Amid the lushness of Berkshire Botanical Garden, 6,000-pound stone“ cushions” beckon you to lie back and imagine something soft and billowy.
Berkshire Botanical Garden’ s outdoor show, Sleepwalkers, includes the work of master stone carver Mark Mennin, known for his massive granite sculptures designed for people to sit on or lie in. He says his work is about bonding a real body to an earth material— a tidier way of rolling around in the mud. While connection to the land makes Sleepwalkers all the more exceptional, it’ s not a coincidence that DayDream, an exhibition held in Berkshire Botanical Garden’ s Leonhardt Galleries, asks viewers to step into their imagination with work by Salvador Dalí, Annie Leibovitz, Yoko Ono, and Jamie Wyeth, Roz Chast, Will Cotton, Ellsworth Kelly, and Kenny Scharf.
Also connected to both the landscape and the indoors, Norman Rockwell Museum’ s Hidden Worlds and Wonders showcases 16 works viewable from paved paths that skirt meadows and woodland. The artwork is inspired by seek-and-find miniature worlds, optical illusions, I Spy games and puzzles, curiosity shop, and craft-built environments, all themes of I SPY! Walter Wick’ s Hidden Wonders, the indoor exhibit of the acclaimed photographer and creator of the I Spy book series. The whimsical Hidden Worlds and Wonders includes Robert Markey’ s Good Luck Dragon, created out of painted steel; Erika Crofut’ s Piano Concerto, a bird made of
Top and center, Mark Mennin’ s sculptures in Sleepwalkers, Berkshire Botanical Garden. Right, Peter G. Gerakaris ' Spotted Owl Mosaic, in the garden since 2021. Opposite, Javier Senosiain ' s Coata III( detail) at the Clark.( Olivia Douhan)
Holiday July 2025 2023 BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE // 63