Recently, I caught up with Jessa Piaia about her Isabella Stewart Gardner garden project in Somerville...
How has Somerville been for you as a creative person?
Somerville is a vibrant community of artists of diverse genres. That’s what makes this city such a great place to live, and our local Arts Council is proactive with their support of the creative climate here. I am grateful to the Somerville Arts Council who awarded a SAC/MCC Fellowship last year for me to partner with Friends of the Somerville Community Growing Center (FCGC) for my Isabella Stewart Gardner program. My ‘community benefit’ performance focused on Mrs. Gardner’s gardening activities, scheduled at the Community, Architecture, Landscape & Art (aka CALA) building, 1060 Broadway Ave., adjacent to Lou Ann Park in Teele Square in September 2025. Interestingly, CALA’s structural design is akin to the Gardner Museum, in that each has a central courtyard garden, filled with plants, murals, a music space, plus (3) “green roofs,” which align with Mrs. Gardner’s ‘glass rooftop.’ Before & after my performance last year, the FCGC and Garden Club presented Somerville Pollinators for Action Plan (SPAP) materials to educate attendees on the value of cultivating native pollinator plants to support our ecosystem, in our home & community garden settings.
This year the Somerville Arts Council awarded a project grant for us to expand the program across the community, as part of Mass Cultural Council’s “Cultural Heritage” category. So we focused on Mrs. Gardner’s vision of bestowing annual “Garden Prizes” in Somerville.
You are a historical reenactor. How do you choose your subjects? How do you get into character?
As a historical reenactor, I research the person’s “character,” studying their strengths and weaknesses, goals and aspirations, and what they accomplished during their lifetime. The aspect of Isabella Gardner’s character I am most drawn to is her sense of determination against all odds. And just before opening her house-museum, Isabella collaborated with her close artist friend, Sarah Wyman Whitman to design a mythological “Phoenix shield” to hang above her Fenway Court entryway. This shield symbolizes the challenges and risks she undertook to achieve her vision, with the steadfast, transcendent perseverance it took after the grief of losing her only child, and later when she constructed the 4th-story house-museum as a widow. A devout Episcopalian, Isabella was a deeply spiritual person, who quietly gave sums of money to her Church of the Advent, and to the Anglican priests and nuns to help those in need.
Despite persistent rumors of being an eccentric & strong-willed woman, the recent biography, “Chasing Beauty” by Nathalie Dykstra depicts a vivid sketch of Mrs. Gardner as a mature woman confident in her abilities and sound of judgment, who relied on her instincts when selecting “quality” art. While facing the demands of overseeing construction of her house-museum on ‘reclaimed swampland’ along the Muddy River, she would not be deterred from realizing her vision -- that America had not yet developed an art aesthetic and culture of our own, we were still looking to Europe and Asia for our inspiration. So this became her quest, starting with procuring the Old Masters, while sponsoring local artists & musicians. Once the Museum was completed, she opened its doors to the public, while she resided on the 4th floor.
For many years you have presented " Isabella Stewart Gardner and her passion for horticulture." What was it about Gardner that drew you in. Do you see anything in yourself that is similar to this eccentric, collector and patron of the arts?
Gardening is one of my favorite pastimes, I enjoy watching a narrow strip of pollinator plants alongside my house throughout the seasons. As a historical reenactor, I have researched and portrayed Isabella Stewart Gardner for over 30 years, and more recently I am focusing on her gardening activities. Mrs. Gardner began cultivating the 40-acre Gardner Estate, called Green Hill, Brookline, MA, alongside her in-laws, when she arrived in Boston as a young bride in 1860, as they would win ongoing Massachusetts Horticultural Society prizes over the years. Decades later, she and Jack inherited the Green Hill property when his parents passed. Isabella would also cultivate a variety of plants in two Green Hill greenhouses, to display at her Fenway Court “Courtyard,” transporting them to create (6) displays throughout the seasons. These floral arrangements were part of her “living collection” -- in contrast to the Old Masters artwork and décor she displayed throughout her house-museum.
What drew me to portraying Mrs. Gardner is she is the “first woman in America to conceive, design, and construct a house-museum.” Collecting art was a passion she and Jack had shared, however her husband passed before their vision was realized. So in her grief, Isabella held fast to her vision of bringing joy and uplifting beauty to others through the Art & the Flowers she arranged. When she opened the museum to the public in 1903, she dedicated it “to the City of Boston, for the education & the enjoyment of the Public, forever.” Upon her passing, her Fenway Court house-museum was renamed The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, to signify it had been accomplished by a woman.
Tell us a bit about your project with the Growing Center in Somerville.
The Somerville Community Growing Center is a vibrant nexus of cultural & educational programming run by a steadfast team of volunteer members – all are welcome. Founded in 1994, their mission “Gather, Create, Experience” includes ongoing programming with live music, nature-themed films, poetry, opera, maker fairs, climate awareness performances, an annual maple boil, and the teddy bear picnic. I am grateful to partner with Lisa Brukilacchio, urban agriculturist, co-founder on the FCGC board, and the Growing Center team.
In June 2026, we announced the “Model Pollinator Garden Prizes,” for residents & community groups to register their "Pollinator-friendly gardens" for consideration of an award. Over the summer local AV artist, Ami Feldman designed posters, and later drew maps connecting the Pollinator garden addresses. We are also grateful to Mahoney’s Garden Center for their $50 donation, ie (5) gift cards. After Labor Day, we contacted the awardees, and on October 3rd, we gathered for the culminating Ceremony at CALA, at which “Mrs. Gardner” made brief remarks for historical context, then presented the awards.
The two categories of recognition are: (5) home gardens: Marion Davis (Cross St. Place, E. Somerville); Beth Kevles & Mieke Citroen (Hancock St); William Bennett & Jonathan Rich (Lexington St); Rosa Carson, Mary Miratrix & Rie Macchiarolo (Broadway Ave); Alice Lee / Jonah & Courtney Petri / Leslie Beale / Cynthia Waite & Ed Barton, ie, the (4) Highland Road neighbors who collectively cultivated a “verdant corridor” from their front porch to the curb; and Kit Cangardel (Rodgers St) received a "Certificate of Recognition" for her front yard container garden.
Also the (7) public & community gardens to receive a Certificate of Recognition include:
(1) Native Pollinator Garden along the Community Path – maintained by Somerville Garden Club, presented to Irene Heim;
(2) “The Wedding Nook” Native Pollinator Garden at Prospect Hill Tower, presented to Luisa Olivera, Director, Public Space & Urban Forestry;
(3) Somerville Pollinators Action Plan (SPAP) for their citywide plantings, including Lincoln Park & at CALA, presented to Alison Maurer, Planner of Ecological Restoration, who’s currently seeking volunteers for their next Pollinator planting at CALA on OCT 24.
(4) Green & Open Somerville has organized Pollinator plantings throughout the city, including Lowell Street ramp on the Community Path, as well as citywide depavings. The Certificate was presented to Joel Bennett, co-founder of the Community Path on behalf of Green & Open; and Tim Lasker, Manager of Sustainability at MBTA spoke to the T's ongoing efforts of fostering community engagement.
(5) Native Pollinator Meadow at Blessings of the Bay Park, Mystic River Watershed Assn. (the meadow, situated along the Route 93 corridor, is located on lands of the Massachusetts, Nipmuck & Pawtucket tribes). The certificate was presented to Karl Alexander, Greenways Program Senior Manager, with Offshoots Productive Landscape whom they worked with to develop the site.
(6) Glen Park Community Garden, a vibrant oasis in East Somerville, presented to Leeane Darrigo, Lesley Ballantyne, and Sam Musher, who shared what being part of a community garden has meant to them. Jen Fries, also gardens here, but had a previous commitment.
(7) The Residential Life Team at CALA, who are sharing their vision of this magnificent public space with our Community, presented to Deb Pacini & Jane Carpineto, both CALA residents.
Could you call Somerville-- a city of gardens?
Yes, definitely, we can call Somerville a “City of Gardens.” The City’s Public Works Department manages an array of programs & activities which support the challenges of living in a densely populated urban environment, ie, nearly 5 square mile circumference. I believe we are a vital example of Frederick Law Olmsted’s vision, through our home gardens and our public spaces, we are cultivating a 21st century “Emerald Necklace,” of flourishing “pollinator pathways” throughout Somerville.
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