Surrounded By Beauty
Artists In Residence Complement The Park Hill Garden Walk
By Micki Amick
Park Hill Garden Walk Organizer
Artistic vision thrives with plants, and, as in years past, the June 9 Park Hill Garden Walk will feature the work of artists working in the gardens and displaying their work.
For many of these artists, what can be found in a garden is essential to their creations.
“My home studio overlooks my own garden, so I feel very comfortable making pottery en plein air, surrounded by herbs, flowers and garden creatures,” says potter Elaine Redfern, who is participating in the Garden Walk this year for the first time. “Honey bees are an important design element of my pottery. Bees make the world go around, as making functional pottery makes my world go around.“
Participating artists work in a variety of media. You may find Kate Maley, a fan of garden water features, painting one of her watercolors.
Sam Mata Ruiz will be finishing a mural in another garden.
Susan Crane will be demonstrating her fused-glass technique and “planting” her glass flowers in a garden.
Jenny Goring will return this year, with her brilliant flower-inspired scarves. Woodworker Chris Tittiger will bring his hand-crafted charcuterie boards, signs and art, as well as display his own garden handiwork. Another gardener/artist, Jackie Berardini, will show her quilts, along with her garden.
And, in a first this year, floral soundscapes featuring flute and synthesizers will performed by Luke Leavitt and Fragrant Blossom.
Several artists and gardeners are active in Denver’s printmaking community, including Jennifer Ghormley, Carlene Schumacher, Sarah Wallace Scott and Vanessa Martin.
Ghormley’s bright woodcut printed works feature Colorado mountains and nature. Schumacher works on paper, with shifting scenes and subtle colors. Scott’s garden features the plant choices she uses in papermaking, along with painter Nicole Fuentes’s nature-inspired works and Heather Doyle-Maier’s small-edition artist’s books.
“There’s no more perfect venue for me to be surrounded by gorgeous botanicals,” says Martin, a printmaker whose work features botanicals and natural papers. “Being around happy gardeners enjoying themselves . . . well it just doesn’t get any better than that.”
Pollinators and bug hotels
This year’s Garden Walk will also include master gardeners from Denver Urban Gardens (DUG) and Colorado Master Gardeners, who will share their expertise in growing healthy food and regenerating urban green spaces.
CSU Extension Master Gardeners will also be onhand to provide their expertise on growing food for local communities, and share their passion for pollinators. This is a bonus stop on the Walk, and includes designated wildlife habitat, a bug hotel, a sensory garden, a waterwise garden and an on-site composter.
Tickets for the Park Hill Garden Walk can be purchased at parkhillgardenwalk.org. Prices are $15 for adults; seniors (age 65+) are $12, and children under 12 are free. Tickets will be available the day of the event via Venmo for $20. Proceeds from the event benefit Greater Park Hill Community, Inc.’s food, sustainability and other programs.
Tickets purchased online will be available for pick-up the day of the event at a booth at the corner of 19th Avenue and Forest Parkway between 8:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Simply drive up, show a Garden Walk volunteer your proof of purchase and they will give you your ticket(s) with a map of the featured gardens.
Tickets are also available now at these Park Hill establishments:
• City Floral: 1440 Kearney St.
• Cake Crumbs: 2216 Kearney St.
• Spinelli’s Market: 4621 E. 23rd Ave.
• Park Hill Library: 4705 Montview Blvd.
• Park Hill Art Festival on June 1 and 2: 4958 Montview Blvd.
2024 Garden Walk Artists
Jackie Berardini: Textiles
Susan Crane: Fused glass art
Heather Doyle-Maier: Artist’s books
Nicole Fuentes: Acrylics
Jenny Goring: Mixed media, Scarves
Jennifer Ghormley: Woodblock prints
Kate Maley: Watercolors
Vanessa Martin: Botanic prints
Sam Mata Ruiz: acrylic and oil painting
Elaine Redfern: Functional pottery
Carlene Schumacher: Works on paper
Chris Tittiger: Hand-crafted wood
Luke Leavitt and Fragrant Blossom: Soundscapes