This weekend marks the end of the nearly 10-month run of Moore in America, the largest outdoor exhibition of the famed sculptor’s work in a single venue in the United States. Visitors to the Botanical Garden were able to view his magnificent work across this historic landscape in four seasons (as seen here); the show opened May 24, 2008.
Art in Nature walking tours of the show will be held both Saturday and Sunday so you can get one more look at these monumental pieces in this wonderful setting.
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!
Nick Leshi is Associate Director of Public Relations and Electronic Media.
According to Technorati, the leading blog search engine, millions of entries are posted every day in the interconnected, online world of Web logs known as the blogosphere. As the world of journalism continues to evolve from the dominance of traditional print and broadcast media to the growing user-generated content of the Internet, The New York Botanical Garden has earned the attention of the growing new medium.
Many mainstream print publications are making the leap into the new digital frontier. One of the more popular blogs is City Room at The New York Times Web site, where Tina Kelley wrote about Kiku in a blog entry called “Shaping the Chrysanthemums, a Rare Art,” sparking some fun comments from the public. National Geographic’s News Watch blog posted a review by David Braun of Liverworts of New England: A Guide for the Amateur Naturalist, published by The New York Botanical Garden Press. (Order at 718.817.8721 or online.)
Journalists such as Bill Cary of The Journal News, garden writer Irene Virag, and many others have their own blogs. Even some of the Garden’s own staff have ventured into the blogosphere. Check out the personal journal of Chuck Peters, one of our top scientists, for some thought-provoking ruminations. Bookmark them all!
Looking for more? Check out OffManhattan.com, which describes itself as “a travel guide for native New Yorkers and tourists alike, in an effort to promote a ‘greener’ lifestyle,” or the popular BoogieDowner, a great portal for all wonderful things the Bronx has to offer.
There are blogs about art, like Studio-Online, which wrote about Kiku and Moore in America on October 27, and blogs about crafts, like Quaint Handmade, which also spotlighted the Garden in a glowing review about Kiku. Pick a topic and there’s bound to be someone out there blogging about it.
If you have a favorite blog or if you come across one that mentions The New York Botanical Garden, let us know about it. You can e-mail me or just post a comment below. The key to the explosive growth of the blogosphere, I believe, is the line of communication between fellow bloggers and the people reading them. So let us know what you think.
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.
In the few months since its opening, Moore in America, the exhibition of monumental sculpture on display at The New York Botanical Garden, has generated quite a bit of positive media reaction. One of the highlights was Channel Thirteen’s SundayArts feature, which included the Moore exhibition as the lead story in its news segment.
Host Christina Ha visited the Botanical Garden and shared with viewers some of the 20 artworks by Henry Moore that are placed throughout the Garden’s 250 acres, including Reclining Mother and Child in the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden. The SundayArts program airs weekly on Thirteen/WNET-TV, the flagship public broadcaster in the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut metro area. The program showcases local arts news about gallery and museum exhibits and world-class performances. Its Web site is rich with artist profiles, blogs, calendar listings, multi-media content, and more.
In addition to covering Moore in America, PBS has featured other stories about the Botanical Garden as well.
David Hartman later returned to the Garden for a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into making NYBG’s crowd-favorite Holiday Train Show, filming a documentary about Paul Busse and his team at Applied Imagination.
As the Botanical Garden continues to attract the attention of an ever-growing landscape of traditional and new media, public television continues to be a source of thought-provoking and engaging content not easily found elsewhere, sharing with its millions of viewers topics about education, science, culture and the arts, and much, much more.
Kate Murphy, a junior at Fordham University, is an intern working in the Communications Department this summer.
If the 20 monumental pieces in the largest outdoor exhibition of Henry Moore’s sculpture ever seen in a single venue in the United States isn’t enough for you, there is more Moore to be seen at NYBG. Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through November 2, you can catch The Art of Henry Moore, a documentary film focusing on his work.
As anyone living in or visiting New York City in the past few weeks-scratch that, during the summertime in general-will understand, the heat can get pretty intense. So I decided to escape to the Arthur and Janet Ross Lecture Hall and check out The Art of Henry Moore for some air-conditioned relief.
Narrated by Moore himself, the film features footage from around the world, showcasing a variety of backdrops for his magnificent sculpture, many of which can be seen in real life at NYBG during the Moore in America exhibit.
The Art of Henry Moore opens with Moore telling about his life and the defining moments that led him to become one of the most widely known and highly regarded sculptors of all time. He drew inspiration from a range of objects: from a bleak rock in the landscape of Adel woods, outside of Leeds, to ancient Mexican art found in the British Museum. He explains the themes in his works such as the mother and child and the reclining figure and considers the benefits of working in various media using different techniques.
Before seeing the movie, I didn’t know much about Moore’s creative thought process. I gained an appreciation for how artists, and Moore in particular, use particular methods for generating ideas. Moore talks of walking in nature every day and how a sculpture begins—by finding an object such as a bone or a pebble and drawing and studying it. Moore took these “found objects” and translated the beauty of imperfection into his abstract sculpture.
I would definitely recommend seeing The Art of Henry Moore when you visit the Garden for the Moore exhibition. It puts all of the work in perspective and puts a human face on the man behind the extraordinary sculpture.
Educator Anabel Holland is giving guided tours of Moore in America at The New York Botanical Garden
This summer’s Henry Moore exhibition at the Garden has me coming back again and again. The large sculptures hulk quietly throughout the grounds, not imposing themselves upon you but waiting to be discovered. Some hide behind trees or in enclosed gardens only to be revealed when you fully take in both the sculpture itself and the setting around it. For me the most breathtaking is Large Reclining Figure, 1984. As you follow the path up toward the Rose Garden, it slowly takes shape. The brilliant white of the fiberglass contrasting against the vivid green grass is a sight to be seen.
The most amazing aspect of Moore in America is its ability to transform. While walking around with tour groups, my view of each sculpture is constantly changing. In one group everyone sees elephant bones in many pieces, while in another the focus is on the texture and the way it affects the light that reflects off the surface. Not only do the subtle changes in landscape transform the pieces, as Moore would have wanted, but seeing them through someone else’s view is unbelievably eye opening. This exhibition is definitely a must see for the summer!
Be a part of Moore in America. Henry Moore wanted his audience to interact with his sculpture, to get up close and experience the works in a variety of light, weather, and seasons. In partnership with the International Center of Photography, The New York Botanical Garden is pleased to host a photography contest in celebration of our landmark exhibition Moore in America: Monumental Sculpture at The New York Botanical Garden.
Help us to capture the magic of Moore’s massive works against the splendid backdrop of the Garden. Submit your photographs of Moore in America and enter our contest for a chance to win a prize. From June 4 to September 30, participants may enter one photo for each of the four separate jury selections (July 1, August 1, September 1, and October 1). First-, second-, and third-place prizes will be awarded each month. At the end of the contest, one of the four first-place winners will be awarded the grand prize—the opportunity for their photograph to appear in an advertisement.
Henry Moore is standing tall across the Garden and the Darwin exhibit is still going strong. Both of these wonderful exhibits have a slew of complementary programs. Want to take a guided tour highlighting the Moore sculpture, see the newly budding roses, go on a bird walk, learn the science of Charles Darwin, or find something to keep the kids occupied? This Friday through Sunday is jam packed with all of that and more.
Another exhibition season ends this weekend with the closing of the ever-popular 
In the few months since its opening, Moore in America, the exhibition of monumental sculpture on display at The New York Botanical Garden, has generated quite a bit of positive media reaction. One of the highlights was Channel Thirteen’s SundayArts feature, which included the Moore exhibition as 
