A Tour & More: Spencertown Academy's Hidden Gardens

Spring is in the air region-wide but at the Spencertown Academy, which is celebrating its 40th this year, it is also busting out all over the gallery walls. The Academy's current exhibition, Artworks Inspired by the Garden, features Cristobal Morales' blossom-like assemblages (also currently on exhibit at TK Home and Garden in Hudson) and a large collection of drawings, watercolors, botanical prints, textile and wallpaper designs—all manner of floral and garden-themed art, collected by Richard Eagen, co-owner of Gris, an antiques shop in Hudson. "Decades ago, I often visited a friend in Aix-en-Provence, where I would find these charming things at outdoor markets, little shops, bookstalls." The proceeds from the art sale, which acts as a prelude to the "Hidden Gardens" tour on June 16, benefit the Academy. At left, this year's tour co-chairs Madaline Sparks, contributing garden editor of Real Simple magazine, and Lydia Kukoff, each standing behind a Wave Hill chair, an adaptation of 1918 Rietveld design that has long been a signature of the renowned public garden in the Bronx. Unpainted facsimiles will be among the items sold at the Garden Market on the Green in Spencertown the day of the tour.

Academy president Nick Van Alstine and interior designer Michael Krieger, who installed the exhibition; Jack Krauskopf, Academy board v. p. and former chair of the garden tour Marian Krauskopf and this year's tour co-chair Madaline Sparks

Shawn Hancock and Jan Moseman; James Raimes, Ann Raimes and Academy executive director Mary Anne Lee

Stair Galleries auctioneer Rupert Fennell and artist Cris Morales; Robert Gilson, director of the 92nd Street Y School of the Arts, Rae Gilson and Cris Morales