At Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, you’ll find Texas bluebonnets, sunflowers, white water lilies, and all manner of plants native to the Lone Star State. But this fall, visitors will have the chance to see a field of blooms that is neither native nor natural.
Starting September 9, you can view 28,000 solar-powered, fiber-optic “flowers” that fluctuate in color illuminating 16 acres of the Wildflower Center. Located on the University of Texas at Austin campus, the new installation is the work of Bruce Munro, an acclaimed artist known for his large-scale, light-based exhibitions.
“The shifts of color and light will be a unique and provocative way to celebrate our Central Texas landscape,” said Lee Clippard, the Wildflower Center executive director, in a press release.
Munro has unveiled similar projects around the world in recent years, including at the Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina in 2020 (now closed) and at Pinecrest Gardens in Florida in 2021 (which runs until June 26). Some, like the one in Paso Robles, California, which launched in May 2019, and at Uluru in Australia’s Northern Territory, have become permanent fixtures.
As to why he chose Austin for the next installation, Munro said, in a press release, that the city is “such a unique destination that embodies many of the core values of this installation. My hope is that the Field of Light installation will inspire visitors to contemplate a kinder and more connected world. The Wildflower Center is the ideal venue for this exhibition simply because it brings people, art, and nature together.”
Tickets will go on sale in July. The exhibit is currently slated to run through December 2022.
