Category Archives: Nature Photography

Portland galleries show the city and nature in a different light

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Installation of “Portlanders: Nick Gervin” at Portland gallery 82Parris. Photo by Nick Gervin

Two shows in Portland address worlds and phenomena we often tend to miss. “Portlanders: Nick Gervin” at 82Parris (through June 23) presents a largely invisible Portland, at least for those of us without active night orbits or curiosity in exploring the city’s underbelly (figuratively and literally). “The Flower/The Soil” at Notch8 (through July 8) taps into the essences of nature, specifically the more subtle realms of its inner life.

Nick Gervin is one of Maine’s most captivating and idiosyncratic photographers. His show at 82Parris (formerly New Systems and now, as before, run by another handful of young artists) illustrates why. After two traumatic head injuries, a diagnosis of post-concussion syndrome, depression, poverty and addiction, Gervin developed a hypersensitivity to light and noise, forcing him to rove his native Portland with a camera in the dark and quiet of night.

The process, he acknowledges, was essential to his recovery, but also a way of capturing and rediscovering the place of his birth in all its richness – not just the scenic lighthouses and lovely neighborhoods, but grittier areas of the city and marginalized populations that are part of the fabric of neighborhoods, yet not often deemed worthy of artistic (or other) representation.

Did this predilection toward a specific visual perspective form from his multiple traumas? It’s an interesting question, but I tend to think he’s always possessed an eccentric – and in a way, more humanely open – view of life, capturing scenes and situations few others afford even a cursory glance. The most interesting images leave us perplexed and, perhaps in their ambiguity and non-judgmental observation, even a little uncomfortable. “What on earth is going on?” our minds demand to know, or “What just happened here?”

Nick Gervin, “Plate #27” Photo courtesy of the artist

Gervin can be quite funny, as in one scene of a couple seen from behind as they exit a performance space, the audience guffawing, covering their gaping mouths in mild shock or merely bemused.

He appreciates the spontaneously sardonic and witty, as in a barbershop window he crops cleverly to include an American flag with only part of a slogan above it: “Land of.” We suspect the rest reads something like “the Free and the Brave.” Instead, Gervin spied the partial reflection below the slogan of the word “service” from a shop across the street. Compositionally, the intended patriotic message now reads “Land of vice.”

Or there’s the photo of a shirtless, heavily tattooed man on a bicycle, another bike slung over his shoulder. It seems obvious the guy’s just stole the second set of wheels, yet behind him on the sidewalk, two policemen don’t even notice as they casually shoot the breeze.

Often images can be slightly creepily squeamish (an unseen person’s hands filling a syringe with newly cooked heroine) or unnervingly enigmatic, such as yellow police tape marking off the Congress Street Starbucks while a man loads a body bag into a hearse parked in front of it. Did someone suffer a heart attack while ordering their latte, or did someone expire on the street? Did a sidewalk murder just occur?

Nick Gervin, “Plate #04” Photo courtesy of the artist

Gervin also prowls the city’s subterranean tunnels. His shot of a man’s legs dangling from a manhole cover as he enters or leaves a tunnel, is enlarged here to wall size. It’s nice to see these prints in bigger scale – many of which I’ve seen developed in smaller format at The Bakery Photo Collective, where he is executive director, or in his beautifully bound book, “Portlanders,” on sale at 82Parris or through his website.

It’s also great to witness Gervin working in video. A dark curtained room projects a scene shot in a tunnel while we hear traffic rushing overhead and water trickling and flowing inside the tunnel. It’s the essence of his work: capturing the existence of things most of us completely miss.

FERTILE EARTH

“The Flower/The Soil” is a mixed bag in terms of media, genre and style. Basically, six artists – Tanner Wilson, Nate Frost, P Guilmoth, Erin Bassett, Chel and Brian Doody – were asked to respond to the subject of the title. The unquestionable standout here is central Maine-based Guilmoth, whose work buzzes with primal life and feels infused with the natural poetry of the earth. They work, in fact, with actual soil, as well as pine-tar smoke, spider webs clipped from their moorings and applied to paper, ash, stones, coffee, photography, oil paint, charcoal and other materials.

P Guilmoth, “Smoke & Powdered Milk 2023” Photo by Bret Woodard

Guilmoth is worth a review unto themself. Suffice it to say that their most easily grasped piece here practically book-matches two spiderwebs into an unusual sunburst shape, one colored white with milk powder and mounted on black cardboard, the other tinted black with pine-tar smoke and mounted onto what looks like an old photo cardstock. It’s a lyrical meditation on the delicacy of existence, the effects of multifarious phenomena on our lives, our sense of home and place, subtle essences we rarely apprehend beneath the surface of things, and the miracles of nature.

Guilmoth also offers a large-scale photograph that literally captures the ephemerality of a moment. To achieve it, they asked friends to stand on a dirt road, throw handfuls of dirt and flower into the air and quickly get out of the frame. The resulting image looks like specters walking toward us on the road while also freezing an event in memory. This artist touches into profound eternal questions through the materials of our ecology.

The paintings of Portlander Chel, which limn the line between abstraction and representation, occupy the opposite end of the spectrum. Their work is boldy colorful and flamboyantly gestural. Paintings like “I God in the River” appear at first completely abstract. But the closer we look, the more we perceive the body of water, as well as the craggy rock formations bordering it.

Chel, “I God In The River” Photo by Bret Woodard

The title, of course, implies the deeper phenomenological reality of the river, which according to many wisdom traditions has – like all things – an inner spirit. Wisely, gallery owner Sharon Dennehy has placed Chel’s paintings on the opposite wall from Guilmoth’s works, as their polychromatic glory and jagged energy might have disturbed the meditative stillness of Guilmoth’s organic earthiness.

Atlanta artist Wilson, who co-curated the show, presents nature controlled. His highly graphic, black-outlined images are of potted flowers in decorative cachepots. They are easy on the eye, though one senses a struggle between wildness and the human desire to contain it (i.e.: a snake decoration writhing across the surface of a pot containing a cultivated blossom).

Jorge S. Arango has written about art, design and architecture for over 35 years. He lives in Portland. He can be reached at: [email protected] 

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With land buys, Nebraskan has added on-the-ground conservation to Photo Ark’s visual focus

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Joel Sartore celebrated two very visible milestones last month.







magpie

Joel Sartore reached a new milestone in the National Geographic Photo Ark last month, adding his 14,000th species. The Indochinese green magpie, named Jolie, is at the Los Angeles Zoo. She survived being smuggled in a suitcase, with little ability to move, during a flight from Vietnam.




The Lincoln-based National Geographic photographer added his 14,000th species to the National Geographic Photo Ark, a project he founded in 2005 to document Earth’s biodiversity. The stunning Indochinese green magpie named Jolie, now at the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens, was one of only eight birds — out of 93 — to survive a flight from Vietnam in a wildlife trafficker’s suitcases in 2017.

Twenty of Sartore’s photos of endangered species from the Photo Ark were featured on a panel of U.S. postage stamps released to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act. One, a piping plover, was photographed near Fremont, Nebraska.

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But Sartore and his wife, Kathy, also have been quietly working on a less visible conservation project.

Over about the past dozen years, the couple have purchased about 5,700 acres of what Joel Sartore called “conservation land” — pastureland dotted with marshes, lakes and native grasses that are home to thousands of birds in warm months — in southern Sheridan County in Nebraska’s Sandhills.

They partner with a local ranch family with a similar conservation ethos. Jaclyn and Blaine Wilson, the daughter-father pair who operate the nearby Wilson Flying Diamond Ranch, and another family member lease and run cattle on the grazeable acres. The Wilson ranch was awarded Nebraska’s first-ever Leopold Conservation Award by the Sand County Foundation in 2006.







stamps

Twenty of Joel Sartore’s photos of endangered species for the National Geographic Photo Ark were featured in a panel of stamps that the U.S. Postal Service issued last month to mark the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act.




“It’s a lovely place, and it’s something I feel like I can do for conservation in a way that Photo Ark doesn’t do,” Sartore said. “This is real on-the-ground stuff.”

He and his wife, he said, have financed the purchases themselves by working hard and saving their money over the years. Sartore is known for his frugality and hard work; as a youth in Ralston, he worked at gas stations and a record store, mowed lawns and cleaned aquariums. Early in their marriage, he said, the couple bought, fixed up and sold two small farms in the Lincoln area, doing much of the work themselves.

The couple plan to put the land in trust so it’s maintained at its current level of use by people who have been there for generations, Sartore said. They also want to protect its abundant water from people who might come calling from drier regions.

“It’s a lifetime of work, and this is what we ended up with,” he said. “If we can afford it, we’d love to do it again.”

They also have purchased a couple of smaller conservation properties in eastern Nebraska — two small farms, one near Bennet and the other near Ceresco, as well as a pasture near Valparaiso. They’ve implemented conservation measures on all three, instituting rotational grazing on the pasture, as well as restoring ponds and planting native grasses and wildflowers for birds and pollinating insects.

But the bulk of their conservation purchases, he said, have been in Sheridan County. They bought their first pasture in the area in about 2011. They added larger parcels in 2019 and 2022, according to Sheridan County Assessor’s Office records, purchasing a total of about 4,400 acres for approximately $3.56 million.

Sartore said the couple focuses on wet ground — land a rancher can’t make much of a living on but that yields big conservation returns, land that provides habitat for waterfowl and upland ground for long-billed curlews, a species in decline. It’s also less costly acre-for-acre than farmland.

“These are not places you buy if you really want to invest your money,” he said.

Jaclyn Wilson recalls getting an email from Sartore in March 2020, about the time COVID-19 was taking off. Wilson, a fifth-generation rancher, knew who he was. Her grandparents gave her family a National Geographic subscription for Christmas each year. Its arrival in the mail was a monthly highlight.

In his email, Sartore counted himself among Wilson’s biggest fans. She has been writing opinion columns for the Midwest Messenger, an ag-focused publication, for more than a decade.

Wilson invited him to visit the ranch, and Sartore spent several days there in August 2020. He brought a biologist, and they collected insects, identifying 100-some species, including some new to the Photo Ark and a beetle that previously hadn’t been found that far north.

“It was really cool stuff,” Wilson said.

She took him to the property he’d previously purchased, and he asked if there were similar properties available in the area. Sartore’s more recent purchases include Thompson Lake, which is known for waterfowl, and Snow Lake, which features waterfowl and curlews and also is known for salamanders.

Sartore recalled that he’d read a real estate listing about the salamanders, which mentioned them as a commodity that could be seined and sold for fishing bait.

He said Dan Fogell, a herpetologist and life sciences instructor at Southeast Community College in Lincoln, has identified them as a subspecies of the Western tiger salamander called the Gray tiger salamander. They’re usually found a bit farther north, Fogell told him, but they’ve been found in multiple places in the Sandhills as well.







sartore sandhills

Jaclyn Wilson, left, and friend Amy Sandeen watch a thunderstorm roll in from the first pasture that Joel and Kathy Sartore purchased in the Sandhills for conservation more than a decade ago. Wilson, a fifth-generation rancher, operates the nearby Wilson Ranch near Lakeside, Nebraska, with her father, Blaine Wilson. Wilson family members run cattle on the Sartores’ pastures.




Wilson said her grandparents emphasized conservation and passed down those lessons to later generations. They planted thousands of trees and adopted management practices that are now widely recommended. They raised game birds for release to enhance local populations and only cut hay at certain times of the year. The family also has worked to restore a wetland on its property. In recent years, the ranch has begun selling beef direct to consumers through its website.

Both the family and Sartore encourage scientists to study wildlife on their properties. One project, Wilson said, involved collecting sonar data on bat populations. Another researcher studied dung beetles. Sartore noted that the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission bands geese in the area each spring.

“It’s been really neat that we’ve been able to bridge that gap with some of the conservationists he works with,” Wilson said.

Sartore said he likes the Sandhills because it polices itself. Run too many cattle for too long, and it creates bare spots, or blowouts.

He said he doesn’t have to worry about the condition of the land where he has made his purchases. It was, and continues to be, managed by people who care.

But the family’s purchases offer a chance to keep the most beautiful places from being developed after they’re gone, he said. Many of natural areas where he collected tadpoles and crayfish as a kid in Ralston now are under concrete.

Sartore takes other conservation measures, too, including maintaining a pollinator garden at his Lincoln office, complete with signs explaining what it is and how to do it at home. The FAQ section on his website — joelsartore.com — includes tips on how anyone can help save species, from properly insulating their homes to conserve energy to cutting back on single-use plastic items like grocery bags.

“We just think nature needs a break, and it has to be intentional,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sartore, who’s nearing 61, continues what he calls his “day job” with Photo Ark, a job he wants to continue as long as he can. For many species, the photographs are the only vetted and accurate record of their existence. His son, Cole, now accompanies him on overseas shoots.

He said he may hit 15,000 species by the end of the year. Initially, he estimated that the project would come in around 12,000 species, based on the number in the world’s accredited zoos and aquariums at the time. But those have grown in number, and he’ll go anyplace animals are in human care, from fish markets to wildlife rehabilitation facilities. He could see the Ark possibly reaching 20,000 species.

“It’s meant to inspire (people to) want to save nature and save themselves at the same time,” he said.

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Adorable photo session between monkey and woman goes viral, internet reacts

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New Delhi: Monkeys, with their irresistible charm and playful nature, never fail to captivate people. They have become beloved subjects of numerous videos that spread joy and wonder across the internet. These endearing creatures evoke a sense of fascination and delight, particularly in videos showcasing their interactions and behaviors. Among the vast array of monkey videos, there is one that stands out, captivating the hearts of netizens worldwide.

In this particular video, a heartwarming photo session unfolds between a desi woman and an orangutan monkey. The scene is a testament to the incredible bond that can be forged between humans and animals. As the camera rolls, the orangutan’s intelligence and emotional depth become evident, as it engages with the woman in a truly remarkable way.

The video captures cute moments of connection between the woman and the monkey, igniting a profound sense of warmth and joy. The monkey’s actions are nothing short of extraordinary. It wraps its arms around the woman, embracing her with a tenderness that transcends species boundaries. The monkey even kisses the woman’s cheeks, symbolizing a level of affection and trust that is deeply moving.

The woman reciprocates the orangutan’s affection, cherishing these precious moments of connection. Together, they pose for the camera, creating enchanting snapshots that preserve the essence of their bond. The images emanate a captivating blend of innocence, love, and shared understanding, encapsulating the profound beauty of interspecies relationships.

The video in question gained significant attention on Instagram a few months ago, accumulating over 10,000 views. As with any viral content, it elicited a wide range of reactions from netizens. While many found the clip to be incredibly adorable and heartwarming, there were others who expressed concerns about the welfare of the animals involved, viewing it as a form of animal torture for the sake of entertainment.

One netizen voiced their distress, stating, “This isn’t funny; these poor animals are tortured to do this, kept in captivity. It’s tragic. How cringe are the people who find clicking pictures like this with a trained orangutan.” 

In contrast, there were users who couldn’t help but find the video undeniably adorable. One individual exclaimed, “If that’s not adorable, idk what is!!!” expressing their sheer delight at witnessing the interaction between the woman and the orangutan. Another user shared their love for monkeys, stating, “I love monkeys so damn much,” which reveals a genuine appreciation for these captivating creatures.

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Mary Kay strengthens its partnership with the Nature Conservancy

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Mary Kay, the renowned cosmetics company, recently announced the extension of its decades-long partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to strengthen ocean conservation and coral reef protection.

Deborah Gibbins, chief operations officer at Mary Kay Inc., said in a press release:

Like all rivers and tributaries, most good things in our world lead back to oceans.

Noting that traditional reef conservation strategies have not been enough to counter the global loss of coral reefs, Mary Kay, a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact’s Sustainable Ocean Principles, offers its continued support to Global Oceans programs and TNC’s Super Reefs, which allow researchers to assess reef health, identify potential super reef locations, and discuss opportunities to improve super reef management locally.

Mary Kay supports experts from The Conservancy, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Stanford University as they lead a collaborative effort to unlock the secrets of “super reefs,” a diverse coral community within a reef system that is more resilient or resistant to damaging heat waves, in an effort to predict, test and protect critical coral reefs.

This information will help guide reef conservation and restoration efforts in Hawaii, Palau, Indonesia, the Marshall Islands, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, and Belize.

Coral reefs, often called the rainforests of the sea, cover less than 1% of the world’s surface, but support 25% of all marine life and more than a billion people.

Deborah Gibbins, Mary Kay’s chief operating officer. Photo: Mary Kay Inc.
Deborah Gibbins, Mary Kay’s chief operating officer. Photo: Mary Kay Inc.

“Mary Kay is working with partners like The Nature Conservancy to protect Earth’s most valuable resources. Clean, healthy water isn’t just essential to our business—it’s essential for life everywhere,” added Gibbins.

This year, Mary Kay will also continue to support Texas coastal wetlands, while TNC will continue to work toward its three-year project goals:

  • Identify priority wetland areas for protection and restoration across more than 27,000 kilometers of shoreline along the Gulf of Mexico
  • Produce a Coastal Conservation and Restoration Action Plan for Texas’ three blue carbon ecosystems—mangroves, salt marsh, and seagrass—including mapping areas where we expect wetlands will migrate in the future due to climate change
  • Assess the feasibility of blue carbon markets to support long-term wetland management needs in Texas
  • Identify a dynamic coastal wetland site that can be established as a “living laboratory” to share conservation techniques, explore blue carbon offsets, and highlight the importance of these critical ecosystems.

Over the past 33 years, Mary Kay’s support has extended to hundreds of projects in partnership with TNC, including ocean work and coral reef restoration around the world.

They also point out that thanks to this association, the leadership of women in marine conservation has been elevated through programs that incorporate gender equity in conservation initiatives.

“TNC is committed to conserving 4 billion hectares of the ocean by 2030, and we are grateful for support from Mary Kay to help achieve this critical goal. Strong partnerships with governments, non-profits, companies, and local communities are essential to our success,” pointed out Dr. Lizzie Mcleod, TNC’s Global Oceans director.

TNC is a global environmental organization dedicated to preserving the lands and waters on which all life depends.

It works to create innovative and practical solutions to the planet’s most pressing challenges so that nature and people can thrive together.

“We are tackling climate change, conserving lands, waters and oceans at an unprecedented scale, providing food and water sustainably and helping make cities more sustainable,” highlights TNC.



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Looking for an Art Excursion in New York This Summer? Here Are Four Perfect Itineraries That Combine Nature and Culture

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This summer, nature is in full bloom at four major art institutions around New York City: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Met Cloisters, the New York Botanical Garden, and Storm King Art Center (north of the city). Just as important as the shows themselves are your activities before and after. Here’s our cheat sheet to navigating your way around them as you savor the dual experiences. Don’t forget your walking shoes!

Metropolitan Museum of Art
“Van Gogh’s Cypresses”

Visitors look at a painting during a preview of "Van Gogh's Cypresses" exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 15, 2023, in New York City. Photo: Wang Fan/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images.

Visitors look at a painting during a preview of “Van Gogh’s Cypresses” exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 15, 2023, in New York City. Photo: Wang Fan/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images.

Planning a visit to the highly anticipated Vincent van Gogh “Cypresses” exhibition at the Met (through August 27)? You are, of course, going to need your strength. First, duck into Bluestone Lane (1085 Fifth Avenue at 90th Street)—an Upper East Side favorite—for bracingly strong coffee. Placing your order under the grand stone archway of the historic Church of the Heavenly Rest isn’t a shabby way to start your day.

Now that you’re rejuvenated, walk south along iconic Fifth Avenue toward the Met (1000 Fifth Avenue, between 82nd and 83rd Streets), where nearly 40 of the daring Post-Impressionist’s paintings await, including masterpieces like Wheat Field with Cypresses and The Starry Night. It’s Van Gogh’s first exhibition to focus on cypress trees, those enigmatic evergreens that figure prominently in his oeuvre.

Vincent van Gogh, <em>Cypresses</em> (1889). Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Vincent van Gogh, Cypresses (1889). Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

After taking in his arboreal brushstrokes, step out the back of the museum for the real thing. Central Park is famed for its idyllic landscapes and sylvan strolls. The Ramble, a short walk west (between 73rd Street and 78th Street), offers 38 acres of winding paths, not to mention excellent birdwatching. The Great Lawn, meanwhile, provides grassy patches to rest your weary feet or roll out a picnic lunch. The lawn also holds any number of summer concerts this summer.

Should all that imbibing of nature inspire quaffing of another kind, trek back toward civilization, across Fifth Avenue, for the quintessential post-Met romp: the Carlyle Hotel. Inside, the historic and luxurious Bemelmans Bar—where whimsical murals by Ludwig Bemelmans, creator of the Madeline children’s books, adorn the walls—offers an array of refreshing beverages, from dirty martinis to Shirley Temples.

Met Cloisters
Garden Tours

View of Cuxa Cloister (ca. 1130–40), currently located in the Cloisters. Courtesy of the Cloisters.

View of Cuxa Cloister (ca. 1130–40), currently located in the Cloisters. Courtesy of the Cloisters.

Located at 99 Margaret Corbin Drive in Northern Manhattan’s Fort Tryon Park, the Cloisters—governed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art—has been a must-see for locals and visitors since opening to the public in 1938. Open year round with free admission, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., reassembled from fragments the oil heir acquired from American artist George Grey Barnard, who in in the early 1900s began collecting medieval art and architectural fragments from European monasteries and churches that were being demolished.

The richness of medieval Europe is on full display. Many of the works are world-famous, like the incredibly preserved late 15th-century Unicorn Tapestries, with their dense, vibrant millefleurs, and the 12th-century Cloisters Cross. Another gem of the collection is the Book of Flower Studies (ca. 1510–20), in which medieval illuminators in Tours, France, made watercolor illustrations of numerous flower species with remarkable attention to detail.

Page from the Book of Flower Studies (ca. 1510–1515), attributed to Master of Claude de France, showing St. Peter's Keys (Primula veris) with a butterfly.

Page from the Book of Flower Studies (ca. 1510–15), attributed to Master of Claude de France, showing St. Peter’s Keys (Primula veris) with a butterfly. Courtesy of the Cloisters.

Visitors are also advised to seek out some quality time with the namesake cloisters, meditative gardens located in various corners of the museum; their therapeutic value is the stuff of legend. A horticultural staff maintains the gardens and gives daily educational tours, too.

Fort Tryon Park itself is worth the trip. The space is rich in history, serving as a battleground in the Revolutionary War, and boasts eight miles of pathways, as well as plenty of lawn space for picnics. Heather Garden, Manhattan’s biggest, contains over 500 varieties of plants, while Linden Terrace offers unobstructed and spectacular views of the Hudson River.

 

New York Botanical Garden
Ebony G. Patterson

Ebony G. Patterson. Photoo: Frank Ishman. Courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago.

Ebony G. Patterson. Photo: Frank Ishman. Courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago.

Before heading inside the New York Botanical Garden at 2900 Southern Boulevard in the Bronx, it would be wise to make a pitstop at La Masa, a modern Colombian bakery at 726 Lydig Avenue on the garden’s east side. Here you can power up on gourmet empanadas and, of course, perfectly roasted coffee.

Now for the main event, where the contemporary artist Ebony G. Patterson has transformed the garden—one of the largest of its kind in the world, boasting over a million living plants—into a stunning medley of art and nature. Flowers, fabric, glass, and other materials combine to create lush, otherworldly environments.

The sprawling site-specific exhibition (through October 2) is the result of the Jamaican-born artist’s yearlong residency at the garden, making her the first visual artist to embed within the institution. Be sure to check out the Herbarium, where Patterson has installed the centerpiece of the exhibition, a monumental glass and stone peacock.

After a day of soaking in all that art and nature, you don’t even need to leave the garden to revive. Make your way to the northwestern corner to the scenic Hudson Garden Grill, which is conveniently nestled among the 40 acres of the Ross Conifer Arboretum. The menu emphasizes locally sourced recipes and ethically produced ingredients straight from Hudson Valley farms.

Storm King Art Center
Ugo Rondinone, RA Walden, Beatriz Cortez

Visitors gather around Menashe Kadishman's artwork </em>Suspended</em> at Storm King Art Center in New York on May 21, 2023. (Photo by Li Rui/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Visitors gather around Menashe Kadishman’s artwork Suspended at Storm King Art Center in New York on May 21, 2023. Photo: Li Rui/Xinhua via Getty Images.

Storm King has just opened for the summer season, and not a moment too soon. The 500-acre open-air museum contains perhaps the largest collection of contemporary outdoor sculptures in the U.S.—and it’s located only an hour’s drive north of Manhattan in the Hudson Valley, at 1 Museum Road in New Windsor. Although it was originally devoted to Hudson River School painting, Storm King soon began placing large-scale sculptures directly into its landscape, turning it into a world-class sculpture park. 

This summer, Storm King has added three contemporary sculptors to its roster (through November 13). New York-based Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone has installed the sun (2018) and the moon (2021), two large circular sculptures fashioned out of cast-bronze tree branches. RA Walden, meanwhile, has reimagined the electron configuration of the six most common elements—carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur—as crop circles on a hillside. And Beatriz Cortez has sculpted, by hand, volcano-like forms with undulating surfaces that echo the surrounding landscape. 

the sun (2018) and the moon (2021), Ugo Rondinone. Courtesy of Storm King.

Ugo Rondinone, the sun (2018) and the moon (2021). Courtesy of Storm King Art Center.

As long as you’re near the art center of Beacon (just across the Hudson River), why not take a small detour to Dia Beacon? Housed in a former Nabisco box-printing factory at 3 Beekman Street, the museum’s collection includes major works by artists—particularly land artists—such as Richard Serra, Nancy Holt, and Robert Smithson. 

Should you need to stay a night or two before heading back to the city, Beacon is the place to do it. Look no further than the Roundhouse Hotel, at 2 East Main Street. The property was originally a textile manufacturer and one of the first factories in Beacon. Its restaurant, too, is a must, inspired by the agricultural richness of the Hudson Valley, highlighting local farms, wineries, and distilleries. Plus, all the tables have waterfall and creek views through floor-to-ceiling windows. 

Check back for additional Artnet Summer Itineraries for Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.—coming this month.

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Snapshot: Earth Photo Awards 2023

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Ever since humans began to farm 10,000 years ago, they have altered Earth’s landscape. First in only small, local ways, but as humanity progressed, so too did its influence over nature.

From mining and logging to relocating or eradicating species, our management of the natural world can be seen almost everywhere.

In recent decades the effects of these interventions have been amplified by climate change, as a warming world compounds many of the unintended consequences of our actions.

Earth Photo, a competition run by Forestry England and the Royal Geographical Society, aims to ‘make viewers think differently’, capturing nature, people, place and space, forests, the land and seascapes, and the varied impacts of – and adaptations to – climate change.

More than 1,400 entries have been whittled down to 128 photos and videos, with the winners announced on Thursday, June 22.

From people working in harmony with the landscape and destroying it, to the visual impacts of climate change, this selection of entries highlights the many different forms our relationship with nature can take.



Take a second look, and you’ll spot something peculiar about some of these trees – the fact they’re not trees at all. They’re mobile phone masts in disguise, and have been popping up across the US in recent decades, including near Palm Springs airport, pictured (Picture: Annette LeMay Burke)


© Provided by Metro
Take a second look, and you’ll spot something peculiar about some of these trees – the fact they’re not trees at all. They’re mobile phone masts in disguise, and have been popping up across the US in recent decades, including near Palm Springs airport, pictured (Picture: Annette LeMay Burke)



Photographer Sandipani Chattopadhyay says: ‘The drinking water crisis poses a significant threat to human survival, with global warming causing the melting of glaciers and irregular monsoons leading to the rapid drying of freshwater sources. The Bankura district in West Bengal is currently facing a severe drinking water crisis, with villagers struggling to access clean and clear water. Most of the time, they have to collect muddy water from dried river beds and filter it to make it drinkable. This situation highlights the urgent need for sustainable water management practices, conservation of freshwater sources, and equitable distribution of safe and clean drinking water to all people’ (Picture: Sandipani Chattopadhyay)


© Provided by Metro
Photographer Sandipani Chattopadhyay says: ‘The drinking water crisis poses a significant threat to human survival, with global warming causing the melting of glaciers and irregular monsoons leading to the rapid drying of freshwater sources. The Bankura district in West Bengal is currently facing a severe drinking water crisis, with villagers struggling to access clean and clear water. Most of the time, they have to collect muddy water from dried river beds and filter it to make it drinkable. This situation highlights the urgent need for sustainable water management practices, conservation of freshwater sources, and equitable distribution of safe and clean drinking water to all people’ (Picture: Sandipani Chattopadhyay)



Burning trees during a night fire in Presicce, southern Salento, Italy. Photographer Filippo Ferraro says: ‘When an olive tree burns, due to its hollow trunk, the so-called “chimney effect” occurs, which causes the tree to burn very quickly from the inside’ (Picture: Filippo Ferraro)


© Provided by Metro
Burning trees during a night fire in Presicce, southern Salento, Italy. Photographer Filippo Ferraro says: ‘When an olive tree burns, due to its hollow trunk, the so-called “chimney effect” occurs, which causes the tree to burn very quickly from the inside’ (Picture: Filippo Ferraro)



The Holderness coast located in the north east of England is one of Europe’s fastest eroding coastlines. The devastating consequence of this is villages and land slowly disappearing into the sea. The Lost Villages project explores the constant battle between the North Sea and the mainland, and to document the irreversible change taking place on the ancient coast, formed during the last ice age. Photographer Neil White says: ‘The speed of erosion has increased significantly in the past decade thanks to rising sea levels – linked to climate change. It is estimated that up to 32 villages dating back to Roman times have already been lost.’ (Picture: Neil A White)


© Provided by Metro
The Holderness coast located in the north east of England is one of Europe’s fastest eroding coastlines. The devastating consequence of this is villages and land slowly disappearing into the sea. The Lost Villages project explores the constant battle between the North Sea and the mainland, and to document the irreversible change taking place on the ancient coast, formed during the last ice age. Photographer Neil White says: ‘The speed of erosion has increased significantly in the past decade thanks to rising sea levels – linked to climate change. It is estimated that up to 32 villages dating back to Roman times have already been lost.’ (Picture: Neil A White)



Members of a high-angle tree clearing team watch as a helicopter returns with another load of equipment and camping gear as they are deployed to a remote montane watershed that feeds the Theewaterskloof dam in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Photographer Nyani Quarmyne says: ‘Needing wood, colonial settlers introduced pines, eucalyptus and Australian acacia trees to South Africa. Now counted among a number of alien invasive plant species, they are wreaking havoc upon native ecosystems and leading to hotter, more frequent fires. And they are sucking up water. In 2018 Cape Town famously came close to running dry. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) estimates that eliminating ‘aliens’ from the greater metro region’s watersheds will save 55billion litres of water a year by 2025 – two months’ supply for 4.8million people.’ (Picture: Nyani Quarmyne)


© Provided by Metro
Members of a high-angle tree clearing team watch as a helicopter returns with another load of equipment and camping gear as they are deployed to a remote montane watershed that feeds the Theewaterskloof dam in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Photographer Nyani Quarmyne says: ‘Needing wood, colonial settlers introduced pines, eucalyptus and Australian acacia trees to South Africa. Now counted among a number of alien invasive plant species, they are wreaking havoc upon native ecosystems and leading to hotter, more frequent fires. And they are sucking up water. In 2018 Cape Town famously came close to running dry. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) estimates that eliminating ‘aliens’ from the greater metro region’s watersheds will save 55billion litres of water a year by 2025 – two months’ supply for 4.8million people.’ (Picture: Nyani Quarmyne)



Photographer Lee Ju Shen says: ‘The fishermen on Myanmar’s Inle Lake live in a symbiotic, synergistic, and sustainable coexistence with Mother Nature. They fish individually with basket traps, in pairs with line nets, and spear-fish in small teams – then barbecue their catch over open fires on their wooden boats! Sustainable fishing ensures their community’s livelihood, so they selflessly balance their catch size with the highly variable water levels, caused by heavy monsoons, wet summers, and dry winters. The challenging circumstances and changing climate have forged a people who deeply love and respect Mother Nature. We could learn much from these remarkable, resourceful, and resilient people.’ (Picture: Lee Ju Shen)


© Provided by Metro
Photographer Lee Ju Shen says: ‘The fishermen on Myanmar’s Inle Lake live in a symbiotic, synergistic, and sustainable coexistence with Mother Nature. They fish individually with basket traps, in pairs with line nets, and spear-fish in small teams – then barbecue their catch over open fires on their wooden boats! Sustainable fishing ensures their community’s livelihood, so they selflessly balance their catch size with the highly variable water levels, caused by heavy monsoons, wet summers, and dry winters. The challenging circumstances and changing climate have forged a people who deeply love and respect Mother Nature. We could learn much from these remarkable, resourceful, and resilient people.’ (Picture: Lee Ju Shen)



Photographer Liz Milani says: ‘Women and Trees is an environmental art project, a collection of portraits and voices of women from around the world who are standing for trees and the living Earth. The project explores the age-old relationship between women and trees, the feminine and nature, and wishes to create awareness on the vital role of trees and forests in our lives and the importance of female approaches to restoring our connection to nature. The collection of portraits captures change makers, activists, earth defenders, writers, teachers, artists, poets, musicians, dancers, midwives, healers and keepers of ancestral traditions . Every woman in this project is uniquely contributing to restoring the natural world and our relationship to it, inviting us to remember ourselves as nature.’ (Picture: Liz Milani)


© Provided by Metro
Photographer Liz Milani says: ‘Women and Trees is an environmental art project, a collection of portraits and voices of women from around the world who are standing for trees and the living Earth. The project explores the age-old relationship between women and trees, the feminine and nature, and wishes to create awareness on the vital role of trees and forests in our lives and the importance of female approaches to restoring our connection to nature. The collection of portraits captures change makers, activists, earth defenders, writers, teachers, artists, poets, musicians, dancers, midwives, healers and keepers of ancestral traditions . Every woman in this project is uniquely contributing to restoring the natural world and our relationship to it, inviting us to remember ourselves as nature.’ (Picture: Liz Milani)



A buff-tailed bumblebee, aka Bombus terrestris, is captured hovering in a meadow in Tjøme, Norway. Named after the buff (yellow) colour of their queen’s tail, workers bees have a white tail – making them hard to distinguish from white-tailed bumblebees (Picture: Pal Hermansen)


© Provided by Metro
A buff-tailed bumblebee, aka Bombus terrestris, is captured hovering in a meadow in Tjøme, Norway. Named after the buff (yellow) colour of their queen’s tail, workers bees have a white tail – making them hard to distinguish from white-tailed bumblebees (Picture: Pal Hermansen)



Scientists of the Kurchatov nuclear centre, northeast Kazakhstan. In the shooting ranges of Semipalatinsk, in the former Soviet Union, 456 nuclear warheads were tested. The impact of the radiation on the population of the nearby inhabited areas was kept hidden for several decades by the Soviet authorities. The nuclear fallout of the experiments directly affected about 200,000 inhabitants and impacted more than a million people. Photographer Pierpaolo Mittica says: ‘What happened on the Semipalatinsk Polygon is regarded as one of the greatest crimes planned against humanity. The local population was used specifically as guinea pigs to understand the consequences of radiation on people. Today the life for the local people goes on, struggling among this legacy.’ (Picture: Pierpaolo Mittica)


© Provided by Metro
Scientists of the Kurchatov nuclear centre, northeast Kazakhstan. In the shooting ranges of Semipalatinsk, in the former Soviet Union, 456 nuclear warheads were tested. The impact of the radiation on the population of the nearby inhabited areas was kept hidden for several decades by the Soviet authorities. The nuclear fallout of the experiments directly affected about 200,000 inhabitants and impacted more than a million people. Photographer Pierpaolo Mittica says: ‘What happened on the Semipalatinsk Polygon is regarded as one of the greatest crimes planned against humanity. The local population was used specifically as guinea pigs to understand the consequences of radiation on people. Today the life for the local people goes on, struggling among this legacy.’ (Picture: Pierpaolo Mittica)



Photographer Rob Kesseler says: ‘For over twenty years I have worked with botanical scientists and molecular biologists to explore the living world at a microscopic level to reveal its many complexities too small to be seen with the naked eye. Airborne continues this investigation using microphotography to focus on the impact of climate change. This collection of images was developed with support from Oxford Instruments uses Multi Colour Electron Microscopy to reveal airborne pollutants on leaf surfaces to create hand-coloured micrographs. The colour data of each specific element from the EDS was then used as the basis for hand colouring the black and white images to create powerful micro-landscapes of dystopian turmoil. This highly polluted sample from a holly leaf collected in Lambeth on the banks of the Thames reveals a salt crystal nestled amongst the trichome hairs on the leaf surface (Picture: Rob Kesseler)


© Provided by Metro
Photographer Rob Kesseler says: ‘For over twenty years I have worked with botanical scientists and molecular biologists to explore the living world at a microscopic level to reveal its many complexities too small to be seen with the naked eye. Airborne continues this investigation using microphotography to focus on the impact of climate change. This collection of images was developed with support from Oxford Instruments uses Multi Colour Electron Microscopy to reveal airborne pollutants on leaf surfaces to create hand-coloured micrographs. The colour data of each specific element from the EDS was then used as the basis for hand colouring the black and white images to create powerful micro-landscapes of dystopian turmoil. This highly polluted sample from a holly leaf collected in Lambeth on the banks of the Thames reveals a salt crystal nestled amongst the trichome hairs on the leaf surface (Picture: Rob Kesseler)



Nurideen, 35, is pictured breaking down an old battery charger inverter, which was used as backup in a solar energy storage system. He will resell valuable material like copper, lead and other metals. Materials he cannot resell will be burnt, releasing toxic gases. Photographer Sandra Weller says: ‘The number of broken solar items is increasing, but there are no regulations for professional solar waste disposal in African countries, thus it becomes part of the general e-waste problem (Picture: Sandra Weller)


© Provided by Metro
Nurideen, 35, is pictured breaking down an old battery charger inverter, which was used as backup in a solar energy storage system. He will resell valuable material like copper, lead and other metals. Materials he cannot resell will be burnt, releasing toxic gases. Photographer Sandra Weller says: ‘The number of broken solar items is increasing, but there are no regulations for professional solar waste disposal in African countries, thus it becomes part of the general e-waste problem (Picture: Sandra Weller)



Late afternoon, Cuba. A family rests in front of their house in the stunning Viñales valley in the west of the country. The striking karst landscape is punctuated by mogotes, dome-like limestone outcrops that stretch up as high as 300m. The area is known for its tobacco production, which largely uses traditional methods to ensure quality (Picture: Sebastian Lewandowski)


© Provided by Metro
Late afternoon, Cuba. A family rests in front of their house in the stunning Viñales valley in the west of the country. The striking karst landscape is punctuated by mogotes, dome-like limestone outcrops that stretch up as high as 300m. The area is known for its tobacco production, which largely uses traditional methods to ensure quality (Picture: Sebastian Lewandowski)



Photographer Andrew Smith says: ‘I have been capturing the environment I find myself in by drone commercially and as a personal pursuit for the past five years. In that time that natural world and our relationship with it has fascinated me. [Pictured is] Traprain Law, East Lothian. Once home to the Votadini tribe who ruled this area of Scotland at the time of Roman occupation, two layers of fortifications can be seen at the edges and a huge hoard of Roman silver was found here. Yet despite its rich history and cultural importance, this volcanic plug was mined until it was banned in the 1960s, causing the eyesore you see here.’ (Picture: Andrew Smith)


© Provided by Metro
Photographer Andrew Smith says: ‘I have been capturing the environment I find myself in by drone commercially and as a personal pursuit for the past five years. In that time that natural world and our relationship with it has fascinated me. [Pictured is] Traprain Law, East Lothian. Once home to the Votadini tribe who ruled this area of Scotland at the time of Roman occupation, two layers of fortifications can be seen at the edges and a huge hoard of Roman silver was found here. Yet despite its rich history and cultural importance, this volcanic plug was mined until it was banned in the 1960s, causing the eyesore you see here.’ (Picture: Andrew Smith)



Photographer Azim Khan Ronnie says: ‘Brick kilns are one of the main cause of climate change. The breathtaking scale of Bangladesh’s brick making industry is captured in this photo along the polluted Buriganga River, which shows them piling up in thousands as manufacturing processes wreak havoc on the surrounding environment. It is estimated that one million people churn out tens of billions of bricks each year across 7,000 separate kilns. Brick kilns are the top air polluter in the country, particularly during dry season when most bricks are made, turning the air quality of this metropolis severely unhealthy’ (Picture: Azim Khan Ronnie)


© Provided by Metro
Photographer Azim Khan Ronnie says: ‘Brick kilns are one of the main cause of climate change. The breathtaking scale of Bangladesh’s brick making industry is captured in this photo along the polluted Buriganga River, which shows them piling up in thousands as manufacturing processes wreak havoc on the surrounding environment. It is estimated that one million people churn out tens of billions of bricks each year across 7,000 separate kilns. Brick kilns are the top air polluter in the country, particularly during dry season when most bricks are made, turning the air quality of this metropolis severely unhealthy’ (Picture: Azim Khan Ronnie)



This algae doesn’t exist. Craig Ames used artificial intelligence to create new species based on the cutting-edge work of English botanist and photographer Anna Atkins in the mid-Nineteenth century. Working from a broad sample of the specimens Atkins originally rendered, Ames repurposes their Latin names to create instructional ‘prompts’, which were processed through a text-to-image AI image generator. Revealing the photographic language and aesthetics deriving from the algorithm’s machine learning, the AI was instructed to create photographic representations of the individual specimens. The resulting fabrications were labelled and catalogued to create a new visual taxonomy of simulated algae. Photographer Craig Ames says: ‘The work distorts the boundaries between the real and the artificial, highlighting a growing disconnect between the natural world and the simulated hyperreality that increasingly subsumes it.’ (Picture: Craig Ames)


© Provided by Metro
This algae doesn’t exist. Craig Ames used artificial intelligence to create new species based on the cutting-edge work of English botanist and photographer Anna Atkins in the mid-Nineteenth century. Working from a broad sample of the specimens Atkins originally rendered, Ames repurposes their Latin names to create instructional ‘prompts’, which were processed through a text-to-image AI image generator. Revealing the photographic language and aesthetics deriving from the algorithm’s machine learning, the AI was instructed to create photographic representations of the individual specimens. The resulting fabrications were labelled and catalogued to create a new visual taxonomy of simulated algae. Photographer Craig Ames says: ‘The work distorts the boundaries between the real and the artificial, highlighting a growing disconnect between the natural world and the simulated hyperreality that increasingly subsumes it.’ (Picture: Craig Ames)



Elephant and Castle in central London might not seem the most obvious place to grow crops, but here Honor Loxton, site manager and senior farmer at Crate To Plate, oversees three shipping containers of hydroponics that flourish while traffic and people rush about their days nearby. Hydroponics are environmentally beneficial in a number of ways, including growing food closer to consumers and requiring no soil (Picture: Joanna Vestey)


© Provided by Metro
Elephant and Castle in central London might not seem the most obvious place to grow crops, but here Honor Loxton, site manager and senior farmer at Crate To Plate, oversees three shipping containers of hydroponics that flourish while traffic and people rush about their days nearby. Hydroponics are environmentally beneficial in a number of ways, including growing food closer to consumers and requiring no soil (Picture: Joanna Vestey)



Maharloo Lake in Iran has lost 90% of its water in recent years due to drought, destroying habitats and putting nearby residents in danger of salt storms and water shortages. Photographer Nazanin Hafez says: ‘Maharloo Lake has been the victim of climate change, but more than that, the victim of mismanagement. The four important springs that fed the lake have dried up completely. The influx of sewage and toxic substances, the construction of a dam and the illegal extraction of salt are other causes of death of this beautiful lake.’ (Picture: Nazanin Hafez)


© Provided by Metro
Maharloo Lake in Iran has lost 90% of its water in recent years due to drought, destroying habitats and putting nearby residents in danger of salt storms and water shortages. Photographer Nazanin Hafez says: ‘Maharloo Lake has been the victim of climate change, but more than that, the victim of mismanagement. The four important springs that fed the lake have dried up completely. The influx of sewage and toxic substances, the construction of a dam and the illegal extraction of salt are other causes of death of this beautiful lake.’ (Picture: Nazanin Hafez)

The shortlisted images will be available to see in the Earth Photo exhibition, opening at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), in London, from June 17 to August 23, 2023, and five Forestry England sites across the country, from June 23 to January 28, 2024.

The exhibition will also tour to the Sidney Nolan Trust, Herefordshire, from July 13 to September 30, 2023, The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall, from February 1 to March 1, 2024 and Lishui International Photography Festival, China in December 2023.

All the images are available to view on the Earth Photo website

Snapshot

Welcome to Snapshot, Metro.co.uk’s picture-led series bringing you the most powerful images and stories of the moment.

If you have a photo collection you would like to share, get in touch by emailing [email protected] 

Get your need-to-know latest news, feel-good stories, analysis and more by signing up to Metro’s News Updates newsletter

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‘Martinez Color At Its Very Best’: Photo Of The Day

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A red vintage station wagon parked next to a sidewalk strip of gazanias in bloom is "Martinez color at its very best," says Carmelo Salgado.


© Photo by Carmelo Salgado
A red vintage station wagon parked next to a sidewalk strip of gazanias in bloom is “Martinez color at its very best,” says Carmelo Salgado.

MARTINEZ, CA — Carmelo Salgado sent in this photo of his sidewalk strip of gazanias in full bloom, while his neighbor shows off his vintage station wagon.

“Martinez color at its very best!” Carmelo said.

He shot the picture Sunday, May 21, on his Pixel 6 cell phone, just a few blocks from downtown Martinez.

Thanks so much for sharing, Carmelo!

It’s Your Shot: Pictures You Take and We Share

Have you got the next incredible photo? If you have an awesome photo of nature, breathtaking scenery, kids caught being kids, a pet doing something funny or something unusual you happen to catch, we’d love to feature it on Patch. We’re looking for high-resolution images that reflect the beauty that is Martinez and the East Bay, and that show off your unique talents.

So, bring ’em on. No selfies. Not here.

Send your photos to [email protected]. In your email, please be sure to include information about when and where the shot was taken and any other details about what was going on.

The article ‘Martinez Color At Its Very Best’: Photo Of The Day appeared first on Martinez Patch.

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Four Perfect New York Excursions That Combine Nature and Culture

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This summer, nature is in full flower at four major art institutions around New York City: Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Met Cloisters, the New York Botanical Garden, and Storm King Art Center north of the city. Just as important as the shows themselves are your activities before and after. Here’s our cheat sheet to navigating your way around them as you savor the dual experiences. Don’t forget your walking shoes!

Metropolitan Museum of Art
“Van Gogh’s Cypresses”

Visitors look at a painting during a preview of "Van Gogh's Cypresses" exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 15, 2023, in New York City. Photo: Wang Fan/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images.

Visitors look at a painting during a preview of “Van Gogh’s Cypresses” exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 15, 2023, in New York City. Photo: Wang Fan/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images.

Planning a visit to the highly anticipated Vincent van Gogh “Cypresses” exhibition at the Met (through August 27)? You are, of course, going to need your strength. First, duck into Bluestone Lane (1085 Fifth Avenue at 90th Street)—an Upper East Side favorite—for bracingly strong coffee. Placing your order under the grand stone archway of the historic Church of the Heavenly Rest isn’t a shabby way to start your day.

Now that you’re rejuvenated, walk south along iconic Fifth Avenue toward the Met (1000 Fifth Avenue, between 82nd and 83rd Streets), where nearly 40 of the daring Post-Impressionist’s paintings await, including masterpieces like Wheat Field with Cypresses and The Starry Night. It’s the first exhibition to focus on cypress trees, those enigmatic evergreens that figure prominently in Van Gogh’s oeuvre.

Vincent van Gogh, <em>Cypresses</em> (1889). Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Vincent van Gogh, Cypresses (1889). Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

After taking in his arboreal brushstrokes, step out the back of the museum for the real thing. Central Park is famed for its idyllic landscapes and sylvan strolls. The Ramble, a short walk west (between 73rd Street and 78th Street), offers 38 acres of winding paths, not to mention excellent birdwatching. The Great Lawn, meanwhile, offers grassy patches to rest your weary feet or roll out a picnic lunch. The lawn also holds any number of summer concerts this summer.

Should all that imbibing of nature inspire quaffing of another kind, trek back toward civilization, across Fifth Avenue, for the quintessential post-Met romp: the Carlyle Hotel. Inside the historic and luxurious Bemelmans Bar—where whimsical murals by Ludwig Bemelmans, creator of the Madeline children’s books, adorn the walls—offers an array of refreshing beverages, from dirty martinis to Shirley Temples.

Met Cloisters
Garden Tours

View of Cuxa Cloister (ca. 1130–40), currently located in the Cloisters. Courtesy of the Cloisters.

View of Cuxa Cloister (ca. 1130–40), currently located in the Cloisters. Courtesy of the Cloisters.

Located at 99 Margaret Corbin Drive in Northern Manhattan’s Fort Tryon Park, the Cloisters—governed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art—has been a must-see for locals and visitors since opening to the public in 1938. Open year round with free admission, it was founded by oil heir John D. Rockefeller, Jr., reassembled from fragments he acquired from American artist George Grey Barnard, who in in the early 1900s began collecting medieval art and architectural fragments from European monasteries and churches that were being demolished.

The richness of medieval Europe is on full display. Many of the works are world-famous, like the incredibly preserved late 15th-century Unicorn Tapestries, with their dense, vibrant millefleurs, and the 12th-century Cloisters Cross. Another gem of the collection is the Book of Flower Studies (ca. 1510–20), for which medieval illuminators in Tours, France, made watercolor illustrations of numerous flower species with remarkable attention to detail.

Page from the Book of Flower Studies (ca. 1510–1515), attributed to Master of Claude de France, showing St. Peter's Keys (Primula veris) with a butterfly.

Page from the Book of Flower Studies (ca. 1510–15), attributed to Master of Claude de France, showing St. Peter’s Keys (Primula veris) with a butterfly. Courtesy of the Cloisters.

Visitors are also well-advised to seek out some quality time with the namesake cloisters, meditative gardens located in various corners of the museum; their therapeutic value is the stuff of legend. A horticultural staff maintains the gardens and gives daily educational tours, too.

Fort Tryon Park itself is worth the trip. The space is rich in history, serving as a battleground in the Revolutionary War, and boasts eight miles of pathways, as well as plenty of lawn space for picnics. Heather Garden, Manhattan’s biggest, contains over 500 varieties of plants, while Linden Terrace offers unobstructed and spectacular views of the Hudson River.

 

New York Botanical Garden
Ebony G. Patterson

Ebony G. Patterson. Photoo: Frank Ishman. Courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago.

Ebony G. Patterson. Photo: Frank Ishman. Courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago.

Before heading inside the New York Botanical Garden at 2900 Southern Boulevard in the Bronx, it would be wise to make a pitstop at La Masa, a modern Colombian bakery at 726 Lydig Avenue on the garden’s east side. Here you can power up on gourmet empanadas and, of course, perfectly roasted coffee.

Now for the main event, where the contemporary artist Ebony G. Patterson has transformed the garden—one of the largest of its kind in the world, boasting over a million living plants—into a stunning medley of art and nature. Flowers, fabric, glass, and other materials combine to create lush, otherworldly environments.

The sprawling site-specific exhibition (through October 2) is the result of the Jamaican-born artist’s yearlong residency at the garden, making her the first visual artist to embed within the institution. Be sure to check out the Herbarium, where Patterson has installed the centerpiece of the exhibition, a monumental glass and stone peacock.

After a day of soaking in all that art and nature, you don’t even need to leave the garden to revive. Make your way to the northwestern corner to the scenic Hudson Garden Grill, which is conveniently nestled among the 40 acres of the Ross Conifer Arboretum. The menu emphasizes locally sourced recipes and ethically produced ingredients straight from Hudson Valley farms.

Storm King Art Center
Ugo Rondinone, RA Walden, Beatriz Cortez

Visitors gather around Menashe Kadishman's artwork </em>Suspended</em> at Storm King Art Center in New York on May 21, 2023. (Photo by Li Rui/Xinhua via Getty Images)

Visitors gather around Menashe Kadishman’s artwork Suspended at Storm King Art Center in New York on May 21, 2023. Photo: Li Rui/Xinhua via Getty Images.

Storm King has just opened for the summer season, and not a moment too soon. The 500-acre open-air museum contains perhaps the largest collection of contemporary outdoor sculptures in the U.S.—and it’s located only an hour’s drive north of Manhattan in the Hudson Valley, at 1 Museum Road in New Windsor. Although it was originally devoted to Hudson River School painting, Storm King soon began placing large-scale sculptures directly into its landscape, turning it into a world-class sculpture garden. 

This summer, Storm King has added three contemporary sculptors to its roster (through November 13). New York-based Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone has installed the sun (2018) and the moon (2021), two large circular sculptures fashioned out of cast-bronze tree branches. RA Walden, meanwhile, has reimagined the electron configuration of the six most common elements—carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur—as crop circles on a hillside. And Beatriz Cortez has sculpted, by hand, volcano-like forms with undulating surfaces that echo the surrounding landscape. 

the sun (2018) and the moon (2021), Ugo Rondinone. Courtesy of Storm King.

Ugo Rondinone, the sun (2018) and the moon (2021). Courtesy of Storm King Art Center.

As long as you’re near the art center of Beacon (just across the Hudson River), why not take a small detour to Dia Beacon? Housed in a former Nabisco box-printing factory at 3 Beekman Street, the museum’s collection includes major works by artists—particularly land artists—such as Richard Serra, Nancy Holt, and Robert Smithson. 

Should you need to stay a night or two before heading back to the city, Beacon is the place to do it. Look no further than the Roundhouse Hotel, at 2 East Main Street. The property was originally a textile manufacturer and one of the first factories in Beacon. Its restaurant, too, is a must, inspired by the agricultural richness of the Hudson Valley, highlighting local farms, wineries, and distilleries. All the tables have waterfall and creek views through floor-to-ceiling windows. 

Check back for additional Artnet Summer Itineraries for Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.—coming this month.

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Nineteen teens posing for photo injured after deck partially collapses at Texas seaside park

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Nineteen teens posing for photo injured after deck partially collapses at Texas seaside park

Friday, June 09 2023
ABC News Radio

(HOUSTON) — More than a dozen teenagers from a church camp posing for a group photo were injured after a portion of a deck walkway collapsed at a seaside park in Texas, officials said.

The students were visiting Stahlman Park in Surfside Beach, Brazoria County, on Thursday with the Bayou City Fellowship when the incident occurred, the church said. Nearly 80 students from several campuses were on the trip, the church said.

Students from the Bayou City Fellowship’s Cypress campus were taking a group photo when a portion of the deck collapsed around 12:30 p.m. local time, according to the church.

Footage from the scene showed a section of a wooden walkway ramp that had partially detached, falling on the grass below.

Nineteen students between the ages of 14 and 18 suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the incident, according to Brazoria County officials. Five were transported to a Houston-area Memorial Hermann hospital via a helicopter, five were taken by ambulance to local hospitals, and nine were taken to hospitals by private vehicles, the county said.

Multiple police, EMS and fire departments responded to the scene.

“While this is a traumatic event, we are blessed to report that none of the injuries are life-threatening,” Bayou City Fellowship said in a statement. “We are thankful for the outpour of concern from our community and ask that the city and surrounding areas keep all that are affected physically and emotionally in prayer.”

The church said it is not releasing the names of the victims or the nature of their injuries due to privacy concerns.

The incident remains under investigation, the county said.

Stahlman Park is located on the Gulf of Mexico, about 66 miles south of Houston.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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photography competition | Asia’s Largest Photography & Film Awards 2023, Call for entries by Nature inFocus

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Summary

The winners of the photography and filmmaking competition will receive cash prizes of INR 12,00,000.

The application window for the competition is scheduled to close on 15 June 2023. 

The Nature inFocus Photography and Film Awards 2023 has introduced a new category this year that is open to participants under the age of 17. The category is being called Young Photographer and it is the perfect opportunity for young students to take part in Asia’s largest film and photography awards.

The Nature inFocus Photography and Film Awards 2023 is an international premier platform for wildlife photographers and filmmakers to showcase their talents. Candidates interested in participating can visit the official website at festival.natureinfocus.in and register themselves.

The application window for the competition is scheduled to close on 15 June 2023.

Competition Details

Participants must submit Images of nature and wildlife shot by them. They can upload up to 15 photographs. Additionally, for the Young Photographer category, a non-refundable registration fee of ₹1000 + 18% GST is applicable.

Prize Details

The winners of the photography and filmmaking competition will receive cash prizes of INR 12,00,000. Last year, the keenly contested award received more than 16,000 entries from across the globe. Stunning photographs and world-class content poured in from the photography and filmmaking fraternity.

Commenting on the Awards, Rohit Varma, Founder, Nature inFocus, said, “There are so many talented photographers and filmmakers who capture the essence of the beauty of our world but very few platforms to highlight their talents. Over the years, Nature inFocus Photography and Film Awards has been a meeting place for national and international wildlife photographers and creators with breath-taking content.”

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Categories

Additionally, the photography competition is also open for participants above the age of 17. There are six categories for adults, ranging from: Animal Behaviour, Animal Portraits, Conservation Focus, Creative Nature Photography, Wildscape and Animals in Their Habitat along with the Photographer of the Year – Portfolio. The participants can submit up to 30 images, all in one category or divided across the five categories, plus 6 – 10 images in the Photographer of the Year – Portfolio category.

The filmmaking competition has two categories: Indian Films & International Films, each with separate sub-categories for Funded and Non-Funded films. A participant can upload up to four films, two films under each sub-category.

Last updated on 09 Jun 2023



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