"From a Child's Perspective" Tasha O'Neill D&R G's Olivia Rainbow

Tasha O’Neill’s Close-up Photographs of Oft-Overlooked Nature

Through February 7

Princeton, N.J.— D&R Greenway Land Trust’s Olivia Rainbow Gallery Presents “From a Child’s Perspective”, close-up nature photography by Tasha O’Neill, through February 7. The artist focused macro-lenses on rare minuscule plants and other species, giving D&R Greenway visitors the experience of the late Olivia Kuenne’s own enthusiasms outdoors. Whimsical titles add to the sense of having entered an enchanted forest. The Gallery was founded in this young artist’s memory.

Tasha O’Neill discovered some of her vibrant subjects on guided walks with Jim Amon (former Director of Stewardship) on Greenway preserves. Some species were introduced on day-long photo-safaris in New Jersey’s Pine Barrens, with Princeton Photography Club fellow members. Others presented themselves to the artist near her summer home, close to Maine’s Acadia National Park

This virtual forest trail can be enjoyed on business hours of business days, in the Olivia Rainbow Gallery of D&R Greenway’s Johnson Education Center. One Preservation Place, Princeton 08540. Free. 609-924-4646 www.drgreenway.org No need to call to see if gallery is available. All art is for sale, a percentage supporting preservation and stewardship. Gallery images may be ordered in various sizes.

Tasha O’Neill’s art regularly appears in Princeton-area juried exhibitions. She was given a one-person exhibition of her “Forest Bathing” art, for D&R Greenway’s recent Soul of a Tree. O’Neill was also featured by NJ Audubon in April 2018. Her Golden Light, an apotheosis of winter trees, is a highlight in D&R Greenway’s current Lovely as a Tree. Her Gifts from the Sea will appear at Merwick’s Millstone Gallery, (Princeton / Plainsboro), from March 10 to May 9, 2019. Her Shapes of Water will adorn Princeton’s Nassau Club in November and December, 2019. O’Neill’s wreath of Maine seaweeds and mosses was requested for Princeton Magazine’s special feature on local wreath makers for the Holidays, 2018.

The artist grew up in Schweinfurt, Germany, where her family was dedicated to nature, in the home garden and that region’s diverse countryside. Almost weekly, her mother would take Tasha and her brother to nearby mountains. “There we would walk; explore; learn about wild plants and berries; and then nap in the meadow. With our faces so close to the flowers, the gentle buzzing of insects would lull us to sleep.”

Of her searches for rarities, Tasha O’Neill explains, “I seem to be drawn to the unusual. The tiniest plants compel me, as though I were still my child self. I am pleased that D&R Greenway invited me to share these images from the child’s perspective for Olivia’s Rainbow Gallery.”

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D&R GREENWAY LAND TRUST IS IN ITS 30th YEAR of preserving and protecting natural lands, farmlands and open spaces throughout central and southern New Jersey. Through continuous preservation and stewardship – (caring for land and easements to ensure they remain protected and ecologically healthy in perpetuity) -- D&R Greenway nurtures a healthier and more diverse environment. Its New Jersey reach has expanded to seven counties. D&R Greenway’s official accreditation by the national Land Trust Accreditation Commission was renewed with high praise.

D&R Greenway’s mission is to preserve and care for land and inspire a conservation ethic, now and for the future. Its current and increasing emphasis is upon healing trails. D&R Greenway’s preservation has passed the 20,000-acre mark, twenty times the size of Central Park.

The Johnson Education Center, a circa-1900 restored barn at One Preservation Place, Princeton, is D&R Greenway’s home. Through indoor and outdoor programs, art exhibits and related lectures, D&R Greenway inspires greater public commitment to safeguarding New Jersey land.