Celebrating twenty-seven years this year, The Antiques and Garden Show of Nashville brings together top interior designers, landscape architects and purveyors of fine furnishings for a three-day event February 3-5, 2017 that showcases the elements – indoors and outdoors – that make a house a home. The charitable event was founded in 1989 by Connie Cigarran and the late Sigourney Cheek. Since its founding, The Antiques and Garden Show of Nashville has raised over $6 million for Cheekwood.
Page|Duke Landscape Architects has been a proud partner and advisor from the beginning. We look back fondly on some of our Show Gardens over the past 27 years.
2000: “Room With a View”
PDLA’s own Ben Page, Gavin Duke and Heather Walsh (the lead garden designer that year)
2002
Page Duke’s own Heather Walsh – working her magic again. It was always all hands on deck for the 48 hours before the show opens for PDLA.
PDLA was leading the rustic design look way before it was commonplace in Nashville.
2006 “White Garden”
The theme that year was “Colors”. Tom Powers created the “trees” in the PDLA garden.
Team PDLA, circa 2006, would converge on the convention center for 48 hours of and work hard then head out for a beer together.
2007 “Kandinsky Garden”
One of our very very favorite gardens ever. Yes, that is hundreds and hundreds of bags of colored sand that was poured in between the two sheets of plexiglass
2008: Wendell Berry, Matisse and Picasso
Surrounding the garden was a “wall” with quote by Wendell Berry, a favorite Southern poet, naturalist and conservationist.
“The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”
“The “food people” in progress were amazing because we Xeroxed and cut out hundreds of circles of each vegetable and then placed each one to create the contour shadow lines that make the people have shape and character.”
2009 Hobbit House
Note the large evergreen in the back –nootkatensis weeping cypress – it was cabled to the ceiling of the convention center to hold it up because of its height.
2011 Elements
PDLA’s own Gavin Duke was the designer for the main entry garden – titled EVERGREEN.
A clever idea to keep the garden in budget and yet to fill in the huge empty ceiling space were the cloud banners. The artwork was a creative collaboration between Gavin and PJ Maxwell at Herndon & Merry.
2013: A tribute to Albert Hadley
This year was exceptionally special to us. Ben Page had worked on projects with and admired Albert Hadley and developed a close friendship with him.
The gold gourd was an Albert Hadley trademark. The gourd was done by artist Dan Dutton.
All of those sparkly stars are probably in the 1000s of different size washers tied onto clear fishing line that were done for weeks right here in the offices of PDLA during many many many lunches and many hours in the homes of PDLA employees sitting on their couches watching tv.
2015 Tribute to Oscar de la Renta, “Holograms”
The 27th Annual Antiques and Garden Show, benefitting Cheekwood, opens Thursday, February 3 with a Preview Party celebrating Gil Schafer, Honorary Chair. Find out more about tickets and information HERE.
Read “The Renovation of Boxwood 1915 – 2009” by Honorary Chair, architect Gil Schafer, detailing the restoration of an iconic Charles Platt designed residence along with landscape architect, Page|Duke’s Gavin Duke and decorator David Netto.
