Days of Reverie

Sturt Haaga Gallery, Descanso Gardens, La Cañada Flintridge, CA

October 25, 2024 – January 26, 2025

Artists: Catherine Ruane, Debbie Korbel, Jason Jenn, Jill Sykes, Joseph Carrillo

Curated by Vojislav Radovanović

In Days of Reverie, you will experience works and visions from four visual artists and one music composer. Over the course of twelve months, they engaged deeply with the gardens, drawing inspiration from Descanso Gardens’ botanical display, landscape, ambiance, history, and their own personal memories. The result is a series of five distinct artistic presentations that celebrate the powerful bond between art and nature.

Catherine Ruane actively engaged with the rose garden through her series of drawings, capturing and documenting its dynamic blooming cycles. Both Debbie Korbel and Jason Jenn gathered plant materials from the site to create installations that reflect the cyclical nature of the gardens. Meanwhile, Jill Sykes and Joseph Carrillo have crafted visual and sonic reflections inspired by their experiences in this vibrant setting. I am profoundly grateful to all the artists for their contributions, which continue the Sturt Haaga Gallery’s rich tradition of meaningful exhibitions at Descanso Gardens.

Vojislav Radovanović, Exhibition Curator

Excerpt from Genie Davis' essay for the Days of Reverie exhibition catalog:

“With Days of Reverie, Radovanović has curated a powerful group of artists who revel in the perfection of nature’s grandeur and the gardens in which it is allowed to flourish. Compelling and visionary, the exhibition explores the eternity of change through all seasons and hours during the passage of a year, presenting a compelling cultural dialog about the sensorial, spiritual, and visceral experiences of gardens.”

“It connects the natural beauty of Descanso Gardens itself with artistic renderings of its flora and fauna in a museum-quality show. The fragility and resilience of our Earth are here, too; the endless, rich dichotomy of its precious and fraught balance. Descanso Gardens provides the ideal setting for this show’s exploration of our natural world, the soothing promise of quiet hours spent listening to the rustling of wind in the leaves and the songs of birds, drinking in the fragrance of flowers, trees, and grasses, and experiencing the caress of branches and sunlight”