At a Dallas Parks and Recreation Board meeting on Thursday March 26., Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden President and CEO Sabina Carr gave an update to the board on what visitors can expect for the next year.
“We are debuting the largest show of Hunt Slonem’s work ever seen before in the world. He's a famous American artist known for his paintings of bunny ears that go for thousands of dollars.”
The Arboretum will showcase ‘Hunt Slonem: Bunnies, Birds, & Butterflies’ starting April 20. The exhibit will feature colorful larger-than-life sculptures around the garden. There will be 28 installations and more than 100 works of art, with some even created specifically for the Arboretum.
“We’ll also be doing Twilight Nights with Hunt, so that those who work 9-to-5 jobs can actually come to the Arboretum a little bit later in the evening,” Carr said. “All the sculptures will be lit beautifully at night, and they’re reflective surfaces – they’re mirrors and it’s glass, so it should really look stunning.”
Carr emphasized that locals won’t only be the ones to enjoy the exhibit, which runs through Sept 30., as those visiting from across the world for the FIFA World Cup can enjoy it as well.
When summer leaves and fall takes over, the Arboretum will stay with the artist theme with its Harvest Hues exhibit. Carr explained to the board that visitors will get to experience more art from artists including Keith Haring, Vincent van Gogh, and Yayoi Kusama.
What’s leaving?
As the year winds down, the Arboretum will celebrate another season of ‘Holiday at the Arboretum,’ and say goodbye to its popular ‘12 Days of Christmas’ gazebos.
“It’s time. The technology is very outdated, and we’re getting some interesting remarks from consumer market data to ticket holders, so it’s time to create a new holiday tradition for the Dallas Arboretum,” Carr said.
In place of the gazebos for next winter, the Arboretum will have Los Angeles-based artists HYBYCOZO, known for their geometric sculptures, as a placeholder before it finds a permanent tradition for 2028 and beyond.
Summer 2027
Looking ahead, the Arboretum is in talks with the Atlanta Botanical Garden to bring ‘Alice’s Wonderland’ to Dallas. There will be plant installations inspired by the magical story, placed around the gardens.
Carr, who previously worked at the Atlanta garden and helped debut the show there, called it “a phenomenal show.”
“It’s the art of mosaiculture – they’re monumental plant sculptures…why we love this show is because it’s based in horticulture, and you can’t have it without plants,” she said.
Before these new exhibits arrive, the Arboretum is still celebrating spring with Dallas Blooms, the largest annual floral festival in the Southwest. The tulip festival runs through April 12.
