Wellesley pollen art exhibit: Exclusive world premiere

June 9, 2019 by bbrown 2 Comments

pollen art.

Not sure, but I think I’ve kind of invented a thing: Pollen Art.

(Well, there is this Wolfgang chap who had an exhibit at MOMA a few years back, but he was much less ambitious.)

The exhibit has grown out of a special sort of pain that these fine, powdery microgametophytes have inflicted upon my wheezy lungs over the past week. Rather than succumb to this attack, I’ve chosen to exploit these yellow and green hues in the name of art, using all my willpower to hold off sneezes during the artistic process and ruining everything.

This is all hand-crafted, done en pollen air style in our Wellesley backyard and driveway.

And people think I won’t have anything to do with an empty nest…I can hear the Wellesley of Society Artists calling me now.

pollen art. — Recreation of Wellesley High graduation photo

Oh, and local artist Elizabeth Cohen share this Renoir-esque pooling of pollen on Lake Waban.

lake waban pollen — Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Cohen

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Pictures of Spring 2019, Wellesley

March 20, 2019 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Spring’s only job is to be beautiful, and today it rolled into town under blue skies and temperatures that climbed into the 50s. Happy spring, Wellesley. Here are some pictures that prove that fine-weather days are coming.

Wellesley Clock Tower, Spring — Witch Hazel in bloom at Clock Tower Park. The park is looking tidy, with recently raked and edged beds.

Wellesley Spring — A satisfying clump of snowdrops outside the Wellesley College Club.

Wellesley College, greenhouses — Most of the old Welleseley College greenhouses have been razed to make way for new, more energy-efficient greenhouses. Saving the 10-foot high camellia tree, a gift from Wellesley’s founders, Henry and Pauline Durant, was one of the project’s major challenges. Workers built the above cylindrical structure to protect the over 130-year-old tree, which is in bloom now.

North 40, Wellesley spring — This North 40 garden plot was obviously put to bed properly last fall. I am not worthy.

Wellesley North 40, Spring — This North 40 gardener first tidied the raised bed then covered them with hay for the winter.

North 40, Wellesley — The North 40 boardwalk project was approved last year by the Wetlands Protection Committee and the Design Review Board, and will feature a boardwalk and educational signage that will be accessible from Turner Rd., which is located off Weston Rd.

Beebe Meadow, Spring — Beebe Meadow. Nothing says spring like a big pile of mulch. A Beebe Meadow neighbor said that this pile was most likely chipped on-site by a Town crew from trees that had fallen in the Meadow. There are still many other downed trees on the property, possible toppled during last month’s wind storm. Although sometimes mystery tree-cutters take things into their own hands at Beebe Meadow…

Wellesley Hills Library Hearthside historical talk: “Race to the Pole”

March 19, 2019 by admin Leave a Comment

The Wellesley Hills Branch Library presents “Race to the Pole,” a talk by local historian Bob Begin about Antarctica exploration in the 1900s.

In 1900, Antarctica represented the last unexplored and unclaimed region of the world. Great Britain felt it her duty to explore and claim this region for the British Empire. She would sponsor expeditions to achieve this goal. Other nations would also enter the race. Learn about the explorers who risked life and limb to conquer the Antarctic: Scott, Amundsen, and Shackleton. What drove these men?

Ernest Shackleton’s men struggle to free their ship, The Endurance, from the Antarctica ice.

WHEN: Thursday, March 28, 2019, 6:30pm – 7:45pm
WHERE: Wellesley Hills Branch Library, 201 Washington St.

Beyond Wellesley: a visit to Spring at the Boston Flower Show

March 15, 2019 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Every year around this time it feels hard to believe that spring is coming. Right now in Wellesley snow is still on the ground, the trees are bare, and the temperatures are not expected to creep even as high as 60 degrees anytime soon. Keeping the faith is a challenge.

The Boston Flower & Garden Show has had no such crisis of faith since 1834, when the event started out in Faneuil Hall more as a country fair than what is today a showcase for backyard suburban paradises. At the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston through March 17, the show’s theme this year is “The Beauty of Balance.” Wellesley’s own Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Interim Director and President Suzanne Maas serves as Show Chair, and Hannah Traggis, Senior Horticulturalist at MassHort is Vice Chair of the flower show.

Mass Hort also manages all the amateur competitions at the show, which include floral design, amateur horticulture competitions including plant rooms, bay windows, individual house plants/horticulture exhibits, and junior horticulture, Ikebana display, miniature gardens, and photography.

Here are a few pics from my wander through spring bottled up in a vast convention center and put on display for the masses, hungry for a glimpse of what is to come.