Roberta Rosenthal’s talent with the brush extends well beyond her own canvas. By helming painting courses here at The New York Botanical Garden, her legacy as a botanical painter and an instructor has trickled down to the many burgeoning artists to have studied under her in the last 25 years. But her coursework is far from a paint-by-numbers explainer for weekend hobbyists.
“The more I can get students to ask questions and develop answers for themselves, the more I can expect them to be life-long learners who will continue to develop their artistic skills and understanding,” writes Roberta. Her courses focus not only on technical ability, but on working within a social environment in which critiques from peers and instructors become integral to the process of maturing as an artist.
The show–which opens tomorrow, April 20–features artists from 14 States and 8 countries. There are 43 works on botanical specimens that have economic importance whether they are used in medicine, food, clothing and shelter.
The works range from paw paws and pomegranates to pokeweed. In anticipation of the opening I would like to take a look at one of the entries: Ginger (Zingiber officinale). Ginger is a spice that carries me through the winter months; I add it to my salmon dishes for flavor and drink cupfuls of ginger tea to ward off sore throats and soothe my stomach. In my youth, consumption was centered on ginger ale and ginger bread cookies.
The tan knobby fresh ginger you buy in the supermarket is a creeping, underground modified stem. Botanically speaking, the part we harvest and use is called a rhizome. Ginger is a 3-4 foot tall perennial with an almost bamboo-like appearance. It sends shoots or leaf stalks that have alternating leaves arranged on the same plane up from the rhizome.
Ginger is an old spice with a long history. It is indigenous to Asia from India to China. It has been used for centuries in Ayurvedic Indian and Chinese medicine. The Greeks and Romans used it to perfume their baths and viewed it as an aphrodisiac. Roman statesmen who felt their lives were threatened were rumored to drink herbal concoctions with ginger, cinnamon, frankincense, and myrrh to build up a tolerance to poison.
Ginger was an import commodity that was transported via the Silk Road from the East to the West. It was traded for livestock, silver, and gold. The distinctive flavor and odor of ginger come from three volatile oils gingeroles, zingerone and shogaols.
In medicine it is used for muscle pains, sore throats, as digestive aid, and to fight fatigue. These days you can find it in the cosmetic industry in bath salts and scented candles. The grocery store has it candied, preserved, dried, and fresh. The list of culinary uses are endless.
For a fun activity you can try and grow this tropical plant at home. Buy fresh ginger from the grocery store. Choose a well-branched piece that has lateral (side) buds. The buds will look like tiny horns. Plant it half in potting soil and half out and water carefully. Roots will form from the rhizome and the ginger will start to grow. Grow outside in the summer but remember to bring it indoors once the weather starts to cool.
Nick Leshi is Associate Director of Public Relations and Electronic Media.
Orchid lovers, rejoice! The Orchid Show: Brazilian Modern opens this weekend and runs through April 12. Visitors will have the chance to escape the winter blues and enjoy the thousands of orchids on display at The New York Botanical Garden.
The orchid is the world’s largest family of flowering plants with more than 30,000 naturally occurring species and tens of thousands of artificially created hybrids. Which is your favorite? Let us know by clicking on the Orchid Poll at right. Do you love the amazing shapes of the Oncidium or Paphiopedilum? Are you captivated by the stunning colors of Vanda orchids? Are you a Cymbidium or Phalaenopsis fan? Or does another species or hybrid capture your fancy? Vote now and let us know.
Brilliantly colored orchids and the lush tropical setting of a contemporary Brazilian garden await you at The Orchid Show, now in its seventh year. Miami-based landscape architect Raymond Jungles has created this contemporary Brazilian garden design, inspired by his mentor, the renowned Roberto Burle Marx. The design features fountains, pools, and colorful mosaics combined with graceful palms, delicate orchids, bromeliads, and other native plants of Brazil. The orchids have been selected by Marc Hachadourian, Manager of the Nolen Greenhouses for Living Collections at the Botanical Garden and Curator of The Orchid Show, and are featured throughout the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.
Nick Leshi is Associate Director of Public Relations and Electronic Media.
Visitors of all ages have marveled at the sight of the monumental sculpture throughout the grounds of The New York Botanical Garden, where these works of art have stood sentinel since last spring. Moore in America, the largest exhibition of Henry Moore’s art ever displayed in a single venue in the United States, continues to attract praise from audiences and journalists alike, including Time magazine’s art critic Richard Lacayo, who named it one of the Top 10 Museum Exhibits of 2008.
Photographers, in particular, have been drawn to Moore’s captivating forms situated within the Garden’s historic landscape. In partnership with the International Center of Photography, the Botanical Garden hosted a photography contest in celebration of the landmark exhibition. The contest sparked many beautiful submissions, from which four monthly finalists were selected. From those four a grand prize was awarded, to Jimin Kim of Manhattan for his portrait of Large Reclining Figure. His winning image appeared in an advertisement for Moore in America in the December 4–10 issue of Time Out New York.
Runners-up included Julie Salles of Yonkers, Ken Schwarzof Lexington, Massachusetts, and Debra Allen of Pelham Manor. Their images, plus countless others submitted by garden- and art-loving shutterbugs during the months of the competition, showed how the sculpture could look fresh from different angles and with different lighting throughout the day and during the changing seasons, proving Moore’s desire to have viewers approach—and even touch—his artwork from different perspectives.
If you haven’t seen the exhibition yet, now is your chance. Moore in America is being extended through March 15. Even if you’ve seen it in spring, summer, or fall, now is your opportunity to see it in winter. Bring your camera and snap some pics for yourself while you’re at it!
The NY Times, TV, and Even the New York Lottery Charmed
Nick Leshi is Associate Director of Public Relations and Electronic Media.
The Holiday Train Show at The New York Botanical Garden has been a magical must-see for more than 1 million visitors over the past 17 years. Edward Rothstein of The New York Times called it “exhilarating,” marveling at “the wonders of this annual show” that presents “New York through a looking glass.”
David Hartman, popular television personality, produced and narrated a charming documentary about the Holiday Train Show, revealing how the structures are made from natural materials and displayed to the delight of visitors of all ages. The documentary aired last year 528 times across the country on 285 PBS stations.
In case you missed it, below is a clip of the show. You can catch the entire program tonight, December 11, at 10:30 p.m. on Channel Thirteen/WNET-TV. It will air again several times during December on PBS, including on WLIW-TV; check the online schedule. If you’re looking for a stocking stuffer or holiday gift for a loved one (or for yourself), the documentary is available on DVD at Shop in the Garden
After viewing the clip, you’ll see why the Holiday Train Show has been a sought-after location for singular New York events. That tradition again rang true last week when the New York Lottery awarded more than $17 million to two winners before replicas of the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, and others and to the delight of a festive crowd of visitors young and old that erupted into spontaneous congratulatory applause.
There have been other occasions over the years when Holiday Train Show visitors received an additional unexpected treat, including a marriage proposal between New York City police officers that was nationally broadcast on the Today show and a mayoral press conference that touted the wonders of the holiday season in New York. Amid the glow of twinkling lights in the Botanical Garden’s Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, the Holiday Train Show proved the perfect magical setting for these memorable events.
Make your own memories by coming to see the Holiday Train Show in person, through January 11, 2009. Tickets are available for purchase on the Garden’s Web site. See for yourselves what Mr. Rothstein in his review described as “this phantasmagorical landscape, which at twilight comes alive with illumination.”
Nick Leshi is Associate Director of Public Relations and Electronic Media.
Art fans, rejoice! Moore in America: Monumental Sculpture at The New York Botanical Garden , the largest outdoor exhibition of Henry Moore’s artwork ever presented in a single venue in the United States, is being extended through January 11, 2009.
The show, a collection of 20 major pieces, opened at the Botanical Garden on May 24, during the height of the spring flowering season. It garnered critical acclaim from the media and the public alike during the summer months. Now nearly all of these magnificent works by one of modern art’s greatest icons can be seen during fall and early winter, providing audiences with the chance to experience the sculpture for the first time or return again to witness them in contrasting seasons. The monumental pieces are positioned throughout the Garden’s 250 acres and among its 50 gardens and plant collections, complementing the historic landscape during nature’s changing cycles.
The extension of Moore in America through the holiday season guarantees that visitors to The New York Botanical Garden will be able to enjoy the outdoor sculpture while simultaneously experiencing the Garden’s other major exhibitions—Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum through November 16, the Library gallery art exhibition The Chrysanthemum in Japanese Art through January 11, and the Holiday Train Show from November 23 through January 11. The Henry Moore Foundation, which is dedicated to furthering the understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of Moore’s work, is co-curating Moore in America with the Garden.
If you still haven’t had the chance to see Moore in America, now is the perfect time. And if you’ve seen it already, now you have even more time to see it again with friends and loved ones, discovering anew the combination of Henry Moore’s fine sculpture and the spectacular Garden settings in changing seasons.
Here’s a video in which Educator Anabel Holland tells us a little more about a few of the sculpture.
Nick Leshi is Associate Director of Public Relations and Electronic Media.
Over 40 years ago, Andy Warhol famously turned a can of tomato soup into a pop culture icon. Now photographer Victor Schrager has turned his camera lens on the tomato itself, elevating it to a high art. The September 2008 issue of Veranda magazine features two articles written by Tom Woodham, gloriously illustrated by Schrager’s stunning images of tomatoes from the gardens of Amy Goldman, a member of The New York Botanical Garden’s Board of Managers.
The pictures give justification for one of the magazine’s headlines, “Tomatoes: The Most Beautiful Fruit.” If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I imagine anyone viewing such a variety of shapes and colors would agree that this bountiful produce captured on film is beautiful indeed.
The tan knobby fresh ginger you buy in the supermarket is a creeping, underground modified stem. Botanically speaking, the part we harvest and use is called a rhizome. Ginger is a 3-4 foot tall perennial with an almost bamboo-like appearance. It sends shoots or leaf stalks that have alternating leaves arranged on the same plane up from the rhizome.
