And then I saw the garden
Updated: Sep 4, 2023
“And then I saw the garden,” is now at Historic Bethabara Park until September 23. The Park is located at 2147 Bethabara Rd, Winston-Salem, NC 27106. The show is free to the public and can be viewed during the Park’s normal operating hours.
An Opening Reception, which is also free and open to the community, will be held on Sunday, September 10, from 2-4PM. Artist Carrie Leigh Dickey and the Park’s acting director, Diana Overbey, will be available during the reception to answer questions about the art and the Medicinal Garden. Additionally, participants will be invited to contribute to the in progress painting "In the Maze: a Community Garden."
ARTIST'S STATEMENT:
I remember my first garden. It was the size of a postage stamp. Centered in the garden was a loud and rumbly air conditioner. The ground was Georgia red clay. The flowers were marigolds, buttercups, and wildflowers. The need was to quiet my heart—go outside and garden were my doctor’s orders.
“Come to my garden,
Nestled in the hills.
There I'll keep you safe beside me.”
Years later, I was in great pain due to a back injury. I was crawling around the house. I could barely stand. My nerves were damaged. The need was to find healing and strength—go outside and garden were my doctor’s orders.
“Come to my garden.
Rest there in my arms.
There I'll see you
Safely grown and on your way.”
Today, I remain in the garden. It is where I experience peace. I talk to birds. I watch the bees and butterflies. I grow. I thrive. I listen. I’m still.
“Stay there in the garden,
Where love grows free and wild.
Come to my garden.
Come, sweet child.”
—Carrie Leigh Dickey
NOTES:
Each artwork is accompanied by text from “The Secret Garden” a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett and text from the musical “The Secret Garden” with book and lyrics by Marsha Norman and music by Lucy Simon. May these thoughts be entry points into the artwork.
Artwork for this show is available through Artfolios. For questions, please reach out to Carrie at carrrie@artfolios.shop or by way of (336) 971-8957. So that others might experience the rejuvenating effects of a garden, proceeds from the sale of the artwork will be gifted towards the restoration of Historic Bethabara Park’s Medicinal Garden. Designed by Doctor Hans Martin Kalberlahn in 1756, the garden is the first European Medicinal Garden planted in America.
ABOUT CARRIE:
Carrie Leigh Dickey, Owner and Visionary of Artfolios, is an artist, designer, and marketer. She has a BA in studio art with a concentration in oil painting from Salem College, and she mainly works in acrylics. Carrie's artwork is heartfelt, conversational, and symbolic. She is inspired by nature and young children’s raw and organic approach to art. In her art, she likes experimenting in order to make acrylic paint function as oil paint or as watercolor. Subsequently, Carrie creates marks with anything that is not a paint brush including her fingers, old credit cards, sponges, paper towels, and aluminum foil. She can often be found removing paint from a canvas with a garden hose. She has worked as a designer and marketer for over 20 years. Her design work spans from graphics to website to interior to museum. Her marketing campaigns are award winning.
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