GARDENS: IDEAS TAKING ROOT
MANSION MUSUEM ANNOUNCES EXHIBITS, TOURS, & SPECIAL EVENTS ON GARDENS

WHEELING, W.Va. (April 7, 2008)- -As spring flowers begin to bloom and outdoor gardens begin to take shape, Oglebay Institute’s Mansion Museum fittingly begins its 2008 programming series titled “Gardens: Ideas Taking Root.”

Programs getting underway this month include the exhibit Asian Gardens of the 1920s: The Travels of Elizabeth K. Roys and the Seven Sundays to Remember Lecture Series, which focuses on historic and contemporary gardens.  

Additional programs continue throughout the year and include: a “Feng Shui in the Garden” seminar May 3; a study travel trip to Stan Hywet Hall May 17; the “Secret Gardens of Wheeling Tour” June 14; and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibit “The White House Garden,” which opens August 3.

Asian Gardens of the 1920s: The Travels of Elizabeth K. Roys

Produced by the Botanic Garden of Smith College, this unique exhibit opens April 25 at the Mansion Museum in Oglebay and explores Asian gardens through the eyes of Elizabeth Roys, a botany student whose written descriptions, hand-drawn plans and striking photography capture the landscapes of a vanished era. Highlighting temple, palace, private, working-class and ruined gardens in China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and India, the exhibit explores differing cultural conceptions of the garden.

While touring Asia with her mother in 1926-27, Roys compiled detailed records and observations in five notebooks, which she kept all her life. Although she died in 1991, her notebooks remained hidden, and it was not until her husband dies 10 years later that the notebooks were discovered and donated to the Botanic Garden of Smith College.

Now, more than 80 years after Roys embarked on her remarkable Asian journey, these well-kept treasures have come into public view through this traveling exhibit. Stunning photographs transport visitors to the gardens Roys chronicled, many of which exist today only in her notebooks. Her unique historical accounts constitute a singular and irreplaceable portrait of Asian gardens in the early 20th century.

The exhibit is on display at the Mansion Museum through July 13.

Seven Sundays to Remember Lecture Series

Oglebay Institute’s Seven Sundays to Remember begins April 20 and continues each month through October. Each lecture features a different speaker and focuses on an aspect of historic or contemporary gardens.

Eriks Janelsins, director of the Schrader Environmental Education Center will deliver the first Seven Sundays lecture, titled “A.B. Brooks: For Those that Walk the Trails.” Janelsins lecture presents a concise history of Brooks, who was West Virginia’s first forester, first chief game protector, first naturalist, a poet, author and artist. Brooks created the first state park and state forest in West Virginia and in 1927 came to Oglebay as the first staff naturalist, leading more than 50,000 people over its trails and inspiring generations of future environmentalists.

A complete list of lectures, speakers and dates follows:

April 20, “A.B. Brooks: For Those that Walk the Trails” presented by Eriks Janelsins

May 4, “Landscape Architecture of the Country Place Era Estates, 1890-1933,” presented by Gabe Hayes

June 22, “Landscapes of Oglebay,” presented by Andy Barger

July 13, “Brooks Wigginton’s Personal Landscapes” presented by Hydie Friend.

Aug. 3, “The White House Garden: Two Centuries of Presidential Landscapes,” presented by William Seale

Sept. 28, “Elements of Bissonnette Gardens at Oglebay,” presented by Chris Schenkel and Marilyn Archer.

Oct. 12,  “Greenwood Cemetery: The Victorian Way of Death in Wheeling,” presented by Dr. David Javersak.

All programs begin at 1 p.m. in the Waddington Room of the Mansion Museum and last about one hour. Admission is $10/$7 OI members, which includes admission to both the Mansion and Glass Museums. All guests are invited to continue on and browse through either or both of the museums after the lecture.

These programs are made possible through the generous support of the members of the Institute as well as with financial assistance from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the WV Commission on the Arts.  Additional support provided by Lamar.

Registration may be made for any of the above singly or for the entire series by calling the Mansion Museum staff at 304.242.7272.  Learn more about Oglebay Institute on the web at www.oionline.com