Garden Party – Coneflowers Aside the Path

Coneflowers in Olbrich Garden

https://pkuatm.org/2024/05/13/mrr09iow4ka Aside the Path © 2013 Bo Mackison

see url When our eyes see our hands doing the work of our hearts, the circle of creation is completed within us, the doors of our souls fly open and love steps forth to heal everything in sight. ~ Michael Bridge

https://domainebregeon.com/q2jplyg1pv6 I paged through one of my older journals this morning, looking for a quotation to pair with this photograph. I thought perhaps I’d find something related to the idea of walking on the journey and noticing the flowers along the way. I filled this particular journal several years ago — lines from poetry that resonated with me, notes from the books I was reading, quotations I’d cataloged for future use, scribbled ideas and plans and lists.

see url Instead I found the above quote by Michael Bridge, and after I read and re-read it several times, I realized that it truly resonated with me, with where I am traveling on my personal journey.

go here There are early mornings when I lose myself in these often studied journal pages. Today I also found myself in awe at the ending of a poem — which happens to be about the everyday and transcendence. The poem is “Initiation II” by Nina Bogin. I once called it my “Calming Down Poem”. Here is the ending, though the entire poem is delicious and worth reading/absorbing:

https://emduk.org/00vkqp9g7 I climbed the pink stairs, entered
the house as calm and ephemeral
as my own certainty:
this is my house, my key,
my hand with its new lines.
I am as old as I will ever be.

here I spent an hour yesterday contemplating the first half of 2013, and marveling at the distance I have traveled. Not only the distance on a cross-country trip from Arizona to Wisconsin, but also the distance I have traveled on my creative path.

https://grannysglasses.com/?p=ck133usx2kb I set up first solo photography exhibit this past weekend, and its opening was yesterday, the first day of the second half of the year. A solo show was once a goal I thought out of my reach, and now it is no longer a wish or a dream, but reality.

https://restoreredspruce.org/2024/05/13/scfvjqi82wo I hold many dreams, still. Dreams that once seemed impossible, but as I keep adding new skills and venturing into places I have never before dared, the dreams are no longer dreams. They are achievable goals.

go here There is still much work to be done, but as I complete each new step, I get nearer to my goal of providing on-line and in-person workshops to complement the Desert Wisdom Cards I’ve created.

https://aguasamazonicas.org/kj3whhqxygn This month I finish Jen Louden’s TeachNow course. I complete advanced training in Creativity Coaching in mid-September. I’ve discovered a wonderful resource for in-person workshops on book structures in Madison, and these supplement my book-making activities in Tucson. And so my art career is in transition.

https://thegreathighway.com/613r0qr2b31 Though photography remains an passionate piece of my daily life, I’m adding new techniques, expanding on current themes, and my photography practice evolves as I add creating artist books to my repertoire. Each step completed leads to the next step, and the momentum continues.

https://dentaris-sa.com/2024/05/13/0tup7k2yro I look forward to amazing things in the last half of 2013.

Life is good.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.   Her exhibit, enter site Garden Party – A Celebration of Botanical Photography, is at the Alicia Ashman Branch Library Gallery in Madison, Wisconsin and runs through September 5, 2013.

 

Garden Party – White Coneflowers

Coneflowers in Olbrich Garden

White Coneflowers © 2013 Bo Mackison

“Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair…” ~ Susan Polis Shutz

This array of stunning white coneflowers makes ME want to go dance in the sun!

The coneflowers are abundant this year in the prairie spaces of Wisconsin. Perhaps one of the gifts that comes with the record-breaking rainfalls we’ve had this spring and early summer. Every prairie space is white and purple with the waving, dancing, bouncing cone flowers, their bright orange heads bobbing, their brilliant rays fluttering.

It is nearly impossible to walk among hundreds of coneflowers and not dance and sing, if not with your body, then surely with your heart and soul.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.   Today is the opening for her exhibit, Buy Watson Diazepam Garden Party – A Celebration of Botanical Photography at the Alicia Ashman Branch Library Gallery in Madison, Wisconsin. There are coneflowers dancing upon one of the walls in the children’s area!

Library Turns into Garden – at Alicia Ashman Library

Hanging an Art Exhibit - "Garden Party - A Celebration of Botanical Photography" at Alicia Ashman Branch, Madison Public Library

Hanging an Art Exhibit © 2013 Bo Mackison

With a lot of help from family, I hung my art exhibit, Garden Party – A Celebration of Botanical Photography, at the Alicia Ashman Branch of the Madison Public Library today. There were 32 framed photographs and canvases to hang and we had four hours to get the job done.

All of my practice packing for and setting up my photography booth at dozens of different art fairs and festivals came in handy. I chose the 30+ pieces weeks ago, framed a couple of new prints and finished one last canvas, and then packed them in sturdy bins.

Hanging an Art Exhibit - "Garden Party - A Celebration of Botanical Photography" at Alicia Ashman Branch, Madison Public Library

Framed Prints All in a Row © 2013 Bo Mackison

Last week I completed a few smaller projects – creating title cards and revised price lists, and re-writing my artist statement and bio. I decided at the last-minute to include a quote with each photograph, much like I do when I post a photograph on this blog paired with a quotation.

Once I had all the photos in the library, I lined them along an entire wall. The patrons, occupied with their newspapers, magazines, and computers, took a break to admire the bright botanical photos and comment on the hard work of hanging a show. I assured them it was an easier job to hang thirty photographs in a well-lit, air-conditioned building compared to hanging a similar number in a 10′ by 10′ tent at an art festival.

Though admittedly, I spent most of the time figuring out where to hang the art and working out details with the hard-working library staff. My assistants did the hard part!

Hanging an Art Exhibit - "Garden Party - A Celebration of Botanical Photography" at Alicia Ashman Branch, Madison Public Library

Bright Flowers in the Children’s Library © 2013 Bo Mackison

We hung bright, bold flowers in the children’s library. One toddler, a curious two-year old, noticed the bee in the coneflower photo and showed his mother. Several eight year old girls watched me level the purple anemone photograph, Charlotte’s Anemone, and declared that purple was their favorite color. “That would go in my bedroom!” one of them declared.

I love that the children are already looking at and connecting with art on their level. What joy that is, what inspiration for those who create art.

Hanging an Art Exhibit - "Garden Party - A Celebration of Botanical Photography" at Alicia Ashman Branch, Madison Public Library

“Zen Garden” with the Garden Books © 2013 Bo Mackison

Zen Garden, one of my all time favorite photos on canvas, had to go in the gardening section. It seemed only right.

Hanging an Art Exhibit - "Garden Party - A Celebration of Botanical Photography" at Alicia Ashman Branch, Madison Public Library

Almost Ready for the Opening © 2013 Bo Mackison

By the time we had all of the art on the walls, the lights were flashing, signaling the close of the library. There was still a bit of leveling to do, and a few title cards to re-arrange, but the show is hung and ready for the official opening of the exhibit on July 1st.

Photo Exhibit Poster - Alicia Ashman Library

Garden Party Exhibit Information

Here are the details for visitors in the Madison, Wisconsin area: The art exhibit, Garden Party – A Celebration of Botanical Photography runs from July 1 through September 5 at the Alicia Ashman Branch Library Gallery, 733 North High Point Road on the far west side of Madison.

Enjoy the show!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Today she also spent several hours converting the local library into a flower garden.

 

Garden Peony

Peony Polaroid

Peony Polaroid © 2013 Bo Mackison

Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words.  They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved by all men for the beauty of their character, though few can decipher even fragments of their meaning.  ~Lydia M. Child

Poppies and Pollen

Poppies and Pollen

Poppies and Pollen © 2013 Bo Mackison

That we find a crystal or a poppy beautiful means that we are less alone, that we are more deeply inserted into existence than the course of a single life would lead us to believe. ~ John Berger

I spent a rainy Saturday afternoon, organizing and re-arranging my bins of framed photographs and canvases. I am putting the final touches on my exhibit, go site Garden Party – A Celebration of Botanical Photography. The exhibit, which opens July 1 and runs through September 5, will be at the Alicia Ashman Branch of the Madison Public Library.

It will almost feel like being at a garden party instead of a library – there will be thirty-two photographs of bright flowers and garden scenes throughout the building. I’m looking forward to seeing all of my favorite Wisconsin botanical photographs hanging in one place!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.