STEPHEN AND PETER SACHS MUSEUM

On view through March 2023, the Botanical Resonance: Plants and Sounds in the Garden exhibition at the Stephen and Peter Sachs Museum at the Missouri Botanical Garden explores how plants create and cause sounds in our natural environment and cultural arenas. The exhibition features different plants used to create musical instruments in cultures around the world, as well as how different plants make unique sounds throughout their lifecycles in nature and in the Garden. For the species used to make instruments, many often become jeopardized and threatened in their native environments due to the increasing production and demand for the desirable plant material. Botanical Resonance includes three contemporary artists who were commissioned to create artwork installations that interpret sound in several different ways: soundwalks by Annika Kappner, an immersive quilt installation by Brooke Erin Goldstein, and an immersive sound installation by St. Louis artist Kevin Harris.

Urban Garden Dreams: Student Community Art

May 2, 2023–March 2024

The Missouri Botanical Garden is a center for botanical research and science education, as well as an oasis in the city of St. Louis. It offers 79 acres of beautiful horticultural display, historic architecture, one of the world's largest collections of rare and endangered flora, and a unique museum. To highlight the impact of being a leading urban garden, the Stephen and Peter Sachs Museum is proud to present Urban Garden Dreams: Student Community Art. This exhibition features artworks by students from the St. Louis region who were asked to create their perfect urban garden. Art teachers from participating schools and community art programs worked with their students, Kindergarten to 12^th grade, to envision how their dream gardens would be designed and what plants would be included. Some of the students used the Missouri Botanical Garden spaces for inspiration, as well as other parts of their homes and neighborhoods, to draw or paint their artworks submitted to the exhibition.

Generous thanks to all the art teachers, students, and schools who created these wonderful artworks and shared their visions of their ideal garden spaces for the exhibition.

Paige Boyer, Clark Elementary School
Tarah Chambers, Ascension Catholic School
Elaine Eversgerd, Hazelwood West Middle School
Cassie Flynn, Edwardsville High School
Jami Heflin, Harvest Ridge Elementary School
Catherine Jeltes, Little Flower School
Crystal Koenig, St. Genevieve School
Dawn Lynn, Willow Brook Elementary
Karen Norman, Mason School of Academic and Cultural Literacy
Kristi Ponder, Parkway West High School
Kari Schepker-Mueller, Maplewood Richmond Heights Early Childhood Center
Karen Silverman, Parkway South Middle School
Molly Skiljan, Little Flower School
Moira Smith, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta/artscope residency
Brittane Smotherman-Lindsay, Washington EleMiddle School
Kate Valleroy, Grand Center Arts Academy

Grateful thanks to the team of jurors of Garden staff who spent time reviewing and jurying the artworks in the exhibition: Carmen Buchanan, Kate Gleason, Daria McKelvey, Matthew Norman, and Kelly Wehrheim.

Special thanks to Rachel Gonzalez, who as a remote intern with the Sachs Museum drafted the artwork challenge for the students and coordinated research for the exhibition, as well as served as one of the jurors.

Thanks to Kristen Leonard and Zak Zavada for printing all the digital submissions for the exhibition, and to Olive Tree Design for the exhibition graphics design.

Urban Garden Dreams: Student Community Art features 160 artworks in the exhibition, so make sure to visit both galleries to see everything on view!