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Norton Simon Museum sculpture garden celebrated with events, book

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Landscape designer Nancy Goslee Power has left her mark on Grand Avenue, the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden and the gardens of the Kidspace Children’s Museum in Pasadena.

But the Norton Simon Museum sculpture garden in Pasadena is generally considered to be her masterpiece.

When the newly renovated museum debuted in October 1999, L.A. Times Garden Editor Robert Smaus described the gardens as “a romantic rhapsody of a fluid, Monet-like lily pond, groves of sycamores in flowing paths of decomposed granite, and great plant combinations like brilliant pink canna lilies growing with orange lion’s tail and gray euphorbias.”

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Join Power this Saturday when she discusses the garden with chief curator Carol Togneri, director of operations John Sudolcan and retired director of art Sara Campbell.

The panel discussion, titled “A Living Work of Art: The Norton Simon Museum’s Sculpture Garden,” is the first in a yearlong series of events scheduled to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the garden. Other events will include outdoor concerts and tours and family events. This month, the museum plans to offer a free garden guide that includes a map with information on plants as well as sculptures by Auguste Rodin, Aristide Maillol and Henry Moore.

The museum also commissioned noted architectural photographer Tim Street-Porter to spend a year photographing the garden. His images will be featured in the book “A Living Work of Art: The Norton Simon Museum Sculpture Garden” due out in late April.

“The garden has grown more beautiful,” said Leslie C. Denk, director of public affairs for the museum. “It has become a highlight for our visitors, so much so that we decided to shine a spotlight on it with the upcoming events and book.”

Saturday’s panel discussion begins at 4 p.m. and is free with museum admission of $9 and $12. Tickets will be handed out starting at 3 p.m. Norton Simon Museum, 411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. (626) 449-6840.

Twitter: @lisaboone19

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