Wisteria by Library II - (Corner of Sudbury and Stow Streets, Concord, MA) - Acrylic on textured canvas - 36 x 60 x 1.375 inches - $3000

This is a second version of Wisteria by Library, which was created in 2024 for my Flora(l) Portals show and is now with a dear friend in California, along with the original of Summer Crowd. These were favorites of mine, and it didn’t feel right to put up a show without them, especially since the wisteria are so close. Creating new versions was tricky and these aren’t full copies, but I love them.

I adore the shades that balance between purple and blue and enjoyed playing with the cascade of full shapes and the highlights on the blossoms.

How many photos have I taken of the wisteria that drapes and spills over the fence along the Sudbury and Stow sides of the property? No comment. Last year it bloomed twice. Talk about abundance. I’ve also loved watching and listening to the bees having a field day with the flowers.

It is Rosa Hallowell we have to thank for this treat, as well as for the bells, pumpkins, and bits of poetry and other uplifting whimsy that have appeared along the sidewalk over the years. She planted the wisteria 25 years ago to camouflage the “ugly fence” the historic district commission told her to take down, as the former owners had never had permission for it:

“I can take no credit for the overwhelming joy the wisteria gives as it opens up in color and smell. I did so little to get it started 25 years ago... and it has had a mind of its own ever since (much like the children who grew here in the same dirt in that same time frame).”