Inside The New York Botanical Garden

Allan Pollok-Morris

A Last Look at The Photography of Allan Pollok-Morris

Posted in Exhibitions on March 12 2014, by Matt Newman

Allan Pollok-MorrisWalking through the Ross Gallery on my way to the office each morning, I like to pause a moment and admire the greenery clothing the walls. There’s no vertical garden on display, per se. Rather, the photography of Allan Pollok-Morris is so verdant as to come close to imitating one. His compositions of Scottish countrysides, estate gardens, and landscape sculpture depict a depth of color and foliage that we seldom see on the left side of the Atlantic, and there’s a grandeur to each image that belies the “humble ruggedness” many default to when discussing Scotland.

Sadly, after months of lovely display here at the Garden, Close: The Photography of Allan Pollok-Morris will be moving on as of this Sunday, March 16.

To give you a refresher of what you’ve been missing out on if you haven’t yet made a stop to see this photo exhibition, I put together a slideshow of some of Allan’s iconic works hanging now in the Ross Gallery. Each photograph depicts the landscapes, sculptures, or gardens of a designer living or working in Scotland—natives and expats alike.

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Close: Scotland Through the Photographer’s Eyes

Posted in Exhibitions on October 24 2013, by Matt Newman

CloseAny time I pass through the Ross Gallery these days, there’s a near guarantee that I’ll run into a couple of visitors stopped by their own curiosity, admiring Allan Pollok-Morris’ prints. The images are arranged on either side of the room in a mosaic of landscapes and architecture, depicting a Scottish countryside seldom seen by those living on this side of the Atlantic. Terraced hills and labyrinthine beach tracings mingle with cottage gardens in a stirring together of different styles by myriad artists, all of which you can see on the pages of the exhibition’s inspiration, Close: Landscape Design and Land Art in Scotland, now available in our Shop in the Garden.

The book itself builds bridges across eras, capturing the old and the new in a landscape known for its mercurial weather and geography—as much rain and unforgiving stone as green pasture and sunlight. We caught up with Allan in our Native Plant Garden during his visit to New York City, part of a well-documented national tour of the country’s gardens that has taken him clear across the continental United States. In his many years photographing gardens and landscapes by renowned international artists, he’s come to his own conclusions on what makes for a grabbing landscape experience, and what will likely be most important to garden design in the future.

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