Landscaping pro addresses Women in Arts group

by The City Wire staff ([email protected]) 101 views 

 About 200 women attended a luncheon for The Arkansas Committee of The National Museum of Women in the Arts on Thursday (Oct. 27) at The Governor’s Mansion featuring Nancy Power.

Power is one of the more popular landscape designers working today. Her work has been featured in Architectural Record, Landscape Architecture, Garden Design, House & Garden, House Beautiful, Town & Country, and Pacific Horticulture.

The Arkansas State Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts is a nonprofit volunteer organization established as an affiliate of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C.

The Arkansas committee was founded in 1989 when, on a visit to Washington, D.C., Ed Dell Wortz and Helen Walton learned of the museum. They called together a group of women interested in the arts to develop a plan for a state committee, dedicated to supporting the museum’s mission and promoting awareness of the work of Arkansas women artists.

Arkansas board members from Fort Smith are Alice Honea, Maggie Malloy and Kate Maurras. Honorary board members from Fort Smith are Mary Cooper, Carol Post Harper, Linda Udouj, Ed Dell Wortz, Janice Yancey and Pamela Yantis.

Ilene Gutman, deputy director-museum advancement and National and International Affairs, gave a rundown of the exhibits at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The next exhibit, French women painter, is called “Liberty, Equality and Sorority.”

Later in the year the museum will feature “Women Who Rock” which will appeal to the younger group. Gutman noted that Arkansas was one of the first committees or “ambassadors” for the museum.

Power began her address by saying the life of a gardener is not a neat life, but one that is messy. Power said Linda Palmer, was was in attendance, is painting, photographing and journaling the great trees of Arkansas. Power offered to write the introduction to the book.

Power showed a slide show of gardens she had designed in California. One of her most famous gardens was designed for Ruth and Tom Jones. The house is located at the bottom of a hill for Moraga Vineyard.

She them talked about Inner City Art School in the projects of Los Angeles. She developed a kitchen garden in the parking lot across the street. The children wanted to have a volcano so she designed a fountain. All the tiles on the fountain were made by the children. The school serves 7,000 children a year.