San Clemente, CA – Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens, a nonprofit southern California cultural center, has commissioned renowned artist Rebecca Louise Law to create an art installation. Casa Romantica is recruiting gardeners from the southern California community to grow and donate the 8,000 blooms needed to comprise the material for the artwork. The artist and her team will weave and hang the blooms at the center’s gallery in June 2017, and the living exhibition will transform as the summer passes. Casa Coastal: Rebecca Louise Law will lead educational efforts about the benefits of native and drought-tolerant horticulture from an artistic standpoint, and is a pivotal community engagement project for southern California.
Project Vision
“The purpose of this collaboration is to accomplish three goals that align with our mission,” says Casa Romantica Executive Director Berenika Schmitz.
“These goals are to commission original works for our organization, to educate our community through arts and horticulture programming, and to lead our community in choosing native and drought-tolerant landscaping.”
She continues,“Casa Romantica strives to be the epicenter for innovative artistic experiences in our southern California community. As a leader and as an American Horticultural Society member, it is equally important that we set an example with landscaping choices. We have a duty to demonstrate that California native and drought-tolerant plants not only benefit the environment, but can be considered art.”
About the Artist
Rebecca Louise Law is a British installation artist whose flora-based works have appeared throughout the western world. Lifecycles and preservation are central themes in her art. The natural evolution of her materials and her preference for site-specific blooms contribute to the uniqueness of each installation.
Law’s work has been exhibited in Times Square, Art Basel, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Royal Academy. She has completed commissions for internationally recognized brands including Viacom, Tiffany, Hermès, Burberry, and Jo Malone. Her publication features include The New York Times, The Oprah Network, CNN, The Huffington Post, Newsweek, and House Beautiful. Casa Coastal: Rebecca Louise Law will be the first southern California exhibition for the artist.
Community Participation
Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens has received grants from the Metropolitan Water District and the City of San Clemente to accomplish its environmental education goals in accordance with Casa Coastal: Rebecca Louise Law. Orange County landscaping business Bemis Landscaping has contributed a monetary donation to help Casa Romantica purchase plants. The Saddleback College Horticultural Program has dedicated a section of their spring curriculum to growing blooms for the exhibition. Additionally, several garden and community groups are contributing volunteer hours and plants, including the UC Master Gardeners, the Orange County Independent Master Gardeners, Golden West College, the San Clemente Garden Club, the Talega Garden Club, the Orange County Society of Rosarians, and various Girl Scout and Boy Scout Troops. Casa Romantica has also formed an honorary committee of Master Gardeners, Educators, Nursery Managers, and bloggers to offer advice, articles, and inventory to the community.
Press Coverage
Casa Coastal: Rebecca Louise Law and Casa Romantica’s art + horticulture initiative has received extensive local, regional, and national coverage. Coverage includes Sunset magazine (“Inside SoCal,” full page, June 2017), C magazine (“Arts & Culture,” full page, June 2017), Westways magazine (“5 Worth the Drive,” main feature, June 2017), Modern Luxury Orange County magazine (“Now In OC,” full page, June 2017), Coast magazine (“Artistic Vision,” full page, June 2017), Los Angeles Times [OC edition] (“Weekend” feature, May 25), Laguna Beach Art Patron magazine (cover story, Summer 2017), and San Clemente Lifestyle magazine (cover story, February 2017). More coverage is expected to follow.
Exhibition Dates
The exhibition will open to the public on June 9, 2017, with 250 guest expected in attendance. Philanthropic benefactors for the project will attend a private vernissage (preview) reception and cocktail party in the Casa Romantica gardens on June 8. Throughout the summer, other Casa Coastal events will support the exhibition theme. The exhibition concludes on August 13. Once the exhibition is hung, Casa Romantica projects 6,000 drive-in visitors, and 10,000 visitors total, for the duration of the exhibition.
Casa Romantica’s gallery program features the work of internationally-recognized artists such as celebrity photographer Douglas Kirkland, National Geographic photographer Sandro Santioli, and of seminal painting collections like the E. Gene Crain California watercolor collection.
About Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens
Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens maintains a robust series of year-round programs in arts, music, history, horticulture, and literature for all ages. Under the leadership of Executive Director Berenika Schmitz, Casa Romantica has commissioned several critically-acclaimed works, including The Beauty of the Butterfly (2017; visual art), Casa Kinetic: Carrie Lee Riggins (2016; contemporary dance), Casa Drama: Slings & Arrows (2015; theater), and Open Casa: The Photographs of Dean Kirkland (2015; visual art). Casa Romantica’s 2016-2017 season commissions include Casa Kinetic: Contemporary Dance Collective and Casa Coastal: Rebecca Louise Law. The latter is a major art exhibition unlike anything yet seen in a southern California arts or cultural institution, with an installation comprised of 8,000 living blooms and created by internationally-renowned contemporary artist Rebecca Louise Law.
“Casa Romantica strives to be the epicenter for innovative artistic experiences in our southern California community,” says Casa Romantica Executive Director Berenika Schmitz.
Casa Romantica also hosts a variety of free arts education programs for children year-round. The institution’s annual Casa Romantica Music Festival and Academy has received critical praise for its comprehensive two-week music studies program in cello, piano, viola, and violin, and begins its third season in summer 2017. Casa Romantica also offers a Summer Dance Workshop, a Spring Break Arts Week, various art, literature, and horticulture events to grades K-12, and welcomes over 2,000 children from the Capistrano Unified School District each year for STEAM-based field trips that examine the history of San Clemente and the coastal environment.
Mission Statement: Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization and is the historic home of the founder of the City of San Clemente. Casa Romantica provides programs for all ages in arts, music, history, and horticulture and is a premier Southern California cultural center. https://www.casaromantica.org
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