Newcomb Pottery Inspires Garden

Steps away from the uptown campus studios where decades of Newcomb artists have gotten their start, a decorative sign with yellow irises leads the way to the Newcomb Pottery Garden — where you can walk through the kinds of native trees and flowers that inspired many of those artists.

Along the sidewalk in the Newcomb Pottery Garden on the uptown campus, a sign dedicates the garden to Judith Henkin. (Photo by Paula Burch-Celentano)

The linear garden stretches from Newcomb Place to Broadway with a shaded walkway that passes by the Woldenberg Art Center and a new lily pond area across from Newcomb Hall. The path, with benches for contemplation, leads along Josephine Louise House to a wrought iron gate at Broadway.

Planted along the way are flowering trees, shrubs, perennials, bulbs, vines, ferns and grasses — all of which art lovers will find depicted on the famed Newcomb Pottery.

The garden came about through a gift by Newcomb alumna and Board of Tulane member Jill Glazer and her husband Avie, who dedicated it in 2009 in memory of Jill's mother, Judith Henkin.

"This gift is very special," said Yvette Jones, executive vice president for university relations. "As I've gotten to know Jill in the last few years, I've also realized how close she was to her mom. This lovely garden is the perfect way to memorialize that love and to share it with the university community."

Planted throughout the garden walk are native trees and flowers that also are depicted on Newcomb Pottery. (Photo from the Office of the University Architect)

Part of the larger Tulane landscaping plan, the garden appealed to the Glazers. Mrs. Henkin, an avid collector of pottery, purchased a piece of Newcomb Pottery when Jill and her brother, Edward, were students at Tulane. "She bought the piece because of our connection with Tulane and because it reminded her of visiting the campus," said Jill.

Collette Creppell, university architect and director of campus planning, says the project continues to grow and change with the seasons, with its Louisiana irises and pomegranate trees, purple cone flowers and caladiums. "Newcomb Pottery itself is reinspiring us to plant these in this concentrated way along that garden walk," Creppell said.

A walking guide is tucked inside two markers along the path, identifying the plants and trees.

"I walk through the garden frequently since I am in town so often, and I always think of my mother," said Jill. "My daughter and my niece are both Tulane students and seeing the garden brings back great memories of their grandmother."