Seed: A Living Dream 

In this exhibition, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden invites you to discover the hidden beauty of seeds through the perspectives of artists and scientists. Presented alongside the 12th annual Santa Barbara Botanic Garden Conservation Symposium, the show explores the intricate forms of seeds and their vital role in conservation. 

This exhibit features micrographs of seeds from the Garden’s Conservation Seed Bank alongside artwork inspired by them. Eighth-grade students from La Colina Junior High School’s advanced art class explore color and texture in thoughtfully painted interpretations of seeds, while artist and certified California naturalist Rosie Brand presents large-scale ceramic sculptures that imagine into their mystery. 

Continue to explore by attending the Conservation Symposium in person or virtually. This year’s theme, “Seeds of Change: Conservation Through Diversity,” will explore the crucial role seeds play in restoring habitats and conserving rare species. 

About the Artists:

Rosie Brand 

Rosie Brand is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, and educator living on Tongva land in Los Angeles.  

Rosie’s ceramic sculptures evoke other-worldly organisms, yet their stories are earthly. These forms emerge from an intuitive exploration of the natural world, as she transcribes the tactile languages of other-than-human intelligence, listening to the wisdom of seedpods and house spiders.  

Drawing inspiration from science fiction, occult surrealism, and amateur naturalism, Rosie looks for magic not in the disembodied supernatural but deep within the living landscape with which we are entangled. 

Born in the United Kingdom, Rosie holds an honors bachelor’s degree in illustration from University of Brighton (UK) and a California naturalist certification via the University of California’s Environmental Stewards program. She teaches interdisciplinary workshops combining sculpture, storytelling, and naturalism at various community spaces across Southern California, including Feminist Center for Creative Work, Heavy Manners Library, and The Infinite School. She is an advocate for alternative education and a founder and facilitator of the artists’ collective, worm school, who hold community reading discussions with material exercises for thinking hands. 

La Colina Junior High School: Advanced Art Class 

The advanced art students of La Colina Junior High School are a talented group of eighth graders in their second year of study under art teacher Hallie Silva. Based on Chumash land in Santa Barbara, CA, La Colina offers young artists an opportunity to explore the elements of art and principles of design, developing both technical skills and creative confidence.  

Under Hallie’s guidance, the students have created paintings that showcase their curiosity and growing engagement with the natural world around them. In this collaboration with the Garden, they are gaining real-world experience as artists while uncovering the meaningful connections between art and science. 

Rare Plant Conservation Team
This team of botanists at Santa Barbara Botanic Garden works to safeguard the future of California’s flora by collecting, studying, and preserving seeds from some of the state’s rarest plants. Their meticulous process begins with learning as much as possible about California’s rare plants before heading into the field, often traversing rugged terrain to find remote populations. Seeds are gathered with care and brought to the Garden for cleaning and preservation in the Conservation Seed Bank, ensuring the long-term survival of wild populations.

For this show, the team used advanced focus-stacking microscopy to capture intricate, high-resolution images of seeds, showcasing their extraordinary beauty and diversity. These micrographs invite us to marvel at the seeds’ complexity and recognize their critical role in ecological resilience.