LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE, CA.- Descanso Gardens debuted Searching for Serenity, a powerful new exhibition at the Sturt Haaga Gallery that brings together artists whose lives and work were profoundly altered by the devastating 2025 wildfires in Los Angeles County. By transforming grief into resilience and devastation into hope, the exhibition explores how art and nature can act as catalysts for healing and community renewal.

Aligned with the National Endowment for the Arts’ 2022–2026 Strategic Plan, which emphasizes embedding the arts in strategies that advance health and resilience, Searching for Serenity provides an accessible platform for both professional and community artists to share their stories. The exhibition also deepens Descanso Gardens’ mission to connect people with nature and one another, creating experiences of discovery, reflection, and connection.

“Through Searching for Serenity, we are creating a space where loss is acknowledged but not final—where art and nature come together as catalysts for resilience and transformation,” said Juliann Rooke, CEO of Descanso Gardens. “We hope visitors leave with a deeper understanding of how creativity can help us heal, connect, and move forward together.”

Anchoring the exhibition are newly commissioned works by artists who lost their homes, studios, and archives in the Eaton Fire, including:

• Robert J. Lang — Vertical Pond III: From the Ashes: An origami installation of koi folded from handmade paper infused with ashes from Lang’s destroyed studio, reimagining a work lost to the fire and paying tribute to Descanso’s koi pond.

• Laura Parker — Contest of Silence: A mixed-media installation inspired by the haunting discovery of a bird’s nest in the ashes of her burned home, reflecting persistence, fragility, and transformation.

• Delbar Shahbaz — The Body Remembers the Land: A monumental five-panel painting exploring resilience, migration, and the earth’s dual capacity to destroy and renew, drawing on Shahbaz’s personal experience as both immigrant and fire survivor.

Complementing these commissions is a juried exhibition that highlights diverse community voices. The top selections include:

• Burnt Offering by Ted Smudde and David Gilbaugh (1st place): A collaborative ceramic vessel whose textures evoke charred wood and bark, symbolizing resilience and renewal after fire.

• Wreath to Honor Los Angeles I by Victoria Loschuk (2nd place): A circular floral form that reflects the beauty and balance nature provides amid the city’s sprawl, offering hope for recovery.

• Life Returns by Olga Mosqueda (3rd place): A painting that juxtaposes scorched hills with blossoms and rain clouds, embodying both the pain of loss and the promise of renewal.

To extend its impact, Searching for Serenity will engage more than 400 Pasadena Unified School District students through the My Masterpieces program. Children—including those affected by the fires—will visit the Gardens to create art inspired by Robert Lang’s koi pond installation and the surrounding landscapes.

Descanso Gardens has also commissioned emerging filmmaker Zach Marks to create a short documentary that follows the journeys of featured artists Robert Lang, Laura Parker, and Delbar Shahbaz. The film will trace their paths from loss to creative renewal, exploring how themes of grief, hope, and resilience are reflected in the new works commissioned for Searching for Serenity.