Norman Barker Illustrator & Author

Douglas Hamilton Jr., a self-taught gardener, credits his lifelong curiosity about the natural world, horticulture, travel, and Asian aesthetics as inspirations for the gardens he and his wife, Tsognie, developed at Tashiding. Douglas serves as board chair of Hamilton Associates and related entities, a family of entrepreneurial companies where he served as CEO for 37 years. A former board chair and president of Baltimore’s renowned Walters Art Museum, Douglas has also served on the board of the Bhutan Foundation as well as those of the McDonogh School and the Valleys Planning Council. Norman Barker is a Professor of Pathology and Art as Applied to Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Norman is an award-winning science photographer, writer, and designer. His work appears in textbooks, journals, and museums worldwide. His photographs are in the permanent collections of more than 40 museums, including the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the George Eastman Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Science Museum in London. He is an Accredited Senior Imaging Scientist and a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society in Great Britain and the Biocommunications Association. Foreword writer Kate Markert, executive director of Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens since 2010, knows something about transforming a public treasure in the heart of northwest Washington, DC, into a major, landscaped destination.