Museum Celebrates National Public Gardens Day with Free Admission,
Free Garden Tours, Free Activities for Children, Garden Yoga, and a Gallery Talk

Winchester, VA 05/02/16…In celebration of National Public Gardens Day, the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) will offer free admission to its seven-acre gardens, the Glen Burnie House, and the MSV galleries and exhibitions from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. this Friday, May 6. Along with free admission, the day also includes free activities for garden enthusiasts of all ages.

Beginning at 10 a.m. and throughout the day, free children’s activities—such as a garden gnome hunt and nature button-making—will take place in the gardens. At 10 and 11:30 a.m. MSV Director of Gardens Perry Mathewes will lead free “What’s in Bloom” garden walks, and, at 11 a.m., noon, and 1 p.m., Rebecca Sims will lead free garden yoga sessions. Youngsters are encouraged to attend the 1 p.m. yoga class, which Sims has designed to be a kids-only session. From 1:30 to 3 p.m., students from Shenandoah University will present the free poetry performance, “Poesies of Spring,” in the gardens.

National Public Garden Day visitors may also celebrate gardens in the museum galleries. At 2 p.m., MSV Deputy Director of Arts and Education Nancy Huth will explore the recently opened exhibition Alphonse Mucha: Master of Art Nouveau with the free guided gallery talk, “Flowers and the Art Nouveau Artist.”  Featuring the work of Alphonse Mucha (1860–1939), considered by many to be one of the most significant artists of the Art Nouveau movement, this exhibition  presents more than 70 objects drawn from the holdings of the Dhawan Collection, Los Angeles, California, one of the most significant private collections of Mucha’s work in the United States. Mucha is known for his dramatic images of flowers and plants. Many of the works featured in the exhibition include flowers and plants. On view in the MSV through July 31, Alphonse Mucha: Master of Art Nouveau is organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles, California. The MSV display is sponsored by WINC 92.5 FM.

Along with the Mucha exhibition, visitors may also enjoy free admission to all the exhibitions in the MSV galleries during National Public Gardens Day. Exhibitions in the MSV tell the story of the Shenandoah Valley and display permanent collections and rotating exhibitions. Special exhibitions currently on view include semicolons? Painting the Valley: Works by Andrei Kushnir, Collect, Preserve, Interpret: Ten Years at the MSV, and Face to Face: Portraits from the Julian Wood Glass Jr. Collection.

National Public Gardens Day visitors are also invited to celebrate the outdoors by bringing a picnic lunch to enjoy in the Glen Burnie Gardens.

The MSV National Public Gardens Day celebration is sponsored by Beyer Volvo and Volkswagen of Winchester.

With Friday’s activities, the MSV joins more than 500 North American public gardens that are participating in the National Public Gardens Day celebration. Presented by the American Public Gardens Association, the event is a national day of celebration to raise awareness of America’s public gardens and their important role in communities nationwide.

Opened to the public in 1997, the Glen Burnie Gardens were created in the latter half of the twentieth century. The seven-acre gardens—which are only part of the site’s 214-acre landscape comprising the largest green space in the city of Winchester—surround the MSV’s Glen Burnie House and include everything from intimate garden “rooms” to expansive lawns and a Water Garden pond stocked with golden trout.

A regional cultural center, the MSV is located at 901 Amherst Street in Winchester, Virginia. The MSV includes galleries, the Glen Burnie House, and seven acres of gardens. The galleries and exhibitions are open year-round; the house and gardens are open April through December. On days other than National Public Gardens Day, admission is $10 or $8 for seniors and youth ages 13 to 18. General admission is always free to youth ages 12 and under and to MSV Members. Thanks to sponsor Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc., admission is free to all every Wednesday. During the weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the MSV is open free of charge each Wednesday until 8 p.m.  Additional details are available at www.theMSV.org or by calling 540-662-1473, ext. 235. –END–

Above photo of Chinese Garden by Director of Gardens Perry Mathewes. Rêverie, Variant 4 [detail], 1898, by Alphonse Mucha (1860–1939), photo courtesy of Landau Traveling Exhibitions; Shenandoah River [detail], 2002, by Andrei Kushnir.