As we had some errands to run in Bowling Green, we thought we should visit the Baker Arboretum and Downing Museum while we were there. We had noticed this place and wanted to visit it last year but could not make it until this week.

The Arboretum was founded by Jerry Baker, a Bowling Green businessman, and covers 115 acres of rolling hills on the outskirt of the city. It features many varieties of dogwoods, magnolias, other flowering trees as well as conifers and Japanese acers.

Considered one of the finest gems in Bowling Green, Downing Museum was officially open to the public in 2014 and displays a vast collection of fine art by the late Joe Downing, a world-renowned Kentucky-born painter who was based in France. Jerry Baker and Joe Downing were long-time personal friends who collaborated on the design of this museum. Joe Downing was known to experiment with many different media formats including leather, linen, canvas, an old barn door, metal, staples and found objects. He once used an old children’s feeding (high) chair as his color palette.

We hope everyone enjoys seeing the colorful artwork.