the naturalist’s desk: language + landscape

About This Event

The art and text installations by Pamela Burgess explore the concept and meaning of landscape as seen through a personal lens. She will give a talk about her art at 3pm on Saturday, January 27.

Installed throughout the Arboretum Library, the show features a range of work in various media including drawings and poetry, sculpture and photography, and samples of found roots and seeds from the artist’s collection of odd nature.

The show, which opens January 27 and continues to June 28, is divided into several sections, each one featuring a different kind of landscape that includes selections from the Arboretum Library’s extensive collection of botanical books, artwork based on specimens growing in the Arboretum, and collaborations among Librarian Susan Eubank, Curator of Living Collections Jim Henrich, and the artist. A map and self-guided tour of the exhibition will be available for visitors.

Together, the Library and artwork may be seen as one large installation, an oversized cabinet of curiosities that is adorned with books, drawings and strange unidentified roots—an experiential adventure for the visitor.

Known for her ephemeral outdoor tapestry installations, Pamela has always been fascinated with nature and its materials. Her work is focused not on the horizon or long view, but on the details of a landscape—fragile plant material.