"The Big Easy" lives on

We were all sad to say a sudden farewell to "The Big Easy," Patrick Dougherty's beloved sculpture on the South Lawn. Alas, storms and flooding in spring and summer took too great a toll on this intriguing art installation, and it became unstable.

But we have some good news! Most of the finials held their shape beautifully when removed from the main sculpture, so—with  Dougherty's blessing—our curators and horticulturists found perfect locations throughout Duke Gardens for the finials to enhance the landscape design and stay with us  awhile longer.

We hope visitors will enjoy encountering these small echoes of a big attraction. If you take photos of them and post online, please tag #dukebigeasy. We'd love to see them!

The dismantling begins. Photo by Clarence Burke.

A beautiful view of a bittersweet moment. Photo by Lori Sullivan.

And here are the finials....can you guess where?

Finial photos by Bill LeFevre and Laura Daly.

Fine art meets crafting in "Crown Yourself" workshop

By Sheon Wilson
Publications Coordinator

Come join us for a class where crafting meets fine art and creates a beautiful takeaway.

In one afternoon, “Crown Yourself: The Dolci Experience in Flowers and Art” will show you how to create art from everyday materials.

During this three-hour workshop on Dec. 16, co-hosted by Duke Gardens and the Nasher Museum of Art, participants will visit the Nasher’s Carlo Dolci exhibition and then head to Duke Gardens to craft their own crowns, wreaths or centerpieces.

Using botanical materials sourced at Duke Gardens, such as evergreen branches, holly and berries, our instructor will demonstrate how to craft your piece and then provide individual guidance and suggestions as needed. Basic materials will be included, but participants are invited to bring lights or other embellishments.

Nasher Museum of Art staff will give the class a guided tour of “The Medici’s Painter: Carlo Dolci and 17th Century Florence,” which showcases the Italian art master’s eye for color, light and texture.

A celebrated artist of his day, Dolci often painted crowns of foliage on his subjects. That inspired “Crown Yourself.”

“We thought a class that requires slowing down would relate to Dolci, because he was known for his meticulous attention to detail,” said Jan Little, director of education and public programs at Duke Gardens. Dolci was known for spending a decade or more on one painting, resulting in incredible depictions of minute detail.

At Duke Gardens, you'll learn how to use different colors, textures and types of botanicals, and how to manipulate scale, form and light. Dolci’s artistic process should prove inspiring as you craft your own creation, Little said.

“Painters mix their color to their exact goals to illustrate light and shadow, but people who craft with natural materials fashion those materials to respond to existing light and shadow,” she said. “We look forward to exploring the contrasts and similarities between fine art and craft.”

Workshop details: Saturday, Dec. 16, 2 to 5 p.m. To register, please call 919-668-1707 or email gardenseducation@duke.edu. For more information about this or our winter "Crown Yourself" workshop, please see the event page on our website.

Class Preview: Learn to Weave a Round Basket

Cherokee wheel detail.

By Rose James

As fall weather grows cooler and the holiday gift-giving season approaches, many of us seek new creative sparks to fuel us through chilly nights and leave us with one-of-a-kind gifts for ourselves and others. A handmade basket is a perfect fall project, and Duke Gardens instructor Lu Howard can guide you through the whole process in her 6-hour class on Saturday, Nov. 5.

The style of basket you’ll make has a Cherokee-wheel design and veneer cherry wood strip inserts. It’s a perfect basket for beginners, Lu says, because it’s simple to make. The basket is hand-shaped, meaning that you don’t use a mold, so each basket is unique.

Lu will prepare all the materials you’ll need, cutting and marking the staves and reeds in advance. But she will also teach you these preparatory steps, so that after your first basket on Saturday, you can confidently go forth and make many more.

You’ll make your basket with rattan reeds, and you will work with them wet, so be sure to come dressed in clothing that you don’t mind getting damp. Working with wet reeds makes them pliable, and when they dry they will hold their desired shape. You should be able to finish your basket by the end of class. But if you’re a more leisurely weaver, you’ll be well on your way to confidently finish your basket on your own thereafter.

Anyone can learn to make this kind of basket, and the class is open to people as young as 16. You do not need to have any skills or special artistic talent for this class, only a bit of patience. It’s actually quite a therapeutic activity, Lu says. And you’ll have plenty of time to bond with fellow weavers as your baskets take shape.

Lu uses her baskets for a variety of purposes, from storing fruit and spices in the kitchen to providing a pretty display for flower pots on the porch. We hope you’ll join us for this fun and empowering class, and we look forward to seeing the variety of baskets that everyone makes.

Class details: "Round Basket with Cherokee Wheel Embellishment" will meet Saturday, Nov. 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The class fee is $50, or $40 for Gardens members. To register, or for more information, please email or call 919-668-1707.

About the Instructor: 

Lu Howard is a member of the North Carolina Basketmakers Association and Durham’s basket-weavers’ guild. She has won many awards for her baskets. She can make a small pine needle basket in as few as two hours, and she wove a bassinet for her grandson this summer over two to three weeks.

Basket-weaving is in Lu’s blood. Her grandfather was a farmer, and he would make baskets each winter from hickory. He used the baskets to harvest and store produce, as well as to hold toys and other household items.

Lu made her first basket in 1983, in a beginner class in Northern Illinois. She was immediately hooked, and she has been weaving baskets ever since.

With Lu’s enthusiasm, artistry and teaching skills, we’re sure that you will be hooked, too!

Blogger Rose James is a Duke freshman and work-study marketing assistant at Duke Gardens.  

Photo Class Preview: The 12 Elements of Better Image Making

"In the Hands of the Potter," by Paul Wingler.

By Orla Swift
Director of Marketing & Communications

With mobile phones and photo apps making photography as ubiquitous as the written word, it’s easier than ever to capture our lives in pictures. But to do so with artistry, style and assuredness takes more than a tap on a cellphone screen. With the proper skills and techniques, and a keen eye, any photographer—from amateur to professional, using DSLRs or point and shoot cameras—can turn a snapshot opportunity into a memorable artistic statement.

Paul Wingler

Award-winning photographer Paul Wingler loves helping others develop their style and technique in classes such as his forthcoming three-workshop series at Duke Gardens, “The 12 Elements of Better Image Making.”

The series is divided into three sections. The first, on Oct. 15 & 16, will focus on impact, creativity, technical excellence and subject matter. The second, on Nov. 12 & 13, will tackle composition, lines, shapes, framing devices, lighting and style. Update: The November class has been canceled. The third, on Dec. 3 and 4, will zoom in on color, color balance, value, space, center of interest and print presentation.

An Indiana native who lived for 40 years in northern Durham but recently moved to Florida, Paul discussed his photographic philosophy via email in the following Q&A. You can also read his impressive biography and see more of his photos at his website.

By Paul Wingler

Of the “12 elements” you’ll teach in this series, which few do you feel are most undervalued by the average photographer?

"Monet's Pastels," by Paul Wingler.

Probably technical excellence. I believe that there are many who either have not learned how to get proper exposure or they don’t see the importance of it.  Having the correct exposure or a good grasp of the quality of the final print depends on good exposure. The weakness of the exposure or the underexposure causing muddiness greatly takes away the impact of the subject or story, which can confuse the viewers or turn them off.  If the photographer/artist doesn’t make a strong effort to achieve technical excellence, then that photographer will merely be a “picture taker.” The ability to hit a high standard of excellence enhances the level of respect by the viewer/audience.

What has teaching taught you or improved with regard to your own photographic approach?

To be more aware of my surroundings. I would, many times, miss an opportunity to see beyond the obvious. As I tried to instill that in my students, it only made me aware of how I was missing the mark—that I would sometimes have to slow down and take in all that was around me.

Have your professional assignments in culturally varied places such as Asia and Central America made you view North Carolina and other familiar surroundings differently? 

Yes. Unfortunately, I used to take my environment or surroundings for granted.  As I would travel around N.C., I would be looking but not seeing what was around me. I would get too busy doing business, going from point A to point B and missing everything in between. It didn’t mean I didn’t do good work, but I realized I wasn’t seeing beyond the obvious. I would miss the heart and soul of the subject, the ability to see the real story of what I was capturing.

"Crossing the River," by Paul Wingler.

When I went to Honduras, for example, I was taken out of my normal environment, or my comfort zone.  I was forced to see more than a person or a landscape or foods or construction of buildings/homes, etc. It made me take pause and point out to myself that we have people of interest here in N.C.  We have different cultures and foods, styles of homes, and the list goes on. Traveling through and teaching in various parts of the world has given me a better understanding of the similarities we have here and enabled me to see and appreciate what is around us all.


As a former U.S. Marine Corps Band member, do you feel that your affinity for music also serves you as a photographer?

"Tapestry," by Paul Wingler.

Yes, it does. Music, for me, sets a mood or attitude. Listening to various styles of music could put me in a frame of mind to want to be out in a field of flowers or head to the beach to capture the softness or the strength of the crashing waves.  Or it could move me towards the majesty and power of the mountains.  The pastoral feeling of the sunlight kissing an old barn in a field, or sunbeams reaching down from the sky and illuminating a field of flowers…the list goes on as to the way music has influenced my photography and art.

What aspect of photography do you find continually challenging?

One thing is to keep trying to keep a focus and maintain the highest standard of art I am capable of at that time. I also have the constant challenge of knowing there is so much out there to create in so little time.

"Peaceful Resting Place" (the Frances P. Rollins Overlook
at Duke Gardens), by Paul Wingler.

Paul’s weekend workshops will meet from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Sundays. Each class will be limited to 12 students. The cost is $225 per weekend section for the general public, or $175 for Duke Gardens members. For multiple workshops in this series, each section will be $210 for the public, $160 for Gardens members. To register, or for more information, please email or call 919-668-1707.

Duke work-study marketing assistant Annie Yang contributed to this report.

Workshop Preview: Papermaking with Plant Fibers

A finished piece by Gibby Waitzkin, titled "Florabunda."

By Sarah Leach Smith, Visitor Services Coordinator

Photos courtesy of Gibby Waitzkin

Gibby Waitzkin, up close and personal with some of her pieces.

Paper is everywhere in our lives. There was a time in which people thought of paper as a valuable commodity. Today we hardly think about paper at all. Many people talk about how paper “comes from trees,” but the conversation often ends there. Did you know that you can make paper out of many different kinds of plants? Not only that, but you can color paper with dyes created by plants!

You can try it for yourself in a two-day workshop, "Papermaking with Plant Fibers," offered by Duke Gardens with fiber artist Gibby Waitzkin.

Water lilies "cooking" so that they can be made into paper.

Gibby’s passion for papermaking is apparent as soon as you meet her, and her work has been featured in more than 25 exhibitions throughout the United States and abroad. You may recall seeing her oversized paper sculptures in last year’s Art and Nature Exhibit at the Gardens.

These days, the papermaking passion is ever present for Gibby. “I go on vacation to the beach and I come back with my entire car full of palm leaves that have been thrown in the trash that I find on the street!”

Natural dye created from sandalwood.

Gibby will bring a variety of plant fibers to her upcoming workshop to show participants how different species can produce a range of results. Plants are used for both texture and dye, and there is a lot of variation in the finished product, depending on the combination of plant fiber used to create the paper and the natural plant-based dye used to color it. One of Gibby’s favorite fibers is abacá (Musa textilis), a member of the banana family, because it’s nice to work with and holds dye very well.

Plant fibers after being dyed.

Professionally, Gibby is a trained artist who took a detour through the public service and corporate worlds, eventually building her own award-winning design and communication studio in Washington,  D.C. Working with clients such as the World Wildlife Fund on its climate campaign, Gore for President 2000 and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change (now the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions), Gibby also became intrigued by conservation. During this time she met several papermakers and the convergence of art, conservation and papermaking became her full-time pursuit. Today, Gibby’s work includes large three-dimensional and structural pieces that echo organic forms.

Gibby in action, sharing her love for papermaking with natural fibers and dyes.

One thing that Gibby hopes people learn from this workshop is to think more about how they use paper and where their paper comes from. Participants will make their own paper from start to finish, exploring plant fibers, creating plant-based dyes and finishing with their own unique notepaper, bookmarks and other creations. Absolutely no prior experience is necessary, and all materials will be provided.

Please join us Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 1 and 2, to learn, get a little messy,and create some fantastic original paper pieces. For more information about the papermaking workshop, visit our website. To register, call (919) 668-1707 or email us at gardenseducation@duke.edu.