EXHIBITION
CARVING A PATH TO
ARTISANS 2022 AN ALLURING COLLECTION OF OLD FRIENDS AND EMERGING TALENTS WILL COME TOGETHER THIS YEAR TO CELEBRATE ARTISANS IN THE GARDENS’ 21ST BIRTHDAY. SUE WANNAN REPORTS.
16 THE GARDENS SPRING 2022
“At this moment, we‘re still planning what we’ll put there, the lighting, those sorts of things. We might not get to the peak this year, but it’s a wonderful way of linking Garden elements, so people can learn a little more about what’s going on.” As always, helping people understand and engage with “what’s going on” in the Gardens is an important facet of Foundation & Friends’ mission. Exhibition Project Manager, Julia Sparkes, says Artisans not only brings people to the Garden, it also gives them an opportunity to “take a bit of the Garden home with them.” “nditoffersart hateflect r s the gardens in an amazing and incredible but also accessible way,” says Sparkes. “Money that Foundation & Friends raises goes back to the Gardens, and over the years we’ve donated millions of dollars to support projects such as the digitisation of Herbarium specimens and The Calyx. Being able to raise a couple of hundred thousand dollars in nine days through Artisans is pretty incredible.”
ARTISANS ACTIVITIES
Artisans in the Gardens exhibition will feature demonstrations, classes and events, including: an art class with Araceli Adams, who runs a ceramics studio, Casa Adams Fine Wares, and also makes one-of-a-kind ceramics a not-to-be-missed Artisans Spring Walk High Tea on Saturday 29 October (2pm–3.30pm) featuring a sumptuous and carefully curated menu a ceramic art class with Isabella Edwards, with a focus on creating artwork based on favourite places and memories morning and afternoon tea with Artisans curator Libby Wright Growing Friends extended hours, Sat 29 October–Sun 6 November, 10am–4pm (Sat–Sun) & 11am–2pm (Mon–Fri). For more information, see this issue’s Diary, page 30.
Photos: Anna Hay, Greg Piper, © Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust
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very year Artisans in the Gardens ogan r iserssetoutnadifficult task−toexpandorenhance in some way an already immensely successful and popular exhibition. Every year, without fail, they deliver. This year’s innovation is a sculpture walk, running from the back of Growing Friends Plant Sales, through the normally inaccessible Stone Yard to Lion Gate Lodge, where Artisans is held. “People can make a day of it,” says Libby Wright, Artisans’ new curator in this its 21st year. “They can admire the gardens, visit the always popular Growing Friends, stroll along the sculpture walk, lunch at Lion Gate Lodge, and spend time in our rooms and garden.” In preparation, the Garden’s staff are already clearing out the area along the walk, making it suitable for some large, impressive works. “For instance, Maria Fernanda Cardoso is submitting a series of six carved sandstone rocks,” says Wright. “It’s a real coup having someone of her calibre at Artisans(seepage18foe). rom
