Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center

Fairies in the Garden

Every year, a fabulous collection of fairy and gnome homes appears at Annmarie!  Don't miss this magical annual exhibit!

Totem at the Tidewater
2022

Artist: Annie Tull

Medium: Organic cotton rope, mixed natural fibers, botanical dyes, copper fittings, rebar, steel tube

Suspended from a simple steel frame and constructed with over 3000 feet of natural cotton rope, tied one knot at a time, this macramé totem is an ode to the winged creatures that populate the skies over the Chesapeake Bay. Taking its color from natural dyes extracted from various plants and one particular type of beetle, the figure is dressed in the hues of the landscape in which it lives. Conceived as an experiment in regenerative art practice, this sculpture is meant to evolve with its environment over time, providing habitat for various members of the woodland ecosystem while paying tribute to the flora and fauna that make the Tidewater bioregion so unique. The artist hopes the forest may eventually reclaim this work entirely and return the materials to the earth to continue the cycle of regeneration that is the hallmark of the natural world.

Hidden Midden 

2012

Artist: Kaitlin Kylie Pomerantz with the help of John Broderick Heron

 An oyster midden is a pile of discarded oyster shells. Oyster middens stretched for miles along Eastern Seaboard-- remnants of ancient Indian cultures who lived along the coast and consumed large quantities of oysters. When cars were invented in the early 20th century, many of these historical piles were mined and hauled away for use as road fill. Though this was good for road building, it was bad for marine ecology, as the shell middens served as sources of nutrients for new marine life. 

Hidden Midden is a creative rumination on this historical phenomenon and a reminder of the layers of history and remnants of the past that lay hidden, at each moment, beneath our feet. In this pile, we see the progression from the natural world to the industrial, built world. But- in the weeds and mosses that have inserted themselves onto this work-- we also see how nature ignores man's efforts and layers of concrete, and chooses to grow and thrive where it will. All of the objects in this sculpture are discarded materials-- shells from a happy diner's meal, bricks from an old house, asphalt from a bygone playground. Let us remember that our waste tells our story, and that waste need not be wasted-- but can be used toward, and will inevitably lead to, some form of new life.

The Land as We Sea It
The Beautification Project 2006

Mosaic materials and conrete

Beautification Project Artists (ages 13-15): Sarah Daman, Holden Boyles, Maura Glascock, Jennifer Kleponis, Claire Strayer, Katie Wyrough

Annmarie Garden Permanent Collection

Artist statement: Our theme for this piece was the land and sea. For land, we chose four of our world’s geographical regions: arctic, desert, rainforest, and mountains. For the sea, we chose to show different areas of water: beach, underwater, river, and ocean. The land and sea stones have been arranged to create a map of the world.