Come And Wander Through The Gardens
16th Annual Park Hill Garden Walk Is June 18, Nine Green Spaces Featured
By Barbara Armendariz, Co-chair, Garden Walk
Our annual Park Hill Garden Walk is scheduled this year on Saturday, June 18, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
I have been on the Garden Walk committee for the past six years and am always amazed at the generosity and tireless work of Park Hill folks who come together to make this event a success every year.
First of all, thanks to the gardeners who invite visitors to stroll through their lovely spaces. They spend months working in their yards cleaning, planting everything from flowers to veggies, building patios, play areas and fish ponds. Their welcoming smiles guide visitors throughout the day into their creative and beautiful gardens.
The garden walk is not complete without the many artists who are present each year in the gardens. There are painters, sculptors, potters and multimedia artists who show their work and are often working on a piece of art during the day.
What a gift to see and talk with an accomplished artist while wandering through beautiful garden spaces. Surrounded by the natural beauty of the earth and the creative talent of both gardeners and artists, this is an event for all to enjoy.
Every garden has one or two sponsors who are business and service people that contribute financially to this annual event. Many either live or have their business in the Park Hill area, and their generous contributions support services offered by the Greater Park Hill Community, Inc.
The Garden Walk is a wonderful fundraiser for our community. Many sponsors participate each year and are often present during the tour. The generosity of their presence and their donations to our community is a testimony to why Park Hill is an amazing place to live.
More than 100 volunteers come out every year to help out with this event. And, there are many who have participated at all the garden tours from the beginning – 16 in all.
It would be impossible to have an event of this size without the wonderful people who volunteer each year. They are the folks who sit outside the gardens taking tickets, guiding visitors into the gardens and answering questions of all types. Many are also able to identify the plants, shrubs or other wonderful growing things when the gardeners are busy answering visitor’s questions.
My co-chair Helen Quinn and I especially thank our committee members who work for many months to bring this all together; Micki Amick, Patty Mead, Carla Finch, Bob Moses and Bridget Walsh. Thank you also to Angelia McLean, artist and photographer who prepares our poster and brochure every year.
You can find more information about the Garden Walk and a map of the gardens at parkhillgardenwalk.org
Early ticket sales began May 16 and can be purchased online at parkhillgardenwalk.org via Pay-Pal and at King Soopers through Tickets West. Adults (12+) $12, seniors (65+) $10.
From June 3 through June 17 early priced tickets can also be purchased with cash or checks at the Park Hill Library, 4705 Montview Blvd., at Spinnelli’s Market, 4621 E. 23rd Ave., and at Cake Crumbs Bakery, 2216 Kearney St.
On the day of the Garden Walk, June 18, all tickets will be $15 and can be purchased at the Greater Park Hill Office, 2823 Fairfax St. with cash, check, or credit card.
You can also pick up day-of tickets, with cash or checks only, at the Park Hill Library, Spinelli’s Market and Cake Crumbs Bakery. Tickets can also be purchased online at parkhillgardenwalk.org using Pay-Pal.
Online ticket receipts must be presented to receive your Garden Walk brochure/ticket at any of the garden locations or at the Park Hill Office. A map of the gardens is on the Park Hill Garden Walk website.
Please note that no tickets will be sold at the Art Garage this year.
See you in the gardens!
Come See Their Gardens Grow – Featured Gardeners For 2016
- Becky Peters-Combs and Keith Combs
- Marthanne and Edward Simons
- Bev Short and Barbara Sharp
- Sarah Rowe Klein
- Reola Phelps and Kent Boesdorfer
- Mary Ellen and Rob Silcott
- Cindy and Paul Dickey
- Charmaine and Craig Ellison
- Andrea Brost and Mike Zimski
Bouquets Of Thanks To Our Sponsors
Blooming Garden Sponsors — $350
- Ace on the Fax
- doTERRA
- Cherry Creek Properties
- City Floral Garden Center
- Chelsea Gardens
- Ivy Street Design
- Kentwood City Properties
- Nick’s Garden Center
- Porch Light Real Estate Group
- ReMax of Cherry Creek
- Van Camp’s Quality Floors
- Park Hill Veterinary Medical Center
- Fairfax Wine and Spirits
- VCA Park Hill Animal Hospital
- Equity Real Estate
Garden Gate Supporters — $200
- Avalon
- Denver Welcome Home
- American Arbor Care
- Hart Studio
- Johnson Land Art
- Denver Donuts
- FTC Up Gym
- Pangaea
Artists In The Gardens
- Ginny Abblett, pastels, acrylics and oils*
- Tanis Bula, watercolor and mixed media*
- Heather Delzell, baroque style oil paintings
- James Dixon, metal sculptor
- Francisco Gonzalez, watercolor*
- Calvin Lee, painting, various media*
- Kate Maley, watercolor*
- Peg Meagher, watercolor*
- Becky Richardson, paper art, origami flowers*
- Tiffany Miller Russell, paper sculpture*
- Rob Silcott, stone sculpture, painting
- Vicky Smith, ceramics
- Cheryl St. John, oils*
- Sydney Summers, watercolor*
* indicates working en plein air
The Artist Behind The Poster
Meet Angelia McLean, Creative Visionary
Interview with Cara DeGette, Editor, GPHN
Each year, Artist Angelia McLean designs the vibrant, evocative posters for the Garden Walk. McClean, a former visual art teacher for Denver Public Schools and former chair of the Garden Walk committee, currently splits her time between Park Hill and France. She took a few minutes to share some thoughts on her philosophy on art, and life.
Greater Park Hill News: Tell us about your art and your work.
McLean: I’m perhaps an A.D.D artist. I work in many media and switch often, try out new things and create all the time whether it is a painting, making a doll, a children’s book or something digital. I am a creative visionary and it is just what I do, like breathing. In other words, my brain never stops. My husband Paul and I live on Birch Street and we have four young adult children from 19 to 25 years old. With respect to painting, my skills go from photo realistic such as botanical illustration and scientific drawings to abstract pieces. Colfax Avenue has retro signage that I love painting in acrylic, and currently I have finished illustrating a children’s book in cut paper sculpture. I have picked up my oils again in France en plein air but tend to wear more of the paint than what’s on the canvas. The Garden Walk paintings such as the poster and each individual garden have always been in watercolor. My website is angeliamclean.com.
GPHN: Can you provide some details about your life and time spent in Park Hill and in France, and how splitting your time between here and there came to be?
McLean: My degree from the University of Wisconsin was in French and Education, although I fell in love with France and the language at 12 when I started learning it and the history and culture and became a French teacher. We have a house in central France in a small village in one of the least populated departments in the country. It is breathtaking and so peaceful and almost spiritual in its silence and endless vistas. I am a photographer and freelance so my work doesn’t limit me to a location so I am able to complete a lot of art. I feel very fortunate to be able to live elsewhere and partake in a global existence.
GPHN: Tell us a Park Hill story.
McLean: I remember when one could wave to the passengers as the plane flew overhead passing our yard on a Sunday. You also couldn’t talk on the phone much when the jets were coming in for a landing at Stapleton Airport. Park Hill is very special and unique. Nowhere else can you have this magical combination of an urban setting, diversity, mixed use and gorgeous walkable streets than here in our Park Hill. I invited the First Lady, Mrs. Obama, one year to witness this special neighborhood during our Garden Walk. I got a very nice letter declining, but that’s how much I love our neighborhood.
GPHN: What is the story behind you doing the artwork for the Garden Walk?
McLean: In 2010 GPHC was searching for a new chairperson to organize and run the Garden Walk. Believe it or not, I had never been on a tour but I loved gardening and I’ve managed classrooms with 36 3rd graders and a mother of four. How hard could this be? I wanted to combine the artistry of gardening with the artistry of traditional media. I saw Park Hill as more than Montview Boulevard and wanted to create an all-inclusive event where neighbors meet neighbors and people share their pride and joy. Gardening really is a universal language. That first year I was not only the chairperson, I also had our garden on the tour, was the artist for the paintings and the graphic designer for all the publicity and map. This is my 7th year painting and designing for the Walk.
GPHN: Please explain the process – both creative and practical – by which you design the poster. What was the inspiration for this year’s Garden Walk poster?
McLean: My inspiration for the first few posters came from my overactive brain and imagination and later paintings were from photos from traveling I had taken. This year’s poster is created with a photo montage of a few pictures to create the image I had in mind for reference . But they all have followed a theme of a path or garden gate where you just want to peek over that wall to see what beautiful landscape rests there. It’s what we do here in Park Hill. Walking the neighborhood you can’t help but want to peek inside a fence or alley to witness the beautiful gardens secreted away.
GPHN: Describe the most exquisite garden you’ve ever seen.
McLean: Any garden, whether here in Park Hill or in a distant location, has their appeal. And every garden on the Walk has been exceptional. Even flower shops are magical gardens. But I am completely in love with Monet’s Giverney Garden southwest of Paris. It is where the waterlily paintings were created and there are acres upon acres and rows of flowers of so many different colors and varieties no wonder Monet was inspired. It takes your breath away.
GPHN: What’s the final word?
McLean: Every year besides the poster, the individual gardens are painted by me. Close to 80 watercolor paintings over the years have been completed. These are given as a gift to the individual gardeners donating their time and energy for the Walk. I’ll admit after about the 8th garden painting, the large mop brush comes out to use as a big stamper when working with endless green. And another secret: we have variable springs from hot and advanced, to snow and cold with no flowers blooming. I take my artist’s license and embellish with made up flowers and color when needed!