[photo credit: Descanso Gardens]
Water can soothe or destroy, trickle or surge, and the artists in “Sound of Water: Feminine Expressions of Fluidity” hold all of those possibilities at once. On Saturday, curator Meher McArthur leads two guided tours of the exhibition at Descanso Gardens, offering a closer look at how a group of contemporary Japanese artists render water’s many moods.
McArthur will lead the walks at 11 a.m. and again at 1 p.m. through the Sturt Haaga Gallery, tracing the show’s themes from the soft and serene to the powerful and unpredictable. The exhibition, she has said, invites viewers to consider their own relationship with an element that grows only more precious — and more volatile — as the world faces climatic extremes.
The show gathers work by artists including Mineko Grimmer and Miya Ando, whose pieces translate water into sound, light and shifting form. It arrives at a fitting moment for its host: the exhibition marks the 60th anniversary of Descanso’s Japanese Garden, a longtime refuge of stillness within the larger grounds.
Descanso Gardens, the botanical garden in La Cañada Flintridge, makes a natural setting for an exhibition about the natural world, its galleries and plantings in quiet conversation. A guided tour adds another layer, the curator’s eye drawing out details a visitor might otherwise walk past. No reservation is required, and the tours are included with admission or membership.
“Sound of Water: Feminine Expressions of Fluidity” curator tours with Meher McArthur will take place Saturday, June 27 at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. in the Sturt Haaga Gallery at Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Cañada Flintridge. The tours are included with admission or membership; no reservation is required. For more information, call (818) 949-4200.