The Crowd:

Nancy Goslee Powerancy Goslee Power came to Newport last week, and the Decorative Arts Society had a wonderful time with the Santa Monica-based landscape designer with an international pedigree. The evening prior to her standing-room-only lecture on garden design, Power was introduced to the town at a chic cocktail reception in the exquisite French-inspired Big Canyon residence of Elana and Bill Donovan.

The home, like the guest of honor — classy, intelligent, unpretentious yet profoundly inviting, richly and subtly appointed — became the perfect setting for a little salon conversation on the art of living well. Or perhaps it was just all about the art of living.

Los Angeles Times staffer Emily Green writes about Powers: “She is to landscaping what her longtime collaborator Frank Gehry is to architecture; she hasn’t so much broken the mold as cast a new one.” Powers mingled in the Donovan home, chatting with patrons over chilled Chardonnay and stuffed chili poppers, talking about her fabled Saturday morning gardening classes she holds in an old Santa Monica warehouse.

Decorative Arts Society patrons in the crowd included Sandra and Don Ayres, Hyla and Richard Bertea, Judy and Bill Brady, Sue Champion, Janet Curci, Barbara and Jim Glabman, Sharon and Jim Henwood, Cecilia and Bruce Nott, Lois and Dave Tingler, and the fabulous antiques dealer Kitty Canada of Newport’s hip little boutique the Cannery Exchange.

Peeking at the Donovan gardens were patrons Carole and Barry Steele, Gigi and Dan Werbin, Linda and Denny Campbell, Irene and Bill Mathews, Joanne Akerman and Skyler Haskell and designer Randy Boyd with Choo Choo Boyer and Mary Beth Di Santis.

The Decorative Arts Society, a nonprofit comprised of men and women who share an interest in the decorative arts, donates proceeds from its events in support of such community projects as Casa Teresa, Girls’ Inc., Laura’s House, Mariposa and Women Helping Women. Their next gathering will be Feb. 2, as they welcome renowned designer Carleton Varney, who has penned the book “Homes in My Heart.” For more, call (949) 718-0171.

THE CROWD runs Thursdays and Saturdays.