Public Engagement

Public Engagement Flash Talk on Sarah Rara, The Pollinators

  • to This is a past program

Public Engagement Flash Talks provide an opportunity for visitors to glean a unique perspective on art works displayed in the galleries through speakers who are connected to the art in sometimes unusual ways.

For this talk on Sarah Rara’s The Pollinators, Carol Bornstein, an expert on local plant species and director of the North Campus Gardens at the Natural History Museum, will provide insight into southern California’s native plant life and the pollinators featured so prominently in Rara’s work.

Biography

Carol Bornstein is Director of the Nature Gardens at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, whose mission is to inspire wonder, discovery, and responsibility for our natural and cultural worlds. She oversees the ongoing care and development of this dynamic new garden, which was designed to create habitat for wildlife and serve as a field site for educational and scientific study. She co-authored two books, the award-winning California Native Plants for the Garden and Reimagining the California Lawn. For nearly 30 years, Carol was horticulturist at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. She has selected and introduced several popular cultivars for California gardens, including Verbena lilacina ‘De La Mina’ and Lessingia filaginifolia ‘Silver Carpet’ and she continues to share her knowledge of plants native to California and other mediterranean climate regions through her teaching, writing, and design work.

Part of the curatorial department, the Public Engagement program collaborates with artists to develop and present works that create an exchange with the institution and with visitors. Enacted both inside and outside the galleries, Public Engagement projects range from re-envisioned security guard uniforms to library and orchestra residencies. The Hammer Museum's Public Engagement program is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.