The Friends for the Abbott Marshlands (FFAM) announces a new art exhibit, entitled Natural Observations, on display November 15-December 31, 2025. This dual exhibit exhibit by Mary Allessio Leck and Margaret Simpson will be at the Tulpehaking Nature Center. Its galleries are located at 157 Westcott Ave., Hamilton, New Jersey, at the edge of the Abbott Marshlands – Roebling Park.
The exhibition’s Artist Reception is Sunday, November 16 from 2:30-4 pm, with many art and nature enthusiasts expected to attend. Mary Allessio Leck exhibits her Herbarium prints and photography, and Margaret Simpson, her calligraphy and lettering utilizing nature quotes. Many of the quotes used were originally written by Charles Conrad Abbott in the mid to late 1800s. In wandering his farmland, he sought Native American artifacts as an early archaeologist, was a farm owner, naturalist and writer. The Herbarium plants represented may have also been noteworthy in his own collection of botanicals.
Mary Allessio Leck is a long-time member of Friends for the Abbott Marshlands (originally ‘Friends for the Marsh’). She is Emertius Professor of Biology at Rider University where she taught plant-related courses for more than 30 years, retiring in 2001. She, along with colleagues and students, published many articles about the ecology of the Abbott Marshlands. The most recent was in 2015 with Tracy Elsey-Quirk (LSU). From seed-related and marsh studies came a better understanding of the diversity of organisms and of the importance of tidal freshwater wetlands such as the Abbott Marshlands.
Margaret Simpson is a retired graphic artist and an award-winning watercolorist. She exhibits regionally and teaches Drawing with Calligraphy and the Art of Watercolor in West Windsor, as well as Art in the Marsh classes occasionally at the nature center. She is a Friends for the Abbott Marshlands board member and volunteer. Margaret writes press releases and is curator for bimonthly gallery exhibitions. She is also on the Voices for the Marsh Photography Exhibition Committee, and in the photo and history clubs there.
Please register for the reception here!
