From Bruce Munro’s elegant, haunting Sensorio Field of Light in Paso Robles to the variety of poetic light art exhibitions at Descanso Gardens to the wildlife-honoring glittering fun at GLAZA’s Zoo Lights, there’s a light exhibition to help you get your glow on.
At Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge, a series of beautiful installations create moody, highly spiritual settings throughout the gardens come nightfall.
Some offer interactive experiences – kids and adults alike can create musical notes and change colors at the Symphony of Trees, and adjust light colors by spinning at handle at lakefront Lightwaves section. Other areas are more quietly elegaic, beautifully alight set pieces that stir the imagination.
Some resemble stained glass, as does Tom Fruin’s Camouflage House reflecting on Mulberry Pond; others offer a radiant new take on a public park space with illuminated benches and the Luminous Lawn by Jen Lewin that changes color as you walk its path.
Strolling the Enchanted Forest is magical, slightly surreal, and yes, enchanting.
The one-mile walk takes you past thousands of glowing, color shifting tulips…
past HYBYCOZO’s delicate spinning art shapes casting patterned shadows in the Rose Garden…
and through the Garden of Good Fortune, a lustrous, red-lantern-lit nighttime view of the Japanese Garden.
There are ten enchanting exhibition sections in all; hot chocolate, churros, cocktails, and even full meals (with reservations) are available. The exhibition runs through January 5th. For tickets, click here.
Located in a rolling field in Paso Robles, a 3.5 hour drive from LA, Bruce Munro’s lush 15-acre light show is absolutely captivating and well worth the journey. Pro-tip – arrive just before sunset if you can, to take in the transition from dusk to fully illuminated 1.5-mile loop trail.
The installation is a sculptural composition as well as a light experience, with over 58,800 stemmed spheres lit by fiber-optics creating subtly realistic glowing blooms powered by solar energy. A true artwork, the isolated setting – we saw stars and a rising moon – adds to the wonder.
It’s a transcendent and dream-like experience; dark solitary trees stand like sentinels, and the lights are beautifully colored but muted in intensity, like real flowers infused with light.
It’s a little like walking on another planet – or fully appreciating the beauty of this one, senses heightened.
Food trucks offer tasty local eats and beverages including regional wines and beers; a picnic area separate from the light path allows dining and relaxing while live acoustic musicians play.
For tickets, click here; the exhibition closes in mid-January.
Lions and tigers and bears oh my! glowing ones in mosaic patterns; a light tunnel that dazzles and twists; thousands of tiny dancing green firefly light dots; an illuminated water show. Kids and adults alike enjoy the luminous, animal-themed displays.
The exhibition has been delighting all ages since 2014, and each year a fresh new element appears. Santa, and the zoo’s antique carousel are, however, constants.
Glowing and charming animals welcome visitors past large-scale illuminated snowflakes, a silver and purple disco ball forest, a herd of animated elephants, and the concluding attraction on a winding path through the main walkways of the zoo, a twinkling tunnel filled with glittering, crystaline color.
Lavender and blue glowing butterflies and a stroll through the nocturnal reptile lair add to the joyful experience. A family New Year’s Eve event at Zoo Lights is offered this year, too. The event runs through January 6th, for tickets, click here.
So, which nighttime light art experience should you choose? The best answer is… all of them.
- Genie Davis; photos: Genie Davis; Jack Burke