In the Studio with Ruby Barber, the Florist Behind Berlin-Based Mary Lennox - W Magazine
Monday, April 6, 2020Ruby Barber in her studio, photograph courtesy of Becca Crawford.
Barber spends her days scouring Berlin’s parks for dry materials and visiting local growers in Brandenburg and Potsdam, returning to her studio to assemble dripping, plumed constructions from the spoils. While her regular haunts supply the materials for most of her creations, some of Barber’s favored brambles can only be found further afield—and sometimes for just a week or two at a time. In late summer, Dutch hydrangea farms dispose of several wheelbarrows’ worth of sun-crisped heads. On the island of Mallorca, the narrow country roads are littered with perfect gold-fringed palm fronds. In the southern Italian countryside, overgrown family greenhouses shelter dead plants that have dried perfectly in place. “No work needs to be done to make an installation from these things,” Barber says. “Nature’s done the work already.”
The daughter of two contemporary art gallerists, Barber’s rise has coincided with a shift in the fashion and visual art worlds, where a growing appetite for living designs has put her abstract installations in high demand. “There’s an increasing desire in modern times to feel close to nature. People want more and more to incorporate that natural language into their lives, and brands are starting to understand that.” But Barber’s designs, commissioned to reinvigorate established labels, are so rich in color and texture as to risk eclipsing them altogether. At last year’s Saut Hermès, an equestrian competition sponsored by the French house at the Grand Palais in Paris, Barber hung enormous downy columns of tea-colored amaranth like stalactites from the glass-paneled ceilings of the Grand Palais. For Loro Piana’s Fall/Winter 2020 presentation, her team scoured the Lombardy region of Northern Italy, sourcing a medley of local plants to construct a garden inside of the mid century modern venue.
The year has been a whirlwind for Barber; a steady stream of projects kept her bouncing between Hamburg, Paris and Milan until Germany’s recent lockdown order resulted in a sort of forced retreat. “It’s a relief in a way, and a chance to think about the sort of work I actually want to do,” she says of the imposed hiatus. Perhaps, while she’s confined to her apartment, Barber will make an exception to her no-flowers-in-the-home rule. Her window looks out onto a park, so she can keep an eye out for the first blooms.
...https://www.wmagazine.com/story/ruby-barber-mary-lennox-florist-berlin-interview/
Mary Louise Bowmar Knotts - Mountain Statesman
Tuesday, April 23, 2019She was one of a kind, an inspiration in many ways and will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.
Friends will be received at the Talbott Funeral Home, 56 N Brandenburg Street in Belington, on Saturday April 6, 2019, from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m., the funeral hour, when final rites will be conducted from the funeral home chapel, with the Pastor Jo McCartney officiating.
Interment will follow in the Woodsdale Memorial Park Cemetery near Grafton.
In lieu of flowers memorial contributions can be made to the Samaritans Purse 801 Bamboo Road Boone, NC26807.
Condolences can be made to the family at www.talbottfuneralhome.com.
The Talbott Funeral Home of Belington is in charge of the arrangements for Mrs. Mary Louise Bowmar Knotts.
https://mountainstatesman.com/article/mary-louise-bowmar-knotts
Far-right German politician starts a new party with a logo bearing a secret Nazi symbol - CNN
Sunday, March 3, 2019Thursday when his political ally Egbert Ermer told Spiegel that the "project of forming a political party has today started." He said this would be a "middle German movement," with branches in Brandenburg, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/11/europe/andre-poggenburg-afd-germany-far-right-scli-grm-intl/index.html
Germany may end coal use - Sunbury News
Sunday, March 3, 2019FILE---In this Jan.6, 2019 file photo water vapour rises from the cooling towers of the Joenschwalde lignite-fired power plant of Lausitz Energie Bergbau AG (LEAG) in Brandenburg, Germany. (Patrick Pleul/dpa via AP)
File--- In this photo taken Aug. 27, 2018 bucket wheel digs for coal near the Hambach Forest near Dueren, Germany. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Climate fight: Germany sets 2038 deadline to end coal use
By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER
Associated Press
Monday, January 28
BERLIN (AP) — In a pioneering move, a German government-appointed panel has recommended that Germany stop burning coal to generate electricity by 2038 at the latest, as part of efforts to curb climate change.
The Coal Commission reached a deal early Saturday following months of wrangling that were closely watched by other coal-dependent countries.
“We made it,” Ronald Pofalla, the head of the commission, told reporters in Berlin. “This is a historic effort.”
Germany gets more than a third of its electricity fr...https://www.sunburynews.com/opinion/25027/germany-may-end-coal-use