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Author Archives: Nan Quick

How Gardens are REALLY made: the History of my Raised Terrace Garden

It’s twilight, in late August. After a day of sporadic rain showers the skies are clearing, and a rosy mist fills the air. We’re sitting together on the Raised Terrace Garden at my home in New Hampshire…not speaking…just quietly taking in the gentle beauties that surround us. You might think that this serene hideaway has … Continue reading »

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The Very Best Gardens of the Cotswolds & Nearby Regions

In a normal summer, during non-pandemic-times, I’d be rattling around in England and in Italy, continuing my explorations of landscapes, architecture, art, cultural history and gardens. But now, in year 2020, the more I’m forced to settle into covid-avoidance-immobility, the more vivid my house-and-garden-bound days here in rural New Hampshire are becoming; this because I’m … Continue reading »

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Venice: BIENNALE ARTE 2019. Part Two

Of La Biennale’s two permanent venues, I’ve always preferred the Arsenale over the Giardini. The enormous breadth of the Arsenale’s man-made harbor and its lengths of canal-side walkways ( fondamente ), along with the sheer magnitude of its factory buildings, are stunning reminders that humankind’s industriousness can indeed function within man-made settings of incredible ingenuity … Continue reading »

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Venice: BIENNALE ARTE 2019. Part One

When it comes to La Biennale, years and fashions pass, but little of its Essence changes, despite various Curators’ declarations that: “THIS Biennale shall be precedent-shattering!” In May of 2011 I attended Biennale‘s Press Days, and later reported about that event for New York Social Diary. In May of 2019 I was once again privileged … Continue reading »

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Exploring Cornwall’s Seacoast, in Summertime. Part One

Autumn 2018 Journeys towards Cornwall are not usually entertaining. When traveling by car from almost anywhere else in England, the drive will likely be tedious, and delay-prone: Britain’s motorways are becoming overwhelmed by ever-increasing volumes of passenger cars, white van men, lorries, coaches, and caravans. Or, assuming that England’s various rail operators aren’t indulging in … Continue reading »

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The Treasures of Tivoli, Italy. Part One: Explorations of the Archaeological Complex at Villa Adriana

Early 2018 Finally, Part One of a long-delayed but essential addendum to my article titled “My Recipe For a Stress-Free Week in Rome,” which I published several years ago [see link below]. My Recipe for a Stress-Free Week in Rome One of the keys for a happy week’s stay in Rome is to decompress by fleeing … Continue reading »

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Two Modern Mannerist Homes & Gardens in Italy: Tomaso Buzzi’s LA SCARZUOLA, & Niki de Saint Phalle’s TAROT GARDEN

December 2016 Among all the avenues of self-expression available to humans, one of the most enticing has always been the building of a home and garden. For the mature visual artist in particular, modeling timber and stone and plant material into environments which give three-dimensional form to the artist’s peculiarities of imagination and character becomes … Continue reading »

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Part Two. A Well-Spent Week in Southern Devon, England

May 2016 Six months have elapsed since I published Part One about the summer-of-2015 week when my dear friends Anne and David Guy led me on a long ramble across Southern Devon. Of the varieties of jobs I perform, no work challenges me more, or gives me more satisfaction, than the creation of these Travel … Continue reading »

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A Well-Spent Week in Southern Devon, England. Part One.

October 2015 I’m back on Terra Firma (aka New Hampshire), after this summer’s very satisfying, month-long expedition to England, where I continued my investigations of Britannia’s landscapes, luminaries, architecture, and history. Per usual, once home, my first task (after I do some serious laundry) is to sort thousands of trip photos. My brain isn’t nearly … Continue reading »

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An Idiosyncratic Survey of Sculpture, in Gardens of the Western World

APRIL, 2015 As we create our gardens, we often find that the presence of plant material alone cannot satisfy our aesthetic sensibilities, and so we begin the often perplexing quest for objects to use as decoration for our little Edens. Sometimes, our beds of well-tended plants seem incomplete and in need of punctuation. The dedicated … Continue reading »

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