Mineo Mizuno's Homage to Nature: charred timber columns with ceramic teardrops in The Huntington's Stroll Garden

The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens · San Marino

Mineo Mizuno: Homage to Nature

Now showing25 May 2024 – 25 May 2029·Ticketed — see website

Outdoor sculpture in the Stroll Garden of charred Sierra Nevada timber and glazed ceramic teardrops, on forest destruction and regrowth.

Exhibition website Book tickets

Every timber in this sculpture came from a tree that had already fallen in the Sierra Nevada foothills, where Mineo Mizuno lives and works. He charred the California oak black with yakisugi, the Japanese method of preserving wood by burning its surface, and paired it with ceramic teardrops in mottled glazes: the burn stands for what fire destroys, the glaze for what it changes.

You find it outdoors in the Stroll Garden, just north of the Munger Research Center, roughly 16 by 12 by 13 feet, with the San Gabriel Mountains behind it. Across the path to the south, the Huntington planted a "fire landscape" that copies the growth that comes back after a fire.

It is one work, and it stays until May 2029. Entry is included with general admission ($29 Monday to Thursday, $34 at weekends), reservations are required Friday to Sunday, and the Huntington is closed on Tuesdays.

Look for

The charred oak timbers
Look for fallen California oak from the Sierra Nevada, its surface burnt black by yakisugi, the Japanese technique that preserves wood by charring it.
The ceramic teardrops
Mizuno's glazed ceramic teardrops, their mottled surfaces meant to stand for fire's power to transform rather than destroy.
The fire landscape
Across the path, south of the sculpture, a planting laid out to mimic the new growth that comes up naturally after a fire.