Fair grounds at Fareground food hall in downtown Austin
February 06, 2018 Twice last week I visited buzzed-about Fareground food hall on Congress Avenue in downtown Austin, killing time before shows at the Paramount Theater. I’ve yet to see Fareground in the daytime, but at night the softly lit landscaping and plaza sure are enticing. (The stairs and outer ...
Yippee Ki Yay! Austin has its own Stickwork sculpture in Pease Park
February 03, 2018 Have you ever seen a bowerbird’s elaborate, woven-twig structure? That’s what the Stickwork creations of North Carolina artist Patrick Dougherty remind me of. I’ve admired his twiggy sculptures in other cities and gardens. And now we have one in Austin at Pease Park. Titled Yippee Ki Yay, ...
New Central Library – “Austin’s front porch” – boasts rooftop garden and more
December 15, 2017 Austin is head over heels in love with our new Central Library, a marvelous civic structure by Lake|Flato that is much more than a library. It’s a community space for all of Austin in a prime location on Cesar Chavez Street near Austin City Hall and across ...
Flora and fauna of Oregon in copper at UO Alumni Center
December 04, 2017 If you happen to be in Eugene, Oregon, and want to see beautiful nature art, visit the University of Oregon’s Ford Alumni Center and look for the big hearth wall. On a visit to this pretty college town last summer I fell for the work Contemplari Natura ...
Blackbird to bring good cheer
December 01, 2017 Seeing Blackbird, a new sculpture in Austin’s Republic Square Park, for the first time last week, I couldn’t help hearing Paul McCartney’s lilting voice in my head: Blackbird singing in the dead of night Take these broken wings and learn to fly A spark of hope in ...
Creek Show 2017 lights up Waller Creek, ends tonight
November 18, 2017 I’m into public art and especially enjoy the annual Waller Creek Conservancy-sponsored Creek Show, a 9-night run of light installations along a scruffy downtown waterway that’s being redeveloped into a chain of urban parks. This is Creek Show’s 4th year, and it ends tonight (November 18), so ...
Chihuly in the Forest and American art at Crystal Bridges Museum
November 05, 2017 While in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, last weekend, my husband and I drove to nearby Bentonville to see the remarkable collection of American art at Crystal Bridges Museum. The museum is surrounded by pleasant walking trails, and an exhibit of Chihuly glass sculptures, Chihuly in the Forest, was ...
Foliage architecture (and art) on Rice University campus
October 16, 2017 At my alma mater in Houston last month (right after Hurricane Harvey), I appreciated the marriage of foliage and architecture at the Brochstein Pavilion, a remarkable structure and hub of student activity that didn’t exist when I was a student at Rice University. A hedge of tightly ...
Umbrella sky at Aldrich Street in Austin
October 05, 2017 It looks like a convention of Mary Poppinses passed through a rainbow over on Mueller neighborhood’s newly opened Aldrich Street. Presumably inspired by the Umbrella Sky Project in Águeda, Portugal, this public art display of colorful umbrellas suspended over a wide sidewalk makes a festive paseo for ...
Brookside Gardens and a Dougherty twig sculpture: Capital Region Garden Bloggers Fling
July 13, 2017 One of our stops on the Capital Region Garden Bloggers Fling was Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland, where I was smitten by a stand of Verbena bonariensis along a formal path. I didn’t end up taking many pictures at this garden but rather just strolled through it ...
Smithsonian Gardens and U.S. Botanic Garden: Capital Region Garden Bloggers Fling
July 04, 2017 As we celebrate our nation’s Independence Day today, it seems appropriate to share my pics of the Smithsonian Gardens on the National Mall and the U.S. Botanic Garden, which I toured on the recent Capital Region Garden Bloggers Fling in Washington, D.C. A small posse of garden ...
Ai Weiwei and ATX sculptures, dazzling public art in Austin
June 12, 2017 I love seeing public art — sculpture, murals, earthwork, any kind! — and often drag family members out to see new works. Last evening, I headed downtown to the Waller Creek boathouse on Lady Bird Lake to view a trippy new work by Chinese artist and human-rights ...
Exploring Mueller’s Southwest Greenway, public art, and Texas Farmers’ Market
March 05, 2017 A week ago, my dad and I popped over to east Austin’s Mueller neighborhood for a springtime stroll around the Southwest Greenway. They have some pretty big spiders in those parts! I love this sculpture, Arachnophillia by Houston artist Dixie Friend Gay, which stands 23 feet tall ...
Outdoors at The Domain’s Rock Rose
December 03, 2016 My mother and I had lunch in the new Rock Rose section of The Domain (a New Urbanist-style live/work/shop development in North Austin) last week and poked around in the shops afterward. Naturally, I yanked my phone out along the way to take pictures of cool landscaping ...
Creek Show 2016: Light-based public art along Austin’s Waller Creek
November 17, 2016 Five temporary, light-based art installations come to glowing life each evening through Saturday in downtown Austin along Waller Creek between 5th and 8th Streets. It’s called, simply, Creek Show, with a carnival-esque monster-fish logo (it’s alive!) that I still don’t get, but it’s fun, it’s free, and ...
Come to my free talk at Antique Rose Emporium this Saturday
November 03, 2016Texas gardeners, come on out to The Antique Rose Emporium Fall Festival in Brenham, Texas, this weekend for entertaining and educational garden speakers, beautiful display gardens, and fun! I’ll be speaking this Saturday, November 5th, from 1:30 to 2:30 pm. My talk, with plenty of eye-candy photos, is ...
