaposes her plant subjects with complex and beautiful handmade objects. The result - exuberantly joyful paintings that call attention to the "tangled, intertwining beauty of the material world." Her art graces many homes and has won a multitude of awards.
Irina Trzaskos Studio, 449 North School Road, 860-931-4873
The multigenerational gardens surrounding this circa 1800 home were begun by Irina's mother-in-law, Joke Trzaskos. There is an abundance of Canterbury bells, daisies, Sweet Williams, hollyhocks, and sunflowers. A border of rhododendrons, holly, dogwoods, almonds and Chinese dogwood frames a 50 X 50-foot garden room anchored by a gazebo. The orchard includes pear, apple, peach, cherry, and pawpaw trees. Nearby are blueberries, a small vineyard, and a raspberry bed. Plus, many birdhouses, a handmade greenhouse and a blue barn!
Garden Host: Irina Trzaskos explores the rich intersection of folklore, nature, culture, childhood, and memories in her watercolors. She strives to create paintings that are both visually captivating and emotionally resonant. Irina teaches hugely popular online art classes.
Maple Brook Studio, 950 Main Street, 860-916-4232
A stone labyrinth, its path defined by moss, graces this hidden garden. Visitors are invited to walk the spiral path one at a time, and feel the calming effects. The labyrinth is sheltered by a red Japanese maple and fringed with woodland ferns. There's also a sanctuary garden punctuated with sculptures, set in a rough meadow.
Host Artist: Aline Hoffman calls her art "Emotional Realism." An artist since early childhood, her work has included pen and ink, graphite, oils, acrylic, stone and metal sculpture, colored pencil, pastel, Chinese brush painting, pyrography, gourd sculpture, and her forest delights series. She is currently engaged with a series of birch tree paintings on translucent textured papers.
Guest Artist: Elizabeth Lindorff throws and hand builds pottery for daily use and special occasions. Each pot is unique with glazes that compliment rather than repeat. Though she has been potting for many years, she still considers herself an "explorer" of the art. For her, pottery is deeply personal as well as professional and community oriented.
Ashford
Lance Glass Gallery & Studio, 62 Amidon Road, 860-933-7953
Lance rolled out the red carpet - for real!!! - in his garden, creating bright paths between his beds of vegetables, hollyhocks, dahlias and gladioli. His gardens bring daily peace and pleasure.
Host Artist: Lance Arnold is a flotsamist sculptor, a stained-glass artist and a painter. His varied palette consists of found object material from the forest and the sea, stained glass, and paint. Making use of driftwood, animal bone, oxidized metal, dump debris and other retrieved detritus, he creates unique pieces: glass panels, table sculpture, wall sculpture and fairy houses.
Willow Tree Pottery, 24 Bebbington Road, 860-287-8056
This is an old-fashioned and rustic country garden. Foxgloves, peonies, nepeta, roses, and perennial geraniums color the borders. There are benches and chairs for sitting, arbors, a small stone terrace and an old hay rake. Josephine (the scarecrow) watches over the cutting garden. In the midst of it all, is the green corrugated kiln shed with an outdoor Szalay hummingbird print.
Host Artist: Suzy Staubach is inspired by the country pottery of ancient Korea, early America and 18th and 19th century England and France. She throws on a simple kick wheel and makes her own glazes from feldspars, clays and sand. Her elegant and quiet pots are meant to be used and enjoyed in the kitchen and at the table. Suzy is the author of books on gardening and pottery and is currently at work on a garden book for Brandeis University Press.
Guest Artist: Barbara Katz is a sculptor and potter working with clay. She creates simple forms based on and evocative of ancient rituals, artifacts and shamanic figures. When she discovers forms in clay she is conscious of her continuity with other artists as they have created objects for thousands of years using the same methods of shaping and processing this most elemental material available.
Guest Artists: Gretchen Geromin and Lauren Merlo work as a team, collaborating on cutting and serving boards and signs they make from local downed trees. After the trees are dried and milled, Lauren painstakingly crafts them into cheese and other boards. Gretchen then wood burns them with her original art: frogs, hummingbirds, sunflowers, roses, dragons, fish and more. Finally, Lauren gives them multiple coats of oil, making them satiny smooth and a pleasure to use.
Also check out other Arts events in Mansfield Center, Fine Arts events in Mansfield Center, Trips & Adventurous Activities in Mansfield Center.
