From Our Backyard to Yours
January 2021 — Your “virtual visit” to Bloedel Reserve
Want to learn more about what is happening behind the scenes and around the grounds at Bloedel Reserve? Use the links below to explore Bloedel Reserve from wherever you happen to be. And be sure to check back regularly for new stories throughout the month.
Posted: 01/29/21
NATURE & WELL-BEING:
Register for Spring Strolls
Our perennially popular onsite program — Strolls for Well-Being — is back. Registration is open now for March sessions. We’ve created safe, online Orientation sessions to get you started. The 12 themed walks that make up the program are linked to various locations around Bloedel Reserve. You will experience the wide variety of landscapes, plant life and wild life that make the Reserve so special, while you give yourself time to refresh and recharge. Click here to find out more about the program and to register.
Posted: 01/29/21
CREATIVITY & INSPIRATION:
New Videos & DIY Artwork
We’re catching up with 2020 Creative Resident Nathan DiPietro. A painter who uses virtual reality technology to create immersive video experiences, Nathan spent time at the Reserve capturing drone and still images of the grounds in order to create remarkable VR paintings of the Reserve.
Madeline Corbin is a researcher whose fascinating work explores the evolution of color in the natural world. She gave a virtual workshop in partnership with BARN earlier this month in which she demonstrated how to use natural materials to create dyes for fabrics. To prepare for the workshop, she worked with the Bloedel horticultural team to find and harvest plant materials from all around the Reserve. This video captures what she found.
Illustrator Dorota Haber-Lehigh, a 2020 Creative Resident, creates elegant, colorful and detailed illustrations of the natural world. Her illustrations of kingfishers and dragonflies are just just waiting for you to embellish with colored pencils, markers, crayons, or paints.
Posted: 01/21/21
HORTICULTURE & DESIGN:
Blooms in Winter
Spring isn’t the only time you’ll see showy flowers at Bloedel Reserve. There are a surprising number of winter blooming plants making their appearance now, if you know where and what to look for.
Horticulture & Grounds staff member Darren Strenge provides a colorful guide to these winter blooms.
Posted: 01/21/21
CREATIVITY DIY
The Shape of Color:
A Virtual Workshop with Kimberly Trowbridge
Saturdays, January 23 & 30, 10 AM to 3:30 PM
Register here
Led by painter Kimberly Trowbridge, this two-part online workshop presented by BIMA (Bainbridge Island Museum of Art) includes lectures on painting, composition, and color theory, as well as guided exercises in creating mixed-media images using paint and collage. Kimberly Trowbridge has been a Bloedel Reserve Creative Fellow (2020) and a Creative Resident (2019). Her most recent body of work, inspired by her stays at the Reserve, is on view at BIMA now through May 9th.
Hand-Split Cedar: A Virtual Workshop with Ed Carriere
Saturday, March 20, 1 PM
Coming in March! See Suquamish Elder Ed Carriere demonstrate the ages-old technique of hand-splitting cedar for basketry. This virtual workshop is scheduled for Saturday, March 20th, and is offered in partnership with our friends at BARN (Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network). Ed is our Creative Resident for the month of March. Read more about Ed Carriere and his artistry.
Posted: 01/15/21
NEW! CREATIVITY DIY
Workshops, Classes & More
We ask our Creative Residents to share their art and ideas with our community while they are in residence. As you can imagine, COVID has severely limited what we can actually do onsite. So we are extremely excited to announce a new resource to help you connect with our extraordinary Residents and explore your own creativity while you’re at it.
Creativity DIY: Workshops, Classes & More will list upcoming virtual classes and workshops, like the color exploration workshop on January 22, led by our January Creative Resident Madelaine Corbin, in partnership with BARN. Registration for the workshop is still open. Sign up today.
And our final Resident of 2020, poet G.C. Waldrep has left us an extraordinary gift — a 3-part poetry exploration inspired by the sights and sounds at Bloedel Reserve. You can find the links to the downloadable workshop prompts here. Bring these writing lessons with you to spark your own creative thinking on your next Bloedel Reserve visit.
Posted: 01/15/2021
HORTICULTURE & DESIGN:
January Plant of the Month
A new year brings new plant picks from Sean Peterson. He begins with Grey Smooth Cap, a variety of Selwyn’s Atrichum Moss.
And in case you missed them, you can see the entire gallery of 2020 Plant Picks here.
Missed a Story? Want to Read More?
You’ll find links to all of our Backyard “back issues” here.
Ask Us
Is there something about Bloedel Reserve you’d like us to highlight here? Some burning question you’ve always wanted to ask our horticultural team? Let us know. Send us an email at in**@bl************.org.
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