Show Opening At Cahoots
Artist Mariam Todd’s newest body of cyanotype work “Heart of Boxerwood” will be featured for the month of April at Artists in Cahoots in Lexington. The opening reception is this Friday, April 4, from 5 to 7 p.m.
“Heart of Boxerwood” is a visual love letter from Todd to Boxerwood Nature Center and Woodland Garden, and a thank you note for all the gifts it gave her and her family. The artwork also pays homage to the late Dr. Robert S. Munger, who was responsible for the creation and development of the woodland garden.
Todd began exploring Boxerwood in 2003 with her small children in tow. Together they played in and wandered through the gardens and woods. Now, 22 years later, with her family mostly grown, Todd rambles the grounds gathering inspiration and plant materials for her cyanotype images.
“Cyanotypes are an old printmaking technique dating back to the 1840s,” she explained. “In a darkroom I paint hot and cold press watercolor papers with a liquid of light sensitive iron salts. Then I arrange either the plant materials or manipulated photographs on top of the paper and expose the whole thing to light. When I wash the paper in water the areas that were shielded from the light show up as white and the exposed areas are a beautiful Prussian blue. The blue-green shades feel like a reflection of Earth, which makes them perfect for my ‘Heart of Boxerwood’ project.”
In 1952 Dr. Munger and his wife Elizabeth Evans Munger built their home in a slightly overgrown pasture where they began raising their three children. At first Dr. Munger simply collected and planted shrubs and trees to shade his home. Over the next 30 years, though, he studied horticulture and planted upwards of 13,000 trees and shrubs from all over the world. In 1997, Boxerwood opened to the public and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
With this exhibit, Todd is supporting the Boxerwood Education Association, the nonprofit that owns and manages the 15-acre garden and facilitates environmental education and earth action projects throughout the Rockbridge area.
“We’re all so excited about this exhibit,” said Emily Kohl, Boxerwood’s executive director. “It’s our 25th anniversary as a nonprofit this year, and art is such a powerful way to connect with nature and express one’s sense of self. I think the body of work Mariam has created is going to be inspirational to a lot of folks who experience a sense of belonging when they visit Boxerwood.”
In addition to Friday evening’s opening reception, Todd will be at the gallery on Saturday April 5, Friday April 11, Tuesday April 22, and Saturday April 26 to chat about her work.
