Beth Dow

	Katherine Nash Gallery About In the Garden
The Pinetum, Wakehurst Place	Trees, Hidcote	Trees, Blenheim Palace
Pillar Garden, The Courts	Meadow of Columns, Boboli Gardens	Six Trees, Batemans
Ivied Tree, Wakehurst Place	Fountain, Stanway	Nuttery, Sissinghurst
Girl and Boy, Sissinghurst	Yew Walk, Sissinghurst	Kitchen Garden, Levens Hall
Standard, Little Moreton Hall	Terrace, Powis Castle, Wales	Standards, Blenheim Palace
Lime Walk, Sissinghurst	Yew, Hinton Ampner	Temple, The Courts
Hillside, Waddesdon Manor	Ball, Powis Castle, Wales	Stable Pond, Powis Castle, Wales
The Moat, Sissinghurst	The White Garden, Sissinghurst	Benches, Blenheim Palace
Topiary, Barnsley House	Clearing, Wakehurst Place	Passage, Levens Hall
Belvedere, Villa Gamberaia	Lily Pond, Biddulph Grange	Surya's Temple, Sezincote
Snake, Sezincote	Pond, Batemans	Lily Pond, Hidcote
Theatre Lawn, Hidcote	Lawn, Hall Place	Meadow, Boboli Gardens
Statue, Waddesdon Manor	Column, Lacock Abbey	Fountain, Powis Castle, Wales
Urn, Sissinghurst	Torso, Charleston	Pot, Giardino dei Semplici, Florence
Allée, Boboli Gardens	Lime Walk in Spring, Sissinghurst	Path, Giardino dei Semplici, Florence
Dye Pool, The Courts	Gazebo, Wakehurst Place	Tree, Giardino dei Semplici, Florence
Apples, Sissinghurst	Fence, Sissinghurst	Figure, Blenheim Palace
Hedge, Sissinghurst		Young God, Sissinghurst

These recent photographs were taken in formal English and Italian gardens. The shape and mystery of these places are a natural draw for me as they offer glimpses of the rich traditions of garden making. I am interested in garden history and historical concepts of paradise, and aim for pictures that have a meditative quality to reflect the spiritual urges that inspired the earliest gardens some six thousand years ago. My images are not depictive. I use the land before me as a jumping off point, implying light or shadow where perhaps there was none, as a way to create my own path through the garden. In fact, by positioning the lens, cropping my prints, and using burning and dodging to guide the viewer's eye through a picture, I feel that I too am a gardener in a sense. I am after that "slant of curious light" that is the genius of a place.

This project has been funded in part by generous grants from the McKnight Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board.