Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens

I lovingly consult Washingtonian every month for the latest events, exhibits, and shows in the area.  While on our trip to Toronto I dog-eared a feature on Four Seasons, an outdoor art exhibit at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens.  It's inspired by Giuseppe Arcimboldo's Renaissance-era portrait paintings where the individuals were constructed by organic materials such as vegetables, fruit, tree branches, and flowers.  The 3-D exhibit at Hillwood, created by Philip Haas, is made of fiberglass and each sculpture stands fifteen feet tall.  Each sculpture had a mini version on display near the ticket counter.

We had to be in DC today because we (my mom also) had tickets to see a matinee showing of Curious Incident at the Kennedy Center.  Consequently, we made a morning/afternoon of it and stopped at Hillwood first.  We ended up having a lovely time, including a delicious lunch at their cafe.  Our only complaint was self-inflicted - we had to leave before we were ready because of our previous engagement.  Evan and I definitely want to go back, perhaps sooner rather than later.  We were only able to peek in at the Mansion for five minutes and it's chock-full of amazing knick-knacks, china, furniture, paintings, etc.

The grounds:

I just love this table base:

Four Seasons:

Winter:

Spring:

Summer:

Fall:

I put the minis side by side with their larger counterparts.  My mom's favorite was spring.  Evan and I both like spring a lot but we were really mesmerized by winter.  Such fun!