Full Circle: A Return to the Land

Her Name is Toypurina, 2004. Graham I. Hayes

Descanso Gardens exhibit examines human cultures on the natural environment.

Select items from the History Room are currently featured in an exciting new exhibition at the Descanso Gardens’ Sturt Haaga Gallery. Full Circle: A Return to the Land traces human interaction with the grounds upon which the Descanso Gardens sits today as well as the wider Los Angeles region. Presented across three galleries, curator Lynn LaBate visits each of the peoples that inhabited the area beginning with the Tongva, the native stewards of the land, and examines how their cultures impacted the land.

The Californios segment of the exhibit includes items from the History Room’s Verdugo Family Collection. Jose Maria Verdugo was a recipient of one of the earliest Spanish land grants in California. The Rancho San Rafael encompassed what is today Glendale, La Canada-Flintridge, Montrose and parts of Northeast Los Angeles.

Full Circle utilizes works of art, multimedia installations, artifacts, maps and photographs to connect the viewer with the land and the flora and fauna of Descanso Gardens. It encourages one to pay mind to how people use and change the natural world around them. The exhibit will be showing through March 13, 2022 at Descanso Gardens.

The Glendale History Room is open for research by appointment only. Please email GlendaleHistoryRoom@glendaleca.gov or call 818-548-2037 for more information.