Indoor Gardening with Marian McEvoy

An exhibition featuring the botanical collages and sculptural vessels of celebrated editor, designer, and decorative artist Marian McEvoy is on view in Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Leonhardt Galleries through October 30. It’s an intimate look at McEvoy’s vision, blending centuries-old botanical specimens with contemporary drawing, craftsmanship, and an enduring belief in the transformative power of decoration. As European editor of Women’s Wear Daily and W in Paris, founding editor of Elle Décor, and later editor-in-chief of House Beautiful, McEvoy helped define aesthetic standards. She stepped away from publishing in 2002 to begin a new creative chapter at her 18th-century farmhouse overlooking the Hudson River. There, she turned her editorial eye toward making objects by hand, first creating textiles and furniture before developing the botanical collages and sculptural works that form the centerpiece of Indoor Gardening with Marian McEvoy exhibition at Berkshire Botanical Garden. She describes herself as “a terrible gardener” but has found another way to cultivate the natural world. Her intricate collages are composed from pressed leaves, flowers, seed pods, and stems— many dating back to the 18th century. She combines these fragile botanical remnants with her own hand-drawn lines in ink, marker and pencil, blurring the distinction between what is preserved and what is imagined. berkshirebotanical.org