STORY BEHIND THE ART OF JEANNE REINER

21st Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists at Wave Hil

Ground cherry after the frost

Physalis cv.

In October, as gardens in the Northeast began to close down, what remained were the vestiges of well-planned beds. A vegetable garden, once buzzing with activity and growth, now had become a quiet dry place with only seed heads, grasses and spent vines remaining. What I saw that day when I discovered my subject was a poetic expression of changing seasons.

Among these once-vibrant plantings hung a vine of ground cherries also known as Cape gooseberries. When the freezing air of an early frost tore away the protective tissue of the sepals all that remained was a skeletal cage encasing an impossibly bright plump berry within, now a beacon of color in an otherwise monochromatic landscape.

My intention when I plucked this single remaining ground cherry from it’s withered vine was to point out the obvious contrast with the weighty berry suspended within the fragile framework of its now nearly extinct husk. It was a reminder of the passing of time, with the robustness of youth giving way to the delicacy of inevitable old age.

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Read more about this artist’s work: 20th Annual International