‘Grounded’ An Environmental Exhibition & Fundraiser at Lotusland
Lotusland is holding its annual fundraising duo of an art exhibition and gala. Good news art lovers, the exhibition and art works for sale are online through July 20. If you are attending the sold out Lotusland Celebrates: The Way of the Lotus gala this Saturday, you can select and purchase artwork along the garden path where the pieces are being shown.
The exhibition is titled, Grounded, Works Inspired By, Connected To, and Reclaimed from Lotusland. The art is made from fallen wood pieces found around the grounds at the Lotusland estate.
Holding the keys to the concept of upcycling the wood and tying it to art with the mission of Lotusland as a fundraiser is Ashley Woods Hollister, curator of Grounded. Hollister is a longtime volunteer/collaborator with Lotusland and has curated fundraising exhibitions. She owns the regenerative-focused vermouth producer, T.W. Hollister & Co. with her husband Clinton K. Hollister, works on local boards, most recently with the Music Academy in Montecito, and holds an MFA from Pitzer College and Sotheby’s Institute of Art London.
Hollister invited Johanna Burton – the Maurice Marciano Director of The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Los Angeles since 2021 – to join her as co-curator for Grounded. This is their first time in such collaboration. Burton has over 20 years in the field of art, including two directorships in NYC and Columbus, OH, and holds multiple degrees, M.A. in Art History from Princeton University (PhD, ABD); an M.Phil from NYU in Performance Studies; and a M.A. in Art History, Criticism, and Theory from the SUNY, Stony Brook. Also of relevance, MOCA established its Environmental Council in 2020, with artist collaborations, exhibitions, and public programming to foster dialogue around critical environmental issues as part of its mission towards a sustainable future.
Artists showing are both single and collaborative efforts. Single artist works are by Cassandria Blackmore, Hilary Brock, Phoebe Brunner, Jamie Chaos, Ian Collings, Colette Cosentino, Pedro De La Cruz, Jonas Jungblut, Paolo P. Lima, Nelson Parrish, Jay Riggio, Cole Sternberg, Blakeney Sanford, and Lynda Weinman. Artist collaborative works are by Jamie Chaos, Lynda Weinman, and Torie Zalben’s piece titled, Call Me Mother; and Robert Martin Andersen and Christina Justiz Roush’s three-piece work titled, Renew, Protect, and Contain. Pricing ranges from $2,000 to $28,000.
I was invited by Hollister to stop by during the collection of the art last week for a viewing, photo, and brief interview for our readers.
Q. What was your inspiration to upcycle fallen found wood on the ground from trees on the Lotusland property?
A. My inspiration for this exhibition was the amazing botanical museum of living plants that is Lotusland and how to honor them at all stages of their life, including when they have fallen and disconnected from their root system to replenish the soil. And now with these plants and trees as works of art, hopefully to connect with the souls and spaces of their new owners.
How did Johanna Burton join to curate?
I was introduced to Joanna via a dear friend of mine Anna Raginskaya of the Blue Rider Group at Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management that specializes in art acquisitions for top clients. Johanna and I met when she recently became the Director of MOCA. I couldn’t have been more aligned to her devotion to equity of access and curatorial work, and with the aspect of MOCA’s new environmental counsel to their board. I thought that bringing Johanna in to co-curate this exhibit would be a beautiful opportunity for her to get to know the area via one of Montecito’s botanical treasures [Lotusland].
How were the artists selected?
We had a very short timeline to select artists, and we’re so grateful for the ones that could create a piece of work and hope to work with the ones that didn’t have the open spot in their schedule next time around.
Was there an art direction given to the artists or are their works from the found wood derived from their own creation?
Each artist was directed to create a work around one of the pieces of wood that they foraged at Lotusland that had fallen in the garden, thereby creating a grounding of the vibration of Lotusland to bring to their art and the people that purchase the works.
My review of the art hones in on the fact that art is where you find it and can be sourced everywhere. New canvases can be made from ones that seem to have passed away, coming new again. The cyclic format of the core mediums used in this exhibition are a testament to reclaiming nature in its most vulnerable state. The adornments and perceptions of the artists onto the “dead wood” pieces, re-rendered what was once beautiful in its natural form to a new channel of energy – the caveat being, what we recreate for beauty, beatifies us. In the words of Marc Chagall, “Great art picks up where nature ends.”
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