A DAY TRIP BLOOMS WITH SCULPTURE
WHIMSICAL ART IS INSPIRED BY A MIX OF UNUSUAL PLANTS
IF YOU’RE looking for a good excuse to get outdoors and forget about the coronavirus this summer, artist Dustin Gimbel’s sculpture show “Sculptura Botanica” at the Sherman Library & Gardens in Corona del Mar is hard to beat.
“There’s nothing less stressful than going to a garden and looking at beautiful plants,” said Gimbel, a landscape designer and ceramist who created the works of art at his home studio in Long Beach. “For me, Sherman Gardens is a hidden gem, a jewel-box garden where there is something interesting for every gardener.”
With ceramic blue agave and euphorbia towering over the succulent garden, turquoise equisetum rising above a bed of artichokes, and the soothing sounds of a ceramics-filled bubbling lily pond, the intimate setting is a welcome dose of beauty and calm during troubling times.
“I think it is what we need right now,” Gimbel said. “It’s been such a crazy year.”
The garden is following strict COVID-19 protocols: All guests, with the exception of members, must buy tickets beforehand, sanitize hands upon entering the gardens, stay at least six feet apart and wear a face mask. On a recent visit, it was easy to explore the 2-acre gardens on wide brick paths without bumping into other visitors.
Sherman Library Director Scott LaFleur contacted Gimbel last year after seeing his sculptures in a garden he designed in Long Beach. After Gimbel consulted with the on-site horticulturists, LaFleur’s request for 15 botanical-themed art installations blossomed to 176 sculptures or, as Gimbel noted, 700 clay segments.
Gimbel credits the exceptional mix of plants at Sherman Gardens — rare begonias, orchids, bromeliads and carnivorous plants — for inspiring his sculptures. “It’s a gardening enthusiast’s backyard on steroids,” he says. “There is a staggering amount of variety. They pack in so many interesting plants. It’s a great place for visitors to get ideas for their own gardens.”
Gimbel is happy his works can offer a reprieve for people quarantining at home.
“I hope my show inspires people to look at plants more closely the next time they are on a hike,” he said.