November 9, 2023 – August 1, 2024

Collaboration with our community partners fosters creativity and amplifies our outreach outside of the Garden. Santa Fe Botanical Garden is thrilled to work with the staff at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum on an exhibit featuring her works on a subject we love, trees.

Rooted in Place presents a collection of O’Keeffe’s many depictions of trees, from the piñon and cottonwoods near her homes in New Mexico to maples at Lake George and palm trees in the Caribbean. Throughout her life, Georgia O’Keeffe explored trees to capture a sense of place. In the various places she traveled to and lived, trees served as O’Keeffe’s entry into wherever she was.

Previously and affectionately referred to as “Trees”, this exhibition features paintings, drawings, photography, and materials from O’Keeffe’s personal collection that reflects O’Keeffe’s special relationship with the subject. A beautiful juxtaposition of the painting Stump in Red Hills, 1940, and the piece of wood depicted in the work, both set against a teal backdrop, engages and excites the viewer as they first walk into the gallery.

In many of her paintings and drawings, O’Keeffe depicted trees unique to New Mexico’s ecoregions, while others showcase trees local to areas she visited. In collaboration with the Santa Fe Botanical Garden, this exhibition explores the local trees that O’Keeffe pursued in her work and offers an opportunity to talk about their present-day realities via wall text, audio tour stops, and digital resources provided by the SFBG.

Thanks goes out to Linda Churchill, Director of Horticulture, Cristina Salvador, Director of Operations, and Christie Collins, Director of Education and Interpretation, for working with the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum team to develop content that provides a more holistic view of the works on display, and the trees depicted within them.

Georgia O’Keeffe. Stump in Red Hills, 1940. Oil on canvas, 30 1/8 x 24 inches. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. Gift of The Stéphane Janssen Trust in memory of R. Michael Johns. © Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. [1996.7.2] Photo: Tim Nighswander/IMAGING4ART

Check out the Mornings With O’Keeffe webinar about the exhibit with speakers from staff from both organizations recorded November 17, 2023.

Thank you Georgia O’Keeffe Museum!

I (Left to right): SFBG team Linda Churchill, Christie Collins, Cristina Salvador and Georgia O’Keeffe Museum team Bess Murphy, Yaritza Martinez Pule, and Ariel Russell.