What is a garden? A wild space? A curated collection of plants? Or a plot of soil in which to seed memory, connection, and creativity? This summer, the Gardner Museum’s Hostetter Gallery springs to life with the large-scale sculptures of Ming Fay (1943 – 2025), whose work reconsiders gardens as sites of creative potential that reflect the lives and desires of those who cultivate them.
At once playful and contemplative, Ming Fay: Edge of the Garden constructs a space of wonder that calls on visitors to view the world around them with new appreciation. A partner exhibition at Pao Arts Center will explore the city of Boston’s Chinatown gardens through the art of Ming Fay, Mel Taing, and Yu-Wen Wu from July 18 – October 11, 2025.
Sculptures of fruits, seeds, shells, as well as hybrid plants borne of his boundless imagination, surprise in their unexpected pairings and sizes. Together, they conjure new meanings through familiar shapes, scents, and symbols. In his papier-mâché, bronze and ceramic gardens, Fay unites personal, collective, and cultural memories, building gardens as fantastical spaces born of curiosity, longing, and his own lived experiences as part of the Chinese diaspora in the United States.
On view from June 26 – September 21, 2025, Ming Fay: Edge of the Garden invites visitors to escape the city for a brief moment and marvel at the extraordinary, ordinary beauty of a maple tree twirler, a ripe cherry, or a crooked wishbone—and how they can unlock memory and imagination.
How to Get To Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (from New York)
From New York, you can take the bus or the Amtrak from the Moynihan Station at Penn Station (NYP) to Back Bay Station (BBY) in Boston. From the station, you can either take a bus (19 minutes), walk (39 minutes), or Uber (10 minutes) to the museum. The Ming Fay exhibit will be at the Gardner Museum’s Hostetter Gallery.
