Rooted in Her – 2024 Group Art Installation inside CSUF Arboretum

Mirage – 2024 Group Art Installation inside CSUF Arboretum

On view to the public through May 12, 2024, Symbiosis: 18 Environmental Art Installations are open inside the Arboretum & Botanical Garden at Cal State Fullerton. Situated at the intersection of public art and environmental activism, the botanical-inspired installations were crafted by fifteen CSUF Visual Art students. Since Cal State Fullerton’s College of the Arts galleries are currently under construction, the students collectively chose to display their art outdoors. Working in coordination with Creative Photography & Experimental Media Professor Linda Kroff and Arboretum staff, each student made their site-specific artwork. They worked in teams to create three different group installations. The student’s individual and group art installations are displayed throughout the Arboretum.

Mirage, 2024 – Team 2 – Jo Ho Choi, Ruth Cinco, Joanna Cisneros, Rodrigo Morales, and Julian Sanchez

Symbiosis had its grand opening on Sunday, April 20, 2024. Arboretum visitors were handed out maps showing approximate locations for each site-specific artwork. At every location, small signs indicated the names of the artists involved, what materials were used to construct the installations, and QR codes, which visitors could scan with their phones to be taken to the Symbiosis website: https://symbiosis18envirom.wixsite.com/home.

The first group installation, titled 76 Acres Remaining, was made by Leilani Tyau, Heather Dutton, Allyn Hawthorne, Ryan Leigber, and Beatriz Godoy using glass, plastic balls, fabric, pillow stuffing, painted glass ornaments, and photographs of archived orange crate labels. 76 Acres Remaining is located by an orange grove at the center of the arboretum and aims to “connect Fullerton arboretum with the citrus history that once played such a vital role in our community.”  

Moving into the gardens bordering the arboretum’s Mediterranean collection, visitors will find a second student group art installation titled Mirage. Jo Ho Choi, Ruth Cinco, Joanna Cisneros, Rodrigo Morales, and Julian Sanchez made Mirage using hundreds of recycled water bottles arranged in an overhead view. Using fencing & fishing wire, as well as blue food coloring dye in water contained within plastic bottles, this art installation is meant to “symbolize the present strain between the necessity of clean water and the wastefulness of our consumption habits.”

Rooted In Her, 2024 – Team 3 – Angel Cruz Cardiel, Francia Cisneros, Jess Kung, Shannon Huang, and Daniela Navarro

On the south side of the Arboretum, where the desert and woodland collections meet, was Rooted In Her, a group art installation designed by Angel Cruz Cardiel, Francia Cisneros, Jess Kung, Shannon Huang, and Daniela Navarro, and made using fabric, tulle, organza, wire, yarn, lace, and miscellaneous textiles. This artwork is an immersive experience within trees that naturally grow into a tunnel-like formation, effectively using the organically formed space “to highlight nature’s power of creation and the importance of reconnecting to our earthly roots.”

The individual, collective, and collaborative Symbiosis: 18 Environmental Art Installations are on full display at the CSUF Arboretum at 1900 Associated Road. Viewing hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Mondays through Sundays.

76 Acres Remaining, 2024 – Team 1 – Leilani Tyau, Heather Dutton, Allyn Hawthorne, Ryan Leigber, and Beatriz Godoy