Botanica Poetica: New Work by Lucas Artists Fellows

Home to formal gardens, oak and redwood forests, and various exotic plantings, Montalvo’s horticultural diversity serves as inspiration for a series of new works created by Lucas Artist Fellows Kija Lucas, Monica Lundy, Hector Dionicio Mendoza, and Fieldworks Collaborative (Trena Noval and Ann Wettrich).

Identifying, collecting, and documenting various specimens of plant life discovered while exploring Montalvo’s 175-acre public park, these artists have adopted creative processes that resemble the activities of the backyard naturalist. Through sculpture, painting, photography, and works on paper, viewers are invited to reflect on the ill-defined boundary between the natural and unnatural, and the intimate entanglement between human history and the landscapes that surround us.