Art Exhibition Opening: "Botanicals: Intimate Portraits," Photographs by Laurie Tennent

Susanna W. Gold Art Advisory opens the summer exhibition season with "Botanicals: Intimate Portraits," a solo exhibition of large-scale outdoor and indoor photographs by Laurie Tennent, with a reception on Saturday, May 30, 5:00-7:00pm. The exhibition will be held at the Gallery at Folly Farm, the Advisory’s non-traditional, in-home farmhouse gallery in Crozet, VA. The opening event will also feature a 30-minute contemporary dance performance, PRIMAVERA, by Charlottesville-based ORH Dance on the front lawn alongside the outdoor botanical photographs starting at 6:00pm. The exhibition will remain on view throughout the summer of 2026, and all photographs will be available for sale. RSVPs appreciated.

Laurie Tennent is a Michigan-based botanical photographer whose large-scale works printed on aluminum panel create a dialogue between photography, sculpture, and the natural environment. Her dramatic photos, with their brightly illuminated blooms, buds, leaves, and branches emerging out of an inky black ground in heightened detail and vivid color, transform botanical imagery into sculptural form. With the eye of a scientist and the creative spirit of a poet, Laurie isolates and magnifies the structural complexity of plant life, revealing intricate cellular patterns, fractal geometries, and subtle organic architectures often overlooked in everyday experience.

An outdoor installation of nine large-scale photographs will be on display on the front lawn and nestled within the landscape, and 13 framed works will be on view inside the farmhouse gallery. Alongside Tennent’s outdoor works on the lawn, six dancers from ORH Dance will perform PRIMAVERA under the direction of Artistic Director and Choreographer Olivia Rivard Hill at the opening reception. The dance is inspired by Renaissance painting La Primavera by Sandro Botticelli (1455-1510) and his embrace of classical themes/myths, as well as similar themes celebrated through the life and creations of American modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan (1877-1927). Although living centuries apart, these two artists shared their love of beauty, joy and spirituality.

The Gallery at Folly Farm is open by chance, appointment, and for special events. Because our public open hours/days are irregular, please contact Susanna Gold to plan your visit: email susanna@susannaWgold.com; call/text at 610-368-6927; or visit our website: www.susannaWgold.com