aloha nights

wonder | wander | women were at the Aloha Nights exhibit of the New York Botanical Gardens recently. 

Our selfie in front of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory

We were there the Saturday before the famed corpse flower was to bloom. 

As we took this photo we could smell it!

We took our selfie in front of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory which housed the installation of tropical plants that inspired O’Keefe’s art in Hawaii. The displayed choices showcase the biological diversity of the Hawaiian Islands.

"Scores of millions of years before man had risen from the shores of the ocean to perceive its grandeur and to venture forth upon its turbulent waves, this eternal sea existed, larger than any other of the earth's features, vaster than the sister oceans combined, wild, terrifying in its immensity and imperative in its universal role." ~ James Michener, Hawaii

Because of the summer heat we opted to come for the NYBG Aloha Nights instead. These are on select Saturday evenings (June 23 & 30, July 7 & 21 and August 4 &18, from 6:30-10:30 PM).

Music wafted over the warm evening air, setting a tropical vibe with live, interactive hula dancing demonstrations on the Conservatory lawn.

The weather, the foliage, the music and our hula performers reminded us of our own island paradise in the tropics. Unlike Hawaii though we have not been able to keep out snakes and pestilence as successfully. Sadly our colonized islands now share overpopulation and upsetting strife.

Cocooned in this recreated haven though we were able to hold reality at bay for a few hours and return to the sweeter memories of our shared past. We encourage you to watch the whole video of Georgia O'Keeffe and Hawai‘i: A Sense of Place. It is incredibly informative on many levels.

Our way was lit by the contemporary lanterns and sculptures of Mark Chai. lluminating the winding garden paths of lush greenery and flowers, on our way to the LuEsther T. Mertz Library Art Gallery. This too were also inspired by plants of Hawaii.

BGNY photo of Mark Chai art work.

The Mertz Library housed the extraordinary O'Keefe exhibition. Seventeen of her paintings, borrowed from private and museum collections. These haven’t been seen as a group since their 1940 New York debut at the New York gallery 291 of Alfred Steiglist.

Featured in O'Keefe Country

Also on display are manuscripts, maps, and other artifacts from the artist’s stay in Hawaii. Our personal favorite was the original short video narrated by Academy Award-nominee and NYBG Trustee Sigourney Weaver.

The featured excerpts from O’Keeffe’s personal letters to her husband, famed photographer Alfred Stieglitz, written during her journey to and around the Hawaiian Islands take us into the intimate interior world of the famed artist.

In the Ross Gallery, visitors enjoy a display highlighting the artist’s journey from her departure at New York’s Grand Central Terminal through her nine- week island-hopping explorations of exotic Hawaiian landscapes.

Moderated by curator Theresa Papanikolas who heads the distinguished panel exploring the importance of landscape of Georgia O’Keeffe’s creative refuge, inspiration, and source of restorative power.

In Hawaii, O’Keeffe encountered not just a dramatic, exotic landscape, but a culture with a deeply felt identity based on the connections among people, plants, and place.

O’Keefe’s drawing practice gave her a method for transforming her observations of the environment into simplified compositions of abstract shapes. She described that method as learning how to fill a space in a beautiful way. Decades later we are still under their spell.