The Magic of Reality and Botanical Royalty
Reflections on Bloom Night 2024 (Part 1)
About week after Tucson got its first good rain, the flowers decided to open, so at 6pm on Saturday Ken and I packed the car and headed down to Tohono Chul Park in Tucson just in time for nightfall and the glorious mass blooming of the largest collection of Peniocereus gregii in the world.
It was a beautiful car ride with the setting sun at our backs as we headed southeast through the expanse of desert between Phoenix and Tucson. When we arrived we visited the art exhibit first, to cool off and see my painting hanging in the Entry Gallery before heading out onto the garden trail.
I love that this paper sculpture arrived at the gallery weeks earlier with the blossoms tied. When we returned after the exhibit opening, the tissue flowers had opened like the real flowers just outside.
Just outside the Queen of the Night exhibit, we found these beautiful baskets displayed in cases. Part of the Roy J. Kurtz Collection of American Indian Art, the collection “focuses on traditions of Tohono O’odham, Akimel O’odham, and Western Apache artists.”
This one is incredibly tiny—no more than an inch in diameter. It was behind glass with another basket hanging on the wall in the reflection.
We made our way in the dark toward the flower path, stopping for a prickly pear margarita for the trail. Walking through the garden I could hear the sound of a wood flute being played.
To be continued…
The Queen of the Night exhibit is on display at Tohono Chul Gallery in Tucson through July 31, 2024.