Slow Down and Sketch: Still Life from Nature
Sun, Sept 8, 2024
11 am–4 pm
Installation view of Survival Piece #5: Portable Orchard (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, June 29, 2024–January 1, 2025). The Harrisons, Survival Piece #5: Portable Orchard. Photograph by Reagan Brown
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Admission is free. Tickets are required and capacity is limited. Advance tickets are recommended.
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The Susan and John Hess Family Theater is equipped with an induction loop and infrared assistive listening system. Accessible seating is available.
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Floor 3, Theater
Open to all ages
Join artist Gabriela Salazar to make drawings inspired by the Harrisons’ Survival Piece #5: Portable Orchard. Visitors of all ages are welcome in the Hess Family Theater to take a close look at things that grow on trees: branches, leaves, blossoms, and fruit. Take a moment to really slow down and draw these organic forms. You can also lend your voice to the natural world by creating a message on behalf of plants and trees using invisible ink made from lemons!
Portable Orchard is an art installation by Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison, first designed in 1972. It features an indoor citrus grove with eighteen live trees. The project imagines a future where traditional farming is no longer possible, and people must find new ways to grow food. By placing this grove in a gallery setting, the artists encourage us to look more closely at these trees—just as we would a painting or sculpture. Their art is not just about creating something beautiful; it’s also a call to action, urging us to think about how we will sustain ourselves in a changing world.
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