“Grounded: Artworks Inspired by, Related to, and Reclaimed from Lotusland”

One of the most spectacular examples of nature’s diversity, beauty and resilience is right in our backyard at Ganna Walska Lotusland in Montecito.

An ingenious and inspiring art exhibition entitled Based: Works inspired by, related to and recovered from Lotuslandpresented in conjunction with the nonprofit garden’s annual fundraising gala this weekend, proved to be a clever way to highlight and elevate Lotusland’s mission to advance our understanding and appreciation of the importance of plants in our lives and the life of the planet.

The brainchild of Ashley Woods Hollister, who curated and curated the exhibition with Johanna Burton, the Maurice Marciano Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles, the breathtaking artworks on display in the garden were all made from Lotusland’s fallen trees to celebrate the strength and renewal found in nature. Additionally, a portion of the proceeds from these breathtaking artworks benefit Lotusland.

A few days before the July 20 gala, Lotusland Executive Director Rebecca Anderson and Hollister generously gave us a sneak peek at the exhibit.

Featuring the lotus pond in full summer bloom, Phoebe Brunner’s three large-scale, surreal and mysterious floral landscapes, each painted on 84″ x 18″ Monterey cypress boards — The wanderer, the caress, And Gift — give us a beautifully colorful welcome to the garden.

“I think there’s something really special about this exhibit because Lotusland is kind of a museum about plants,” Hollister said. Anderson added, “And what it represents is a swirl of grounding and stability and coherence in this community. So to take a piece made from wood here and bring it into your home or into a public space is really special.”

Pedro De La Cruz’s three pieces—the colorful “Beauty” carved from oak, “Elephant,” with the charming use of a tree branch to represent an elephant’s trunk, and “Lotusland,” a house-like structure carved from an olive tree, with Madame Walska’s signature pink color on the walls—brought an element of whimsy and a nod to his Mexican cultural heritage.

A stunning Blakeney Sanford ‘Portal’ sculpture brings his translucent blue ocean palette into the garden, placing this distinctive portal on a Lotusland eucalyptus base.

Another standout piece was by Cassandria Blackmore, which featured natural wood rings incorporated into a heart-shaped sculptural piece of broken glass, wood and steel derived from the densest part of a log.

Lynda Weinman’s mixed-media sculpture “Log Rhythm” is also notable for its marriage of the natural world, in the form of a sacred Lotusland log, with the technological elements of 3D-printed objects. Weinman also participated in a collaborative triptych sculpture, “Call Me Mother,” with her daughter Jamie Chaos and Torie Zalben.

In all, Based was fortunate to benefit from a striking variety of works of exceptional quality from a list of artists that also included: Robert Andersen & Christina Roush, Hillary Brock, Ian Collings, Colette Cosentino, Jonas Jungblut, Paolo Lima, Nelson Parrish Jay Riggio and Cole Sternberg.
To view the exhibition in its entirety, visit this link. Some works are still available for purchase online here. For more information about Lotusland, including reservation instructions, visit lotusland.org.