Gordon Hayward will give an illustrated talk for just over an hour on the design elements shared by the painter and garden designer. This talk comes out of Hayward’s 2008 book Art and the Gardener (Gibbs Smith). Admission is by donation, and all proceeds will directly benefit Next Stage Arts and Sandglass Theater. Tickets may be purchased at the link provided or at the box office on the day of the event.

Juxtaposing an image on the large screen of a fine painting (Van Gogh, Monet, Magritte, Derain, Renoir, Klimt, Rousseau….) next to a garden image, Hayward will explore a variety of elements of composition: straight lines vs. curved lines in paintings as well as paths and planted beds; the itinerary of the eye; positive and negative space (as in the positive space of planted beds and the negative space of adjacent lawn); color, light and shadow, the role of background, placing easels to paint as being akin to placing garden chairs to sit.

Hayward’s goal is to help you see your garden and paintings in a new way, no matter how big or small your garden might be. And if you’re not a gardener, this is also a talk about how to look at a garden (and a painting) more consciously, with more understanding. In the end, it is about conscious seeing, about paying attention with your eyes. Hayward has given this lecture in several art museums and for garden clubs across the country over the years, and in late February will give this revision for the garden club of La Jolla, California. As garden curator Marco Polo Stufano, past curator of the extraordinary Wave Hill Gardens north of Manhattan, wrote, “The study of art is the most important study a garden designer can pursue.”

Please join us for a stimulating, colorful and beautifully illustrated talk on a wintry black and white afternoon.

Photo credit Joseph Valentine