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Descanso Gardens is offering visitors the chance to experience art in the garden like you’ve never seen or felt before.
“Your (Un)natural Garden,” an innovative, immersive art experience by provocative artist Adam Schwerner, which will run from April 16 through Jan. 8, 2023.
The exhibition allows you, the Descanso Gardens visitor, to experience art in the garden like you’ve never seen or felt before. Schwerner’s work in the Sturt Haaga Gallery, Boddy House, and throughout the landscape will intrigue your senses and demand your participation.
“We’re so excited to be partnering with Adam Schwerner to present ‘Your (Un)Natural Garden,’” Juliann Rooke, Executive Director at Descanso Gardens, said. “We love his aesthetic which combines art and landscape to create multi-layered experiences that spark discussion and challenge your perceptions. It’s fascinating to see how the Gardens inform and inspire his work.”
Schwerner, who has a strong background in nonprofit organizations, government, environmental awareness, fundraising, and community engagement, educated in ornamental horticulture, is currently Director of Horticulture and Resort Enhancement at The Walt Disney Company.
“My work deals with many different concepts: societal, psychological, environmental, biographical, philosophical,” Schwerner said. “The current exhibition aims to channel these diverse ideas into a fun and accessible collaboration with visitors. You won’t see any ‘do not touch’ signs here. There’s no dress code. And there’s an invitation to relax and enjoy. Come play.”
Visitors will experience nine large-scale multimedia installations as they adventure through the gardens and explore the gallery and Boddy House.
At the Gardens, you’ll see The Snakeaways, where five independent treelike sculptures act as demarcations for your travel and arch over the path to let you know that you’re on the right track.
At the Sturt Haaga Gallery, there’s All the Bells, where you walk through a sliver curtain and enter a large room with high ceilings and silver walls; The Uncomfy Room, where you will hear a gastrointestinal cacophony of sounds in the Hallway before entering this room, and upon entering, you will be immersed in them; and Zeppelin Mass, where you’ll find charred wood-lined walls and a gravel floor, where the hanging pieces make a whole when viewed from a slight distance.
“Here is the climate disaster that we, citizens of Earth, are courting and the possibility for averting it,” Schwerner says about Zeppelin Mass.
The next four exhibits are at the Boddy House Interior: The Boa Room, which evokes fond memories of the artist’s mother, who loved feather boas; Agora, which features sculptural chairs and a meeting table in a large room for you to relax and congregate; Manor Library, which upon entering you will find this historical space demystified, with the books shrink-wrapped to prevent them from being read, and where large colorful cylindrical wormlike sculptures provide a strange and comedic twist to the somber space; and Process and History Room, a meta-museum where you can learn more about the exhibition’s creative process as well as collaborate with the artist, and find sketches, notes, and drawings that give you a glimpse of what went into constructing this exhibition.
Tickets are free with admission.
After opening day on April 16, a Cocktail Party is scheduled for May 14, and a Gala on Sept. 24. Cocktail Party and Gala ticket information is available at www.descansogardens.org/
Descanso Gardens is located at 1418 Descanso Drive in La Cañada Flintridge.
For more information, call (818) 949-4200 or visit www.descansogardens.org.
