The Fairyland Of Beatrix Potter -- View The Watercolors Of Life And Nature In This New Exhibit About The Creator Of Peter Rabbit

"WHAT WE CALL THE HIGHEST and lowest in nature are both equally perfect. A willow bush is as beautiful as the human form divine."

Some time after she entered these words in her journal - using a code language of her own devising - a young Victorian woman sent a letter to cheer the ailing son of a close friend. "I don't know what to write you," she began, "so I shall tell you a story about four little rabbits, whose names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter."

The trenchant naturalist, and the kindly correspondent who sketched wonderfully alive bunnies throughout that letter, are the focus of "Through the Garden Gate: The World of Beatrix Potter," opening April 2 at the Pacific Science Center.

"I do not remember a time when I did not try to invent pictures and make for myself a fairyland amongst the wild flowers, the animals, fungi, mosses, woods and streams, all the thousand objects of the countryside," Potter recollected.

Potter's emotional response to nature was intense, and related to the shock of encountering a verdant environment after months of close confinement in a stark London nursery. But from the beginning, intellectual vision balanced her sense of whimsy.

Original artwork in "Through the Garden Gate: The World of Beatrix Potter" includes not only illustrations from "Peter Rabbit" and other stories, but scientific studies of fungi, subtle wing-scale details of moths, and a jumping spider that seems to leap

from its watercolored page.

"We see this exhibit as a special opportunity to get young girls interested in science, to give them a sense that you can do it," says Diane Carlson, director of public programs for the Pacific Science Center.

Born in 1866, Potter herself faced obstacles of prejudice and tradition as she created her identity as a naturalist.

If she was so bold as to visit the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens with her portfolio of meticulous nature studies, she would only be ignored while he chatted with her male companion. If she wrote an original, incisive report on the symbiotic relationship of molds and fungi, it might eventually be read to the Lineaen Society - but not by its author, because females were excluded at meetings.

Beatrix Potter was accustomed to being stopped in her tracks. Usually, she doubled back and found a private route of expression, such as her secret journal. Then, in 1900, Potter faced rejection from six publishers over her reworking of the 1893 "Peter Rabbit" letter into book form. But she refused to back down and had it printed herself.

"Here's a woman who was really very controlled, so very tied to her parents, and yet she had the wherewithal to self publish," Carlson says. Potter's innovations in the tiny size of her book (easier for little hands), in the way text and visuals interweave, and in the vivid animal characterizations remain impressive even in the era of desktop publishing.

"Through the Garden Gate" carries out one of Potter's favorite themes in "Peter Rabbit" and the books that followed: how enormous the workaday world looks to the very small. Giant carrots, radishes and cabbages, along with a watering can of immense capacity, convey the forbidden excitement of Mr. McGregor's garden.

The 29-foot ceilings of the Science Center have come in handy for the exhibit's towering tree with a cozy burrow at its base.

The center's 100th-birthday celebration of Peter Rabbit and his creator got its start several years ago, thanks to Marili Boyd of Seattle. As a Potter enthusiast, self-confessed "romantic" and energetic horticulturalist, Boyd pursued leads in Britain and the United States, until she learned of a major exhibit honoring Potter at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

After the show left Cleveland it traveled to Philadelphia, where it was augmented at the Academy of Natural Sciences. Along with Pacific Science Center additions, such as a storytelling area and a gift shop, visitors will find more than 40 original Potter drawings and watercolors from England's Armitt Trust and the Free Library of Philadelphia, and a retrospective on Potter's life in words and images.

From early girlhood, Potter sketched and painted indefatigably during summer holidays, and brought home everything from mice to a hedgehog as living souvenirs to draw and observe. Through long London winters, she crouched by her rabbit, Benjamin Bouncer, recording his every twitch as he lay beside the coals of her schoolroom fire.

When she finally found release from her family in a late but happy marriage, and financial comfort through the popularity of her books - now published by Frederick Warne and Co. - Potter took a characteristically individual path. She put aside artwork for the most part, and as Mrs. Heelis became a sheep breeder and conservationist, buying thousands of acres of farmland in the north of England, which she eventually gave to the National Trust.

Potter's record as an environmentalist is as impressive as her moxie in becoming a self-educated naturalist, artist and writer.

Karen Mathieson is a Seattle freelance writer and harpist. --------------------------------------------------------------- In Praise of Potter

Here are some special events for "Through the Garden Gate: The World of Beatrix Potter," at the Pacific Science Center, Saturday, April 3 through Sunday, June 27. (Admission to the Science Center, including events, is $6.50 for adults; $5.50 for 6- to 13-year-olds and people 65 and over; and $4.50 for 2- to 5-year-olds.) Information: 443-2880 and 443-2001. Group rates: 443-3611.

-- The Seattle Garden Club Flower Show, Friday, April 2 and Saturday, April 3. A biannual judged show, with themes celebrating Beatrix Potter. (On Saturday, includes admission to Potter exhibit.)

-- Be A Victorian Naturalist, Saturday, April 17. Honors Beatrix Potter in her roles as conservationist and naturalist; visitors will illustrate a still life and decode messages written in Potter's secret code.

-- The Northwest Horticultural Society hosts activities Saturday and Sunday, May 1 and 2.

-- Peter Rabbit's 100th Birthday Party, Saturday, May 22. Carrot cakes and a special appearance by Peter himself. Sixty local pastry chefs compete in a celebrity carrot-cake contest.

-- Fragrance Festival, Saturday and Sunday, June 26 and 27. A festival dedicated to the sense of smell, with help from the Northwest Horticultural Society.