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Friday, May 18, 2018

D&R Greenway’s Olivia Rainbow Gallery Presents Student Nature Art

Hun School, VolcanoD&R Greenway Land Trust Nature Art
by students from the Hun School of Princeton and Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart

WHERE: on view through June 4. Gallery hours 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
WHERE:
Olivia Rainbow Gallery located in D&R Greenway’s Johnson Education Center, One Preservation Place, Princeton
www.drgreenway.org.

The Hun School’s majestic landscapes were photographed by students 14 and older. Stacy Collingham is their visual arts Instructor. Stuart nature collages by 4-year-olds were created with Andres Duque, Stuart’s new visual arts teacher. Two of these were awarded first prizes during Princeton’s 2018 Communiversity celebration. Stuart’s dramatic close-up naturescapes came into being through the inspiration of Andrew Wilkinson, photography and digital design teacher. 

Stuart’s 4-year-olds crafted three-dimensional collages out of discarded paper items. Teddy Dugan and Violeta DeNaples-Lopez were given first prize awards for their work in Communiversity’s recent “Trash ArtStravaganza.” Photography and Digital Design Teacher, Andrew Wilkinson, renowned as a fine-art photographer in our region, inspired his students to turn close-up lenses on subtle and unexpected aspects of nature.

Tracy Collingham of the Hun School chose forceful landscapes of near and far, from images gathered by students in Careers Class: “Defining Their Aesthetic.” Unique camera angles compel new approaches to nature itself.

Zoe Cook, Hun ’19, says “Nature, to me, means pure existence; being, in its truest form.” Sebastian Lawrence, Hun’19, celebrates nature because “[it] transcends time, creating beauty in organic shapes and textures that last forever.” 

The Hun School of Princeton “empowers each student to thrive in a diverse and ever-changing world, by nurturing resilient character, providing individual mentorship, and inspiring vigorous and joyful learning.”

The Olivia Rainbow Gallery was founded and is funded by Chris and Leslie Kuenne of Princeton, honoring the memory and spirit of their 5-year-old daughter. Olivia, artistically gifted, had a passion for nature and art, particularly fulfilled by rainbows. Preparing works for her gallery engages local students in attention to and artistic renderings of nature. Olivia’s Gallery engages preservationists of tomorrow. D&R Greenway offers exhibitions of nature works by professional artists in the Marie L. Matthews Galleries. Creating the works and viewing this art inspires urgency concerning nature’s preservation and stewardship in perpetuity. 

D&R GREENWAY LAND TRUST IS IN ITS 29TH YEAR of preserving and protecting natural lands, farmlands and open spaces throughout central and southern New Jersey. Through continuous preservation and stewardship -- caring for land and easements to ensure they remain protected and ecologically healthy in perpetuity—D&R Greenway nurtures a healthier and more diverse environment for people and wild species in seven counties. Accredited by the national Land Trust Accreditation Commission, D&R Greenway’s mission is to preserve and care for land and inspire a conservation ethic, now and for the future. Since its founding in 1989, D&R Greenway has permanently preserved more than 20,000 acres, an area 20 times the size of New York City’s Central Park, including 30 miles of trails open to the public.

The Johnson Education Center, a circa 1900 restored barn at One Preservation Place, Princeton, is D&R Greenway’s home. Through programs, art exhibits and related lectures, D&R Greenway inspires greater public commitment to safeguarding land.