As part of its Flourish 40th anniversary celebration, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden has commissioned contemporary American multi-disciplinary artist Kyle Epps as an artist-in-residence from April to September 2024. Epps’ work will explore the garden’s landscape and history through various media. As part of the residency, guests can meet and sit with Epps to experience the process of exploring the Garden through the artist’s lens.
Kyle Epps brings exciting new visions and perspectives in the Garden’s 40th anniversary year. Guests can look for the artist when visiting and during select special events. Music and live sound designing will accompany the visual art. Plans also include live streaming during the creative process. The artist-in-residency offers the rare opportunity to see the Garden through fresh eyes. Epps’ vision includes several phases: Plant, Grow, Flourish.
In the first phase of “Plant,” Epps will be live painting in the Garden in April and May. This lays the foundation or “fertile soil” for the work. In a related activity, on Thursday, May 2, Epps will teach how to use earth pigments to make paint in the class From the Earth: Paint Making.
“Grow” in June and July is when Epps’ dimensional tapestries will emerge and evolve in the Garden’s Community Art Gallery. The art will delve into the history of the land and include two large-scale works related to Lewis Ginter and Grace Arents. Read more about Lewis, Grace, and the history of the Garden here.
August and September will expose the final phase called “Flourish.” Guests can use cutting-edge technologies to interact with the Garden in an entirely different way. Through a scavenger hunt experience, they can explore a landscape of eco-friendly virtual artworks, gaining deeper connections and new understandings.