GARDENED STATE

A Six Week Celebration of Gardening, Creativity, and the Wildlife Gardening Movement

March 26 - May 6, 2023

Opening Reception, April 1st 6-8pm

AHArts, in collaboration with “Wild About Atlantic Highlands” is celebrating the deep connections between gardening, creativity, the wildlife gardening movement and the importance of biodiversity in the exhibition “Gardened State” and in programs from March 26th through May 6th.

Gardening is a powerful tool for individual citizens to take action to care for the environment and their communities. Simple changes to the way we garden can have a profound impact on wildlife. And for many people, gardening is a deeply creative and therapeutic activity – one which actually improves health and state of mind. When we enter into a “gardened state,” we can connect with deeper parts of our creative selves in new and powerful ways. The garden becomes a canvass, inviting us to delight and experiment with color, texture, pattern, and seasonal contrasts while deepening our relationship with the natural world around us.

Wild About Atlantic Highlands is a grassroots movement devoted to raising awareness within our community of the importance of wildlife gardening to protect biodiversity, halt the loss of species, and preserve and enhance natural habitats.

Selected Artists for the “Gardened State” Exhibit:

Ann Marie McDonnell, Brianna Rapp, Carla Valentino, Charles, Denise Mumm, Elaine Egidio, Ellen Orrego, Gary Steven Groves, Irina Shoyhet, Jenni Vitek, Jessie Frost, Joseph Villa, Judith A. Lieberman, Julia Muench, Katharine Philip, Kathleen Golden, Kira Yustak, Lisa Bagwell, Lisa Madson, Marino Cirillo, MaryAnn Goodwin, Heda Matiejunas, Michele Rath, Mike Quon, Patricia Meko, Patricia Zilinski, Phyllis Frazer-Mayer, Richard Buntzen, Sheilagh Casey, Stacey AS Pritchard, Tracy Coon, Yan Cao

Juror Sarah Galloway is an award winning filmmaker and the Senior Media Producer for the American Museum of Natural History. Her documentary “Wild in the Garden State” chronicles her and her husband’s determination of turning their suburban yard into a native plant garden.

Juror Manda Gorsegner is a painter, community arts organizer and passionate environmentalist. She is the winner of a New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Individual Artist Fellowship for Painting (2022), serves as Grants Administration Manager at the Arts Institute of Middlesex County and is the current President of AHArts.