Desert Botanical Garden’s newest art exhibition opens Jan. 1, 2021 and features large-scale living sculptures created by Natasha Lisitsa and Daniel Schultz of Waterlily Pond Studio. Using florals and plant materials as the medium and desert elements as the inspiration, Wind, Earth and Water are three intricate installations that guests will experience at the Garden for only a few weeks.
Wife-and-husband duo Natasha Lisitsa and Daniel Schultz work at the nexus of sculpture and floral art, creating installations that combine the emotion of flowers with fascinating structures of industrial materials. Their work has been commissioned by modern art museums, cathedrals, public spaces and cultural organizations globally.
The exhibition kicks off with Wind, which will be located in Stardust Foundation Plaza, Jan. 19 – Feb. 19. It is inspired by the tumultuous wind and dust storms that move across the desert landscape.Measuring in at 16 feet high and 8 feet wide, visitors can wander through the rings and gaze up at a “storm cloud” of plant materials, including cholla skeletons, yucca stocks, tree branches, tumbleweeds, and tropical bromeliad and heliconia.
Wind By The Numbers:
200 hours of prototyping
45 hours to construct on-site
8 people to build the exhibit
6,000 pound steel structure
16 feet tall
100 creosote branches
50 palo verde tree branches
30 tumbleweeds
30 dry, desert plant specimens collected at the Garden
50 bromeliad plants
Conceptual rendering for Wind provided by Waterlily Pond Studios