The André Harvey Creative Fellowship at Longwood Gardens honors André’s legacy of spreading joy and appreciation through art by giving creative people the opportunity to immerse themselves in acres of beauty and to explore the themes of the natural world.
The 23rd United States Poet Laureate, storyteller, musician, and renowned member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Joy Harjo served as the inaugural recipient of the André Harvey Creative Fellowship (2025). Harjo’s remarkable contributions to poetry, music, and storytelling exemplify the multidimensional spirit of the fellowship. As the first André Harvey Fellow, Harjo enjoyed a two-week residency at Longwood in October 2025, immersing herself in the Brandywine’s iconic landscapes while exploring the connections between art, nature, and creativity. As part of her residency, she gave a public reading, sharing passages from her award-winning body of work and shared musical performances. This celebration of creativity and culture invited reflection on the rich histories and living traditions of Indigenous peoples while showcasing the transformative power of art and storytelling.
Each Harvey Fellow receives:
Renowned Brandywine Valley artist André Harvey (1941–2018) made the world a better place. Through his trademark talent for creating breathtakingly realistic works, he pointed to the importance of our natural world and climate change through such work as Rain Before Morning (1985); the plight of such endangered species as manatees in The Survivor (1982) and green sea turtles in The Pilgrimage (1980); and so much more. Throughout his impressive volume of small- and large-scale works primarily cast in bronze and today featured in many public and private collections, his attention to detail is extraordinary … and it’s perhaps even more extraordinary that Harvey was completely self-taught.
Many of Harvey’s works were inspired by his childhood, growing up near Chadds Ford, and his appreciation for his natural world subjects was deepened by the influence of his father, a conservationist.
“I think he is one of the very few artists working today who neither manipulate nor reject the world around us,” wrote John Caldwell (1941-1993), former curator of paintings and sculpture at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art about Harvey’s work. “Instead, Harvey celebrates life, and looking at his work, we celebrate it with him.”
Harvey found his passion for sculpture in 1969–1970 while traveling through Europe and Morocco with his wife, Bobbie, when apprenticing with abstract sculptor Michel Anasse in Vallauris, France. Upon his return to the States, he continued his artistic pursuit as a sculptor and the appreciation of his work was almost immediate with a window display at Tiffany & Co. in Manhattan. His work quickly became part of many notable collections. By the mid-1970s, Harvey, together with Bobbie—who by then had devoted herself full-time to the business of art—had built a following as strong as their partnership. His work has been featured in exhibitions within the United States and internationally, and can be found in multiple private and museum collections, including on permanent display at the Crystal Bridges Museum of Art. Harvey was a Fellow of the National Sculpture Society, and his archives are included in the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art. Today, Bobbie runs the André Harvey Studio in Rockland, Delaware.
Harvey’s work has been featured in numerous exhibitions within the United States and internationally, including in the UK, Italy, Australia, Zambia and more. Notable public gardens, cultural and educational institutions, and museums have selected his work for permanent display, including the Crystal Bridges Museum of Art. Harvey also found favor with many private collectors, including Jamie Wyeth, Henry Fonda, Barry Manilow, Danielle Steel, and others.
Harvey was a Fellow of the National Sculpture Society, and received the Society’s Joel Meissner Award and the Tallix Foundry Award. His archives are included in the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art. Today, his work continues to inspire and celebrate the natural world through the André Harvey Studio in Rockland, Delaware.
Longwood Gardens is the proud home of Harvey’s Chloe and Lucinda—a life-sized bronze sculpture of two goats—which has resided in our Idea Garden since its October 2020 installation.
Longwood’s connection to Harvey goes beyond a single work of art or our common Brandywine Valley roots. Instead, it is a shared vision of bringing joy and inspiration to all through the beauty of nature. The André Harvey Fellowship offers other artists the opportunity to embrace that vision, immerse themselves in the natural world, and make of it what they will.
Views of André Harvey’s Brandywine Valley studio, located in Rockland, DE, just South of Longwood Gardens. Photos by Carlos Alejandro.
