Hummingbirds, butterflies, dogwood flowers — and this year, bird houses — will all soon bring added beauty and life to the University of Tennessee’s Gardens.
As the grass begins to green and the flowers begin to bloom, local artists of all skill levels and ages have begun to work on their contributions to the gardens.
For the past three years, the UT Gardens have held the annual Art in the Gardens event. This event promotes community engagement, cooperation between artists and funds for the gardens.
Each spring, local artists pick up wooden structures representing the theme for that year. After taking them back and decorating them in any way they choose, they will return them to the gardens in May. The structures will then be placed in the gardens as an exhibit until the fall when they will then be auctioned off.
Through this auction, the gardens receive all proceeds and put them toward the beautification and management costs that are needed to run the gardens properly.
Along with collaborating with local artists in the community, the gardens also work alongside the Agriculture Engineering Department to place these structures in the most appealing place for garden visitors to enjoy.
James Newburn, the interim director for UT Gardens, got the idea for the Art in the Gardens exhibit from the Rotary Botanical Gardens in Jamesville, Wisconsin, about six years ago while at a conference.
“We want to bring these artists in because the art and science concepts of horticulture and gardening is so similar to those of visual art,” Newburn said.
Both gardening and visual art deal with beauty and the expansion of a person’s imagination, and when bringing the two together, it creates a beautiful atmosphere for collaboration in the community.
Bobbi Heneisen, an amateur artist from Roane County, has participated in the Art in the Gardens exhibit for three years and has already started on her birdhouse for the upcoming summer.
Heneisen retired at the age of 59 and realized that she could paint, and that it was a great way to spend her newfound free time after being busy with her job for most of her life.
Last year, Heneisen decorated her dogwood flower with metal gears, and this year she plans to challenge herself further by using mixed media to decorate her birdhouse.
“It’s a great way to express yourself,” Heneisen said. “It gives you a great sense of satisfaction.”
The exhibit continues to grow as professional artists and amateurs alike come together to share their creativity through displays in the UT Gardens.
“It has grown every year,” Newburn said. “Our first year we only had about 23 artists and this past year we had 43 artists enter 47 different pieces.”
This exhibit adds a new element to the gardens each year for visitors to enjoy. Whether they look forward to the new exhibit each year or simply come across it on a trip to downtown Knoxville, visitors are inspired and motivated with a fresh sense of creativity.
The Art in the Gardens exhibit is one based on collaboration with the community, the campus, the artists and, hopefully one day, the other local gardens.
Newburn and the director of the Rotary Botanical Gardens will be presenting their exhibit concepts at the American Public Garden Association national meeting in order to expand these collaborations and bring creativity to communities across the nation.
For students on campus who enjoy escaping to the UT Gardens, this exhibit would be a great addition to their summer bucket list of things to see or possibly even participate in for coming years.
Students at the university can visit the gardens during daylight hours seven days a week. For more information about the UT Gardens and the Art in the Gardens Exhibit, students can check out their website here.
