Chinati Foundation Garden

The Chinati Foundation is a contemporary art museum created by artist Donald Judd in Marfa, far West Texas. The museum presents large, permanent installations by twelve artists and is based on Judd’s interest in the relationship between art, architecture, and the surrounding high desert landscape. Chinati hosts special exhibitions; artist residencies; public programs by contemporary visual and performing artists, writers, and scholars; and youth and adult studio classes.

The museum's education program includes the ongoing care and maintenance of a vegetable and flower garden on the Chinati campus. The garden was established in spring, 2012 through a joint effort by Chinati staff, community volunteers, and area students.

The Chinati garden is used in the museum's classes with area students. Activities include plant identification, planting and harvesting, cooking, and dye-making. Art-integrated lessons incorporate science, history, math, reading, and writing and are often programmed in collaboration with area schools. Other programs have included volunteer opportunities, community garden socials featuring locally grown and produced foods, and potlucks.

The garden, like other programs at Chinati, is designed to support the vision and culture of the museum, making a tangible link between art and nature, an idea at the core of the museum’s philosophy.