Wild at Night in the Garden

How's that for a title? I am, of course, referring to the Wild Rising installation at the Desert Botanical Garden. Last week, I shared some thoughts on the daytime experience--now I'm back with nighttime.

The garden at night is wonderful for locals during the warmer months because it allows you to spend some time outdoors and around plants without taking in the full heat of the day. For non-locals, though, your visibility is limited. There is lighting and some sections are quite well lit, but others are going to be less viewable. So there is naturally less to look at at night. Presumably this is why they tried out Electric Desert, their nighttime exhibit last year--but I quite frankly hated most of those installations. I found them extremely disruptive to the garden experience.

Wild Rising, though, remains just as fun during the night as the day--and it is perhaps even better because of the more limited visibility of the rest of the garden. You have less plants to look at, so now you have some colorful animals to look at. And the bright colors aren't disruptive to the other desert colors because all of the colors are shaded by night. The bright colors become simply bright lights.

The meerkats are solemn even in pink and green and purple and yellow. And these two share a moment even more tender and special in the darkness.

The snails, which I wasn't completely certain on during the day, were lovely at night. They're warm and glowing and happy. 

You can hardly even tell that this one is taller than a person. 

The medium-sized blue one on the edge of the path now appears to light the way. 

As for the penguins, they are in fact quite poetic at night. Green lights standing stalwart against the black. 

And the frogs? Well, they're just as cute and silly at night as during the day. They seem to be singing a jolly song, to remind you that even though this art is meant to bring up serious environmental topics, the world is still a place of wonder, a place to enjoy. And that is precisely why it is worth treasuring with our actions. 

Wild Rising in the Garden

The Desert Botanical Garden has been aiming to keep things fresh, give people reasons to come back, and be part of the art world as well as the plant world. That is, they strive to be a community place. They had an art exhibit throughout the garden a year or two back that I did not care for (the one with the giant standing pigs in bright colors and polka dots). This past year, Electric Desert was their nighttime exhibit--and I also did not care for that one. I felt like it detracted from rather than enhanced the garden.

All of this to say that their newest exhibit, Wild Rising by Cracking Art, does work--it is both fun and thoughtful, both during the day and at night (I'll save the nighttime pictures for later, though, as I find that I have too many).

As you walk toward the entrance from the parking lot, you look up to see frogs of various colors. I don't know if it was because I was with a two-year-old when I first saw them, but even as a person not inclined towards bright colors or primary colors, these frogs made me happy.

Keep walking and solemn meerkats meet you. 

Can you tell yet the material? These animals are all made of recycled plastic, their message being sustainability. So beside each installation, you'll find a sign telling the story of each particular set-up. 

The type of animal and its behavior ties in with a particular message or concept related to environmental awareness. 

The snails I wasn't sure about. Maybe because of the big, blue snail that takes up center stage looking so very bright (remember, I'm not a bright color person). Maybe because of all the words (I tend to like my words in books and just images for visual art). But the more time I spent with them, the more I tended to like seeing the yellow and red snails up above me. 

The big yellow snails were more favorable to me than the big blue snail--they blend in better with their environment. 

The big, blue crocodile, though, I was all over. He's crying "crocodile tears" as a commentary on our awareness of the existence of sustainability issues and our continued lack of focus on taking action. I love the lizard types of animals and he was by a bridge and bridges tend to go over water and water is blue--so I didn't mind blue in this context. 

I caught a special moment between these two; let's say no more. 

My photo doesn't do justice to the plastic fish up in the sky. They're so silly because you have the regular plant exhibits down at the bottom, then you look up to see "toy" fish. And the blues and whites blend in well with the blue sky, so the colors aren't jarring. They, of course, are a commentary on plastic in the ocean. When whimsy meets tragedy, eh?

These green birds are just so big that they're terrific. I'm more of a green person, it's true, and yet it's also true that the cactus behind the birds are green, right? 

The snails over in another corner of the garden were some of the most natural of all. 

They were almost black, some shiny with blue and others with green. 

These snails are the type for quiet reflection. 

In general, though, even with the bright colors, these installations blended with the garden and felt natural to it. Obviously, of course, they're not natural there, but they made sense in each space. Some I liked more than others, but mostly they at least didn't detract from the garden. For the most part, they did enhance it. They're conversation starters and photo opportunities. They're fun things to look at and smile at. And yet they're also offering up some serious commentary, reminding us to be aware of our place in the world and the effects of the choices that we make.