For its final season, Colorful Gardens (1636 Main Road, Jamesport, 631-722-5400) is filling its greenhouse with more than flowers.
This week, the longtime nursery becomes the setting for Growing America: Art in the Hothouse, an exhibition that brings contemporary sculpture together with plants, flowers and the greenhouse itself.
Presented by North Fork Contemporary in partnership with Colorful Gardens, the exhibition features work by 16 artists, including 15 from the East End and one visiting artist, inside and around the nursery. The show explores American identity through the broad idea of “growing.”
“To some artists, it means actually growing things,” North Fork Contemporary director Cliff Baldwin says. “To other artists, it means growing the way they do welding or something along those lines. It can mean lots of different things, and we left it very open for everyone to interpret that way.”
The participating artists are Baldwin of Aquebogue, Bill Albertini of Mattituck, Marta Baumiller of Aquebogue, Bennett Blackburn of Peconic, Sylvia Cedeño of Mattituck, Louise Eastman of Sag Harbor, Seung Lee of Riverhead, Arden Scott of Greenport, Adam Straus of Riverhead, Peter Treiber of Southold, Annemarie Waugh of Setauket, Marianne Weil of Orient, Allan Wexler of Southold, Ellen Wiener of Southold, John Wittenberg of Southold and Michael Stoughton of Memphis, Tennessee.
The greenhouse setting helped shape the exhibition. Without traditional walls for hanging artwork and exposed to moisture, intense sunlight and heat, the space called for three-dimensional work that could withstand those conditions.
The resulting exhibition includes sculptures made from wood, shade cloth, fired brick, grapevines, rawhide, paper, glass, metal and other materials. Some works connect directly to gardening, farming or materials that might otherwise be discarded. Additional sculptures will be installed outdoors.
Inside, the artwork will be displayed among Colorful Gardens’ mums, combining the nursery’s final season of flowers with contemporary sculpture. The exhibition also serves as a farewell to the longtime Jamesport business.
Owned by Michele DeVito, Colorful Gardens has served local gardeners for more than 30 years. DeVito is preparing to close the nursery after the mum season. North Fork Contemporary approached her about using the greenhouse for an exhibition, and she welcomed the project as a community event.
“She’s given us carte blanche to do whatever we want, which is so nice to have that kind of trust,” Baumiller says. “I think it’s really cool.”
North Fork Contemporary is a nonprofit arts organization founded about four years ago to support, exhibit and promote artists on the North Fork. The group organizes exhibitions, artist talks and studio visits; publishes a monthly newsletter highlighting arts events from Wading River to Orient; and maintains an art library in Jamesport with about 2,500 books.
The organization has no formal membership. Instead, it selects artists for individual exhibitions based on their work and each exhibition site’s needs.
Growing America: Art in the Hothouse will have a preview Sept. 18 from 5 to 7 p.m., followed by an opening reception Sept. 19 from 5 to 7 p.m. It will also be open for viewing Sept. 26 and Oct. 3 from noon to 4 p.m.
