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“Eudora Welty’s Garden: Photographs by Langdon Clay”

Date and Time: Thu, Feb 9, 10:00 am

Lauren Rogers Museum of Art presents Eudora Welty’s Garden:  Photographs by Langdon Clay on display in the Stairwell Gallery February 9 through April 1.  The public is invited to attend a Gallery Talk by Clay Thursday, February 9 at 6 p.m. with a reception and book-signing to follow.

By the time she reached her late twenties, Eudora Welty (1909-2001) was launching a distinguished literary career.  She was also becoming a capable gardener under the tutelage of her mother, Chestina Welty, who designed their modest garden in Jackson, Mississippi.  From the beginning, Welty wove images of Southern flora and gardens into her writing, but few outside her personal circle knew that the images were drawn directly from her passionate connection to and abiding knowledge of her own garden.

Near the end of her life, Welty still resided in her parents’ house, but the garden – and the friends who remembered it – had all but vanished.  When a local garden designer offered to help bring it back, Welty began remembering the flowers that had grown in what she called “my mother’s garden.”  By the time Welty died, that gardener, Susan Haltom, was leading a historic restoration.  When Welty’s private papers were released several years after her death, they confirmed that the writer had sought both inspiration and a creative outlet in the garden.

The Lauren Rogers Museum of Art is pleased to present an exhibition of large color photographs documenting the recent seasons in Welty’s garden by noted landscape photographer and Mississippian Langdon Clay.  The exhibition parallels the images in the newly published book One Writer’s Garden:  Eudora Welty’s Home Place, co-authored by Susan Haltom and Jane Roy Brown with images by Langdon Clay.  The book was published by the University Press of Mississippi and can be purchased in the LRMA Gift Shop.

Langdon Clay was born in New York City and raised in New England.  He photographs around the United States and beyond for shelter magazines and coffee table books. The bulk of his commercial work involves architecture, interiors, gardens, and food with his work being featured in such publications as Jefferson’s Monticello by Howard Adams and From My Chateau Kitchen by Anne Willan.  Clay’s art photography can be found in museums in Paris, London, New York, Chicago, New Orleans, and Jackson, MS.  He resides on the banks of Cassidy Bayou in Sumner, MS with his wife, photographer Maude Schuyler Clay, and three children; Anna, Schuyler, and Sophie.

This exhibition is generously sponsored by Evelyn and Michael Jefcoat.                             

Lauren Rogers Museum of Art is a private, non-profit organization operating for the benefit of the public. The Museum is located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Seventh Street in historic downtown Laurel.  Hours are 10 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. Tues. – Sat. and 1 - 4 p.m. on Sunday.  Admission is free, but donations are accepted.  For information call 601.649.6374 or visit www.LRMA.org.

filed under: Exhibits and Openings.