Curator Kevin Spracher, who joined the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden three years ago, coordinates two or three gallery shows a year, all connected to native plants and to the garden’s ongoing work in research and conservation. The current show, “Seed: A Living Dream,” is on view through June 8.
Curator Kevin Spracher, who joined the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden three years ago, coordinates two or three gallery shows a year, all connected to native plants and to the garden’s ongoing work in research and conservation. The current show, “Seed: A Living Dream,” is on view through June 8. Credit: Julia McHugh / Noozhawk photo

“A seed is a living dream. They contain speculative worlds which humans can inhabit by extending our imaginations, through close observation, and heightened sensitivity,” artist Rosie Brand wrote in a zine for the exhibition now on view at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden Gallery.

“Seed: A Living Dream” is a visual cross-pollination of the British-born sculptor, garden researchers, and Advanced Art students from La Colina Junior High School. It runs through June 8 in the gallery of the Pritzlaff Conservation Center, and is included in garden admission (reservations are required; click here).

The focus is on rare California species, such adobe sanicle (Sanicula maritima), a perennial herb that grows only along the coast. Its seed, smaller than a grain of rice, is displayed next to a highly magnified photograph (called a micrograph), revealing details hidden to human eyes.

Nearby, Brand’s sculpture captures its hooked “tubercles” (spikes) in 3-D, and an acrylic painting by La Colina student Camila Sanchez artfully shades the jagged shape in gold, tan and brown.

Four species are depicted in those three ways, and several others were only sculpted or drawn. The wall text, in both English and Spanish, offers details about each species and the garden’s work for its conservation.

The exhibit continues an exploration of seeds that began in February with the garden’s Conservation Symposium, “Seeds of Change.” Six speakers addressed seeds as living resources that are crucial to the ecological health of the planet. (See videos on the garden’s YouTube channel @SBBotanicGarden.)

“A recurring theme was that we’ve come so far, but so much more is needed to restore lands in the West,” said Denise Knapp, Ph.D., the garden’s director of conservation and research. “There is a need for seed, both for rare plant conservation and restoration. Having this themed exhibit continues to encourage people to talk about these issues.”

The seeds of several rare California plant species are depicted in three ways, left to right: as sculptures by artist Rosie Brand, in drawings by La Colina Junior High School students, and through highly magnified images called “micrographs.”
The seeds of several rare California plant species are depicted in three ways, left to right: as sculptures by artist Rosie Brand, in drawings by La Colina Junior High School students, and through highly magnified images called “micrographs.” Credit: Julia McHugh / Noozhawk photos

Kevin Spracher joined the garden three years ago, just in time to tackle the first exhibition associated with a symposium topic — conservation work on the Channel Islands. As interpretation and exhibitions curator, he coordinates an additional one or two gallery shows a year, all connected to native plants in some way.

“We recognized how important the symposium is, and wanted to drive the content by connecting scientists with artists to create art,” he said. “It’s a way to have it live beyond the symposium.”

How are the artists selected? He found several on Instagram.

“There’s a small community of artists who are focused on Southern California native plant art, and they all know each other,” he said. “I would follow one artist and then find another from their feed.”

Visitors enjoy exhibitions at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden Gallery, located on the first floor of the Pritzlaff Conservation Center and included in garden admission.
Visitors enjoy exhibitions at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden Gallery, located on the first floor of the Pritzlaff Conservation Center and included in garden admission. Credit: Julia McHugh / Noozhawk photo

Artists also reach out, as with two associated with UCSB who used dyes extracted from non-native plants on Santa Cruz Island to create data visualizations and weave scarves. A pile of undyed wool (shorn from Santa Cruz Island sheep) was in the gallery for guest interactions.

“You can see the Channel Island from the gallery,” Spracher said. “We worked to craft the story and the questions it raised about what to do with invasive species.”

Another artist came to his attention through the garden’s Gift Shop, which was selling her intricate paper cuts depicting interactions between birds and plants.

Last year, Spracher reached out to Santa Barbara’s Slingshot/Alpha Art Studio, which works with artists who have intellectual and developmental disabilities. The artists visited the garden and created prints, drawings, ceramics and embroidery of species in summer bloom.

Of the current show, Spracher said, “It’s a hidden world, and offers a glimpse of our seed collecting programs in the wild, and our seed bank. If I didn’t work here, I wouldn’t know that teams of people are out gathering seeds across the state.”

The garden’s Conservation Seed Bank holds nearly 4 million individual seeds from 404 species, including rare and endangered species. Seeds are shared with other banks around the country, and more are being collected to ensure genetic diversity.

“The seed bank both cradles the future for biodiversity of California and its past,” Brand wrote. “As encoded within each of these tiny seeds is a memory of a landscape that has been forever altered.”

Several of the garden’s current projects aim to restore “altered” Santa Barbara County landscapes.

Denise Knapp, the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden’s director of conservation and research, works in the Landscape Transformation area in Elings Park. One acre on the park’s south side bluff has been cleared of invasive plant species and planted with natives, including several species from drier climates south of Santa Barbara to test their viability as global warming continues.
Denise Knapp, the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden’s director of conservation and research, works in the Landscape Transformation area in Elings Park. One acre on the park’s south side bluff has been cleared of invasive plant species and planted with natives, including several species from drier climates south of Santa Barbara to test their viability as global warming continues. Credit: Julia McHugh / Noozhawk photo

Its Landscape Transformation project at Elings Park is entering its third year. Not far from where paragliders take to the skies, an acre of land was cleared of invasive species and planted with natives. Plastic tarps and cardboard mulching were tested to see which was most effective in eliminating non-native weeds.

Native plants from farther south in California, adapted for drier climates, have been planted along with local species to test their viability as global warming continues.

“We’re leapfrogging them up the coast, and in general, they are doing very well,” Knapp said. “We have cacti that want more dryness, but survivorship is good across the board. Shaw’s agave from San Diego, a really rare plant, is doing particularly well.”

California native plants grown from seeds await planting in the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden’s Landscape Transformation project in Elings Park. There is a need for seed, both for rare plant conservation and restoration, according to experts at the Botanic Garden.
California native plants grown from seeds await planting in the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden’s Landscape Transformation project in Elings Park. There is a need for seed, both for rare plant conservation and restoration, according to experts at the Botanic Garden. Credit: Julia McHugh / Noozhawk photo

However, don’t call the site a “garden.”

“Habitat restoration is more than just pretty,” she said. “It’s about keeping the habitat in mind, keeping a diversity of species and structures, and ensuring there are flowers all year for pollinators.”

The garden recently planted a native plant demonstration garden in downtown’s Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden targeted at home gardeners.

“It features plants that are easy to get and good with water,” she said.

A new program in the Cuyama Valley focuses on outreach to small farmers about water conservation, and is tied to new state regulations to reduce groundwater use.

“We are working to create a network of small farmers,” Knapp said. “It’s one-part science and one-part community partners. We want to saturate the area with native plants, hold community events, and provide water conservation curriculum in the schools.”

Future gallery exhibitions may relate to those projects, but not right away. Spracher divulges what is next.

“It’s about lichen and involves not only our lichenologist, but also an invertebrate ecologist and staff from the Genetics Lab and Conservation,” he said. “‘Join the En-Lichenment’ is the working title.”