Category: Exhibitions

With a theme of “Gifts of the Garden” Dowling’s handcrafted holiday décor will celebrate the rich history and beauty at Cheekwood and prominently feature ornaments designed by the man behind decades of White House holiday celebrations, Nashville resident Jim Marvin.

“This is a very special place,” said Marvin, who worked as a floral designer in the White House from 1996 to 2019. “We have great opportunities to do things all over the country, but when I got the chance to come back home, I thought it was really spectacular.”

Each designer and volunteer on Dowling’s team brings a different skillset and background to the project.

Ken Proctor was an elementary school principal for 30 years, and after he retired, he turned his attention to his passion for floral design.

Ace Berry previously worked in a Texas oil field before embracing his interest in flowers. He was also the runner-up on the floral competition reality show “Full Bloom,” on HBO Max in 2020.

Anje Williams turned her love of flowers into a second career after working in accounting for years.

A volunteer works on decorations in the Cheekwood Mansion.

Jim Marvin, legendary White House designer and creator of the Jim Marvin Collection, shows off decorations in the Cheekwood Mansion.

Sheri Dilley said her job with the USA Today Network prepared her to handle the logistics of the design project.

“Basically, what I am doing is getting every room prepared for the designers to be able to come in and immediately start decorating,” said Dilley. “That means taking thousands of ornaments and ribbons and foliage and unpacking it and working with the volunteer team to get everything set up.”

Each designer’s passion for the project and attention to detail is palpable. The newly formed flower family gelled instantly, and the process of bedecking the Mansion with holiday cheer has been filled with collaboration and camaraderie.

“When it is a big install like this, you have to be willing to do whatever,” said Berry. “There will be times you will get pulled for this or that, and you have to be willing to roll with anything and switch gears instantly.”

While there is still more work to be done, as colorful wreaths begin to take shape and ornaments and ribbons adorn trees, excitement continues to build. The designers can’t wait for guests to come to Cheekwood to see the finished product.

“I think they are going to be completely blown away by what they see,” said Proctor. “I hope it keeps them coming back to Cheekwood, which is an amazing property.”

“I think the initial reaction will be awe,” said David Parker. “But what I hope they get out of this is really digging into these installations and absorbing the layers and layers of décor. Each design tells a story.”

“I want everyone who comes to Cheekwood to feel inspired,” said Bridget Joslin. “I hope they take away ideas to decorate their own homes.”

“I think they will be enlightened by the colors,” said Jim Marvin. “They won’t want to miss it!”

Guests are welcome to tour the Mansion during the day or in the evening during Holiday LIGHTS. Holiday LIGHTS opens on November 22 and runs until January 5, 2025.

Jim Marvin, legendary White House designer and creator of the Jim Marvin Collection works on decorations in the Cheekwood Mansion.

Designer David Parker shows off decorations in the Cheekwood Mansion.

Bonsai history is rich, steeped in tradition and technique, and the practice is complex. There’s a lot to appreciate and learn. “Ultimately, it’s just really fun,” says Sara Hopson, President of the Nashville Bonsai Society.

“It’s like a representation of nature in miniature,” she says. “You’re actually trying to imitate nature, so the closer you can reflect in a small container what you see in nature, that’s kind of the whole essence of the art and everything that comes with it.”

In Japanese bonsai, the emphasis is on the tree. The viewing stones, accent plants, and other elements are all to enhance the tree – nothing is to take away from it. The passion that drives bonsai gardeners is not only enjoying the horticultural practice, but also having a genuine affinity for Japanese culture, history, innovation, and the community.

“We refer to ourselves as ‘treeple,’” Hopson says of the 130 active members in Nashville’s Bonsai club. In 2025, the gardening friends who make up Nashville Bonsai Society are celebrating 50 years since the club was founded in 1975.

Sara Hopson, President of the Nashville Bonsai Society. Photography by Bradley Spitzer

Photography by Bradley Spitzer

The term bonsai translates to dwarf trees in a container, using a tray-planting method for growing. The origins of bonsai technique date back thousands of years, anywhere from 4 to 700 BCE. Initially it developed as a native tradition integral to the Chinese Empire. The Chinese practice penzai imitated entire landscape scenes in nature in a controlled environment. The tradition later reached Japan through war times, and Japan embraced the art of bonsai and innovated it to incredible levels, with a focus on the tree. The technique was introduced to the West much later, in the 1940s after World War II.

Japanese horticulture is generational, with family elders passing trees and knowledge to younger members. It’s part of daily life. The local Nashville club embodies these traditions. Hopson first took up the hobby with her adult son in 2017 as a refreshing way to spend time together. Club member Carolyn Evans, whose father was a founding member of the Nashville Bonsai Society, inherited his extensive collection and presides over the care of his trees as well as her own. At this year’s show, Evans won the “Best Deciduous” award for her Chinese Elm.

Best Deciduous Award, Chinese Elm with Carol Evans
Photography by Bradley Spitzer

Best Display Award, Rocky Mountain Juniper with Dat Tran
Photography by Bradley Spitzer

Brussel Martin gives a bonsai demonstration.

Photography by Bradley Spitzer

Of course, this is only the beginning. There is endless knowledge to glean in the craft of bonsai, and the only bounds are your own imagination.

On September 15, the Nashville Bonsai Society comes together again at Cheekwood for the annual Japanese Moon Viewing Festival, Otsukimi.

Set in Cheekwood’s gardens, the special event celebrates Japanese culture, art, and horticulture. The Nashville Bonsai club displays trees at the event, gives pruning demonstrations, offers beginner bonsai workshops, and hosts kids’ activities. “We love giving back to the community,” Hopson says. “It’s such an inclusive day with so many activities going on. It is an outstanding event.”

At last year’s Japanese Moon Viewing, Nashville’s Consul-General of Japan, Shinji Watanabe, personally thanked the Nashville Bonsai Society for bringing an authentic touch to Otsukumi at Cheekwood.

“That was really a special moment for me,” Hopson says.

Next month, Nashvillians can experience the living art of bonsai in a one-of-a-kind setting under the Harvest Moon.

Ann Carrington (b. 1963). Details. Kousa, Cora, American Rose, 2023 , silver, nickel and steel plated cutlery. Photography by Sam Angel.

“Different flowers lend themselves to different types of spoons,” Carrington shares. “For the roses, the petals need to be very floppy and have a bit of movement in them, so I use silver-plated spoons, which are much softer. It’s much more malleable, so you can hammer them with a hammer. Whereas something like this [points to her bouquet, titled Kousa] needs to be really strong because it’s thin at the stems, so that’s steel.”

The bouquets have an immediate connection to the Cheek Estate, but other works in the exhibition dive deeper into the family’s history. For example, the enchanting equestrian-themed tapestry, Horsa, was inspired by the Cheek family’s love for horses. The tapestry, or “magic carpet,” as Carrington charmingly refers to it, is intricately woven with horse brasses, brass plaques, bits, keys, and chains.

Ann Carrington (b. 1963). Details. Black Eyed Susan, 2023, silver, nickel and steel plated cutlery. Photography by Sam Angel.

Ann Carrington (b. 1963). Shaker Maker & Shaker Quaker, 2024, silver pepper pots, napkin rings and tureen handles. Photography by Sam Angel.

Carrington’s chosen medium of manipulating, forging, and sculpting metal is laborious and intricate. She works with heating techniques like soldering and welding, the latter of which she learned about a decade ago specifically so she could fuse her metal flowers into elaborate, formidable bouquets. There’s an added complexity as well: Because she uses found objects and scrap metal, initially she doesn’t always know what is under the surface of the material she’s working with.

“Different methods require different ways of joining,” Carrington shares. “Welding is my preferred way, but you can only weld steel. And silver requires soldering because welding is very hot, it melts the silver. Or they might need to be brazed, but quite often you don’t know what you’re dealing with because they are secondhand spoons – they’ve been made in different eras. Some of them are 200 years old, some of them are 10 years old, some of them are brand new. So, until you start, you don’t know quite what they’re going to do.”

The revelry and fulfillment Carrington experiences in making her art is palpable. Her smile widens as she shares her affinity for a piece she made a decade ago, Manhattan Mettle, a large-scale rendering of the Manhattan skyline built from scrap metal for the W Hotel in Hoboken, New Jersey.

“What made it fun was that we had to be able to do it quickly, and we can’t glue these things onto the wall; we can’t weld onto the wall. I thought, ‘What about a giant magnet?’ So, we covered the wall in giant magnetic tiles and then I projected my drawing of New York onto the magnets. We had cherry pickers, and we were just building New York from scraps of metal. It’s still there and it looks incredible.”

Another technique that Carrington uses in her work is repoussé, which is a French word for the ornamental patterns in relief made by hammering a material (such as copper or another metal) so that a shape pops out the other side. Two works displayed near the elevator on the Loggia Level of the Mansion incorporate repoussé: Rose Cent, inspired by the U.S. penny coin made between 1859-1900 and Flipside, inspired by the 1929 U.S. Liberty coin.

“My father was a collector of coins and stamps, so I like enlarging stamps and coins and then you can see the drawing and the design in them,” Carrington says.
Rose Cent has an interesting backstory, which transpired while Carrington was traveling in Morocco.

“That idea came about when I was in Marrakesh,” Carrington relates. “I had it in my head that I wanted to make these big coins and there was a guy hammering copper, making this repoussé tray. I really liked it, and I said, ‘How much is that?’ And he said some crazy amount. I asked, ‘How’d you come up with that price? And he said, ‘I charge per bang.’ And I just thought, ‘More bang for your buck.’ And then I thought, I’m going to go back to my studio and try this and that’s how it started.”

Not all of Carrington’s work is figurative. One sculpture on display at Cheekwood, titled Arrokoth, is her most abstract. Arrokoth is named after the most distant object that NASA spacecraft has photographed. She beams while explaining the concept.

Ann Carrington (b. 1963). Rose Cent, 2023, hammered pewter. Photography by Sam Angel.

Ann Carrington (b. 1963). Arrokoth, 2023, silver, nickel, and steel plated spoons. Photography by Sam Angel.

“This object is like two planets that are merged together in an interesting, conjoined shape, and it has this bubbly surface,” she says. “I just felt I could interpret it really well with ladles. It’s my favorite piece. I just find it deeply satisfying, the shades in the silver and all the reflections that you get,” Carrington adds.

Visitors to Cheekwood have an amazing opportunity to view it, along with 32 of her other inventive and imaginative creations, on display through October 27, 2024.

Basse Buller at Cheekwood Estate & Gardens

Kamma Can at Cheekwood Estate & Gardens

According to Dambo, trash has value. He believes that with small but concerted actions, a world drowning in trash could become a world filled with meaningful, beautiful creations made with it. His works are art with purpose – colossal sculptures that encourage adventure and imagination, while giving a new way to see things.

One might wonder, “But why trolls?” Dambo grew up in Denmark, where trolls are a part of the folklore of Danish culture. For him, trolls have always been the ambassadors of nature, the protectors of our forests.

Ben Chiller, NorthSide Festival in Aarhus, Denmark

Ibbi Pip at Cheekwood Estate & Gardens

With a diverse background as a songwriter, musician, and artist, Dambo has always loved storytelling and creating things. Adding his passion for the natural world, Dambo is that rare person who has been able to combine many things they love into a lifelong project.

During his time as a street artist, Dambo made and hung thousands of vibrant recycled birdhouses throughout the streets of Denmark. “This project ran for years and became one of my first successes as an artist,” he says. “To this day, I always try to include birdhouses in my works.”

You can see some of Dambo’s birdhouses by visiting a troll named Ibbi Pip at Cheekwood. Ibbi Pip is a friend to all animals, so she uses birdhouses to keep birds always nearby.

As of this writing in May 2024, Dambo is currently in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, building what he calls “the biggest troll with the biggest foot I have ever done.” The project includes five giant trolls and a plastic rabbit. The troll team has been visiting the local dump, sourcing more than 2,000 plastic crates for one of the structures.

Another project is Greta Granite at Ninigret Park, as part of Dambo’s upcoming Thunderstone exhibition in Rhode Island. Greta’s hair is made of 300 split bamboo shafts obtained from a local neighbor who recently cleared their garden. All Dambo’s creations have something unique about them, from Mama Mimi in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to the Giants of Mandurah in Australia, to Oscar the Bird King in Vashon Island, Washington.

Sofus Lotus at Cheekwood Estate & Gardens