field trip: chicago gardens, past and present
If you want a vast, yet fast, tour of Chicago gardens, try Chicago Gardens: Past and Present at the Chicago Tourism Center. The show covers dozens of topics superficially — there are tips on how to make your own dandelion wine and coffee, images of neighborhood rooftop gardens, and a photography tour of local celebrity chef Rick Bayless’ herb garden (where he grows food to serve in his restaurants Frontera Grill and Topolobampo). Visitors get a look at Chicago green spaces from conception to fruition — original garden plans painted in delicate watercolors hang alongside current photographs, illustrating a lush “before and after” of public parks. My favorite part is Danny Mansmith and Catherine Schwalbe-Bouzide’s life-size, handmade “Tree of Knowledge” installation. Visitors are invited to add gardening tips, poems, and other comments to the tree via paper “leaves.” (I added a first hand warning against amateurs trying to tend orchids.) The show is free and open to the public now until August 16. Visit the Explore Chicago website for hours of operation, directions, and more details. –Katie D.
By the way, if you need help growing an orchid, this post is still going strong.
Oh hey! Thanks for mentioning Danny Mansfield! His studio is right down the street from me & I walk past his gorgeous display window every day on my way to the train. He’s awesome.
Sounds great – except for the dandelion coffee…
Greeting Katie D,
Thanks so much for the coverage for the Tree of Knowledge.
Please allow me to help with accuracy. I am the collaborator with Danny Mansmith – Catherine Schwalbe-Bouzide. It was our pleasure to work under the request of Nathan Mason and the Dept. of Cultural Affairs – Special Projects.
Thanks in advance for the correction and thanks again for the coverage.
just wanted to say thanks here and to say it was a collaboration making the tree at the show with artist Catherine Schwalble-Bouzide and well my last name is mansmith not mansfiled but i think the was printed wrong at the cultural center…again many thanks for writing about the show though
Danny, thanks for your comment! We’ve made the correction.
The exhibit review is fabulous and we’re grateful. However, I do want to emphasize that the “Tree of Knowledge” (which I think of also as a “Tree of Backyard Chatter”) is a collaborative project between TWO artists – Danny M. and Catherine Schwalbe-Bouzide.
Respectfully, I ask that you make that correction in the text of the blog.
Thank you,
Nathan Mason, curator of the exhibition.
It has been amended — thanks.