When we built the Bosarge Family Education Center at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, we dedicated office space to host experts who offer a series of activities to enrich the Gardens experience. Our In-Residence program is the only one we are aware of at a U.S. botanical garden that includes other types of experts beyond visual or performing artists. Among the experts we’ve had or will have are painters, photographers, ornithologists, botanists, landscape architects and others. See below for informtion about the 2012 residencies and further below for a list of Experts-in-Residence who were featured during the inaugural season, 2011. Please check back for additions to this year’s schedule. In addition, find details and sign-up links on the calendar posts for each individual program offered by our residents.

Susan Schön – July 30 – August 3

Artist and textile designer Susan Schön will exhibit her whimsical and colorful paintings in the Story Barn of the Bibby and Harold Alfond Children’s Garden all summer long. Her artwork will incorporate many birds and plant subjects to complement this year’s interpretive theme of “bird and plant interactions in Maine.” During her week in residence, Susan will offer a variety of art programs for children designed to stimulate creative thinking and build confidence in individual style.  Focusing on natural and recycled materials and a nurturing and supportive setting, Susan’s residency will bring children’s art to the fore in our Children’s Garden this summer.

Susan Schön has worked in the design field for more than 25 years.  Her textile/design career has spanned numerous markets for a multitude of products including original one-of-a-kind hand-painted silk clothing, her own hand-painted children’s clothing line, extensive wall-covering designs, upholstery and apparel textile designs for what is now Polartec.  After having two children, a new passion for art, design and nature evolved. Throug years of raising her girls, she has reignited her vision of experiencing or “seeing” the world once again through the eyes of a child.

Linda Heppes Funk – May 27-June 2, 2012

Linda Heppes Funk is an artist with 37 years of experience in design and illustration. Working from live plant specimens only, specializing in pencil, drybrush watercolour, gouache, and metalpointe drawing, she tutors private students at her studio in Maine, and for many years has taught at various venues, including The New York Botanical Garden; College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine; The Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine; and in Massachusetts at the Creative Arts Center, Chatham; South Shore Art Center, Cohasset; and Wellesley College, Wellesley. Her work is exhibited widely and appears in many publications. In addition to work as a fine artist and decorative painter, Linda designs furnishings, fabrics, and ceramic dinnerware. Linda is the recipient of the coveted Award for Excellence in Botanical Art, presented in October, 2001, by the American Society of Botanical Artists. She served as a Director of the ASBA for six years, and in 2006, served as a juror for the Scholastic National Awards.

Hank Tyler – June 24-27, 2012

Hank Tyler of Hallowell was raised on the shores of Casco Bay in Brunswick where he was introduced to what became his favorite subjects, shore and oceanic birds.  Hank is an internationally known sculptor of birds in wood. His bird sculptures are realistic, yet stylized, and are made in hardwoods including Bubinga, Walnut, Rosewood and Osage Orange.  The grain of each wood is brought out with a natural oil finish, and each piece is sculpted from a single piece of wood.  He began realistic sculpture of birds in 1960 under the guidance of Charles G. Chase. Early exhibits included: MacKenzie Gallery in Brunswick, Maine in 1961 – Best of the Show, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine in 1971 – One Man Show. Ogunquit Art Center, Ogunquit, Maine in 1977 – Special Merit Award.  Hank is a founding member of The Society for Wildlife Art for the Nation (UK) and in 1995 was awarded the Society of Animal Artists’ Award of Excellence for “Resting for the Day.”  Articles and photographs of Mr. Tyler’s sculpture have appeared in Fine Woodworking Biennial Design Book (1977), Natural World , UK (1986), Wildlife Art News (1995) featuring Hank’s work, and Wildfowl Carving Competition (2000); Wildlife Art (2004) Spotlight.

2011 Experts-in-Residence

July 5-9: Landscape Architect Herb Schaal, FASLA
July 18-22: Barry Dana, past chief of the Penobscot Nation
July 26-30: Barry W. Van Dusen, internationally recognized wildlife artist
Augusgt 8-12: Stephanie Stuber, curtorial intern and bryologist studying the mosses, liverworts, and hornworts of the Gardens
September 5-10:  Kim and Philippe Villard, collaborative woodblock print artists
September 27-October 1: Michel Dirr, author and professsor of horticulture