The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art chose to celebrate the arrival of spring with its art series "Art in the Garden: En plein air" Friday night and Saturday.
"An event like this not only celebrates the spring season," said Marilyn Laufer, director of JCSM, "but it also celebrates the beauty of the museum and its garden as well."
This is the first year JCSM has held Art in the Garden. The event was formerly known as Art in Bloom and was constricted indoors.
"This is a fundraiser to benefit programs and exhibitions at the museum," said Colleen Bourdeau, marketing manager for JCSM. "Most of our programs are free to the public, so we get funding for those programs with this fundraiser."
The event stretched all the way from the Susan Phillips Garden in the front of the museum, through the lobby to the terrace overlooking the pond.
"We wanted to expand the event to provide for a larger audience and to showcase the beauty of the grounds here," said Brett Evans, director of development at JCSM.
In the Susan Phillips Garden, there were two tents that housed various sponsors and local jazz ensemble Ernest Goes to Jazz.
The lobby area was lined with contributed items for a silent auction.
There were 16 contributors in all.
The band Route 66 played on the terrace, where there was also a live auction.
Topiary designer Pearl Fryar came from his hometown of Bishopville, S.C. to deliver a presentation about his garden full of plants he trimmed into abstract shapes.
Fryar said he acquired the majority of his plants after nurseries threw them away.
Those "trash plants," as Fryar calls them, now form his garden, which was showcased in a 2006 HGTV documentary called "A Man Named Pearl."
Fryar said he does not have any professional training in art or horticulture.
It is mere creativity that guides him as he sculpts his bushes into artful shapes.
"I am neither gardener nor artist," Fryar said, "but I have always been creative. This was my first chance at 40 years old to afford my talent. If you want to do something bad enough, you will find a way to do it."
Fryar tends his 400 to 500 plants naturally without the aid of fertilizer, water or spray.
That is how they best obtain their true natural beauty and size.
Pat Dye, former Auburn football coach and owner of Quail Hollow Gardens, offered one of his Japanese maples for the auction and also served as a sponsor for the event.
Casey Teel, senior in horticulture and nursery manager at Quail Hollow Gardens, said Quail Hollow Gardens will be opening its 4-acre business May 1.
Quail Hollow Gardens is home to a Japanese maple garden as well as a nursery which houses more than 6000 trees.
"We have about 300 trees that we are selling here at the museum," Teel said.
Tommy Chase sponsored a bonsai demonstration consisting mainly of bonsai Maples.
"The theme is Art in the Garden, and bonsai definitely fills that criterion," Chase said. "Because Pat Dye has the maples here, that is why I brought the bonsai maples."
Chase has about 110 bonsai trees in all, but only a fraction were on display.
There was also a workshop called "En plein air." This workshop was hosted by guest artists that gave painting techniques to all who were interested.
To receive more information about the museum's programs and attractions, visit http://jcsm.auburn.edu/
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