convivial convolutions
Convivial: friendly, lively, and enjoyable.
Convolution: a coil or twist, especially one of many.
The first landscape architect of Balboa Park, Samuel Parsons, once mentioned that the canyons of San Diego were unlike anything he’d ever seen. He said, “So valuable have these convolutions of surface seemed to the designers that they have conserved with all possible care the lovely love native growth”. At the completion of the design in the early 1900’s, he charged future generations of san diegans to “to work always with an eye single to the conservation of the unusual beauties with which nature has peculiarly, and richly endowed this spot of earth.”
By using a photographic backdrop of various natural spaces in my own neighborhood in San Diego, I’m reimagining what those places could be like with California native plants while including the layers of history and development beneath our very feet.
Love thy neighbor
36” x 48”
Acrylic on wood panel
In this new era of increasing isolation and loneliness, one antidote is getting to know your next-door neighbor. Our neighborhood has become a “front yard” kind of place, where people know each other’s names and consider each other family. We put a turquoise table out front and replanted our yard with California native plants to create habitat for our other neighbors: California native bees and birds. This piece seems especially fitting for our collective global outcry of heartache and fear. Instead of continued isolation and feelings of total despair and helplessness, let us pay even more attention to each other and the world immediately around us.
Location: My front yard in Hillcrest, San Diego | California native plants represented (common names): Palo Verde, White Sage, Apricot Mallow, Desert Willow, Our Lord’s Candle, and Shaw’s Agave
Florida Canyon in bloom
36” x 48”
Acrylic on wood panel
While studying the history of Balboa Park, I started to help with the restoration of Florida Canyon and the California Native Plant Demonstration Garden. The garden is a living laboratory of the plants found throughout Florida Canyon. In this photograph, I included the Navy Hospital, Natural History Museum, and Rose Garden looking out onto Florida Canyon. This painting celebrates Florida Canyon as well as the human-made cultural structures of Balboa Park, living together in unity with hopes of continued restoration.
Location: Florida Canyon in Balboa Park, San Diego | California native plants represented (common names): California Wild Rose, California Buckwheat, Mulefat, White Sage, California Sagebrush, and Matilija Poppy
The 163 Riparian Corridor
36” x 48”
Acrylic on wood panel
While studying the creation of the 163 Freeway through Balboa Park, I learned about the pond created underneath the Cabrillo Bridge during the Exposition of 1915. Sadly, shortly after the pond’s creation, it became infested with mosquitoes and had to be drained. Many years later, that same site would become the 163 Freeway, which fits perfectly under the Cabrillo Bridge. With this painting, I reimagined the 163 as a flowing and vibrant river, landscaped with California native plants, creating a thriving riparian ecosystem for birds and insects balanced with one another and for Balboa Park users to enjoy. I took this photo standing on top of the Cabrillo Bridge with the San Diego skyline complete with a sunset glow that pays homage to previous paintings of the pond around 1915.
Location: Cabrillo Bridge looking downtown over the 163, Balboa Park | California Native Plants represented: California Sycamore, Bush Sunflower, Arroyo Willow, California Wild Grape, and Spiny Rush
unusual beauties, unusual place
36” x 48”
Acrylic on wood panel
The landfill in Balboa Park has a long and complicated history. Because of the methane gas produced from the years of trash pile-up, this space needs extensive funding to rehabilitate it as usable. Although there are talks for future planning of this space, those plans are still a long way off. In this painting, I reimagined the landfill with chaparral and coastal sagebrush species - plant communities that were there before, given the location and climate. When I think about the future, I can see this place as a native plant botanical garden for all to enjoy—recreating it with the beauties that naturally thrive and provide more habitat for our rapidly declining animal and insect species.
Location: Landfill, Balboa Park | California native plants represented (common names): Chalk Dudleya, White Sage, Matilija Poppies, Chaparral Bushmallow, Our Lord’s Candle, California Sagebrush, Yerba Santa, Cleveland Sage, and California Lupine