Our summer 2026 intern Lauren visited the Dallas Arboretum this spring, and discovered the fabulous installations of Hunt Slonem. We wanted to share her impressions and photos, to imagine being there in person (as we wish we could be!). The exhibition features 37 installations and over 100 works presented throughout the garden, along with a curated gallery of works inside the Historic Camp House.

 

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From the Dallas Arboretum: Hunt Slonem

Bunnies, Birds & Butterflies transforms the Dallas Arboretum into an immersive, open-air gallery. Throughout the garden, Hunt Slonem’s monumental sculptures emerge among the blooms, reimagining familiar pathways as moments of color, reflection, and movement.

 

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Written by Lauren Oliver, Gallery Intern

The work of Hunt Slonem complemented the soft and vivacious space of the Dallas Arboretum through the simpler shapes and intentional color blocking.

My favorite work in the show was The Three Muses. That work features 3 evenly spaced bunnies with silver tiles overlaying their shape, placed within a bed of soft pink and purple flowers. I enjoyed this work because, to me, the mirror-like tiling over the bunnies conveyed the idea that the beauty found in art/sculpture is found all around in the natural world.

 

I think the size of the show is important because it turns just seeing a few pieces of Slonem’s work into a full experience. By making the show the size of the garden, it helps the person experiencing the work integrate with the world of the garden and its interactions with the sculptures.

 

The show surprised me with the scale of the work. Most art shows I have been to do not take up as much space and are confined to a plain room. Seeing a show in an environment helped me integrate the sculpture’s style with its connection to nature.

 

I think about an hour and a half is a solid amount of time to make it through the exhibit at a leisurely pace, with time to study all the work. Shows like these are significant because inviting the work to its inspired environment allows the viewer to experience the work’s meaning rather than just viewing and interpreting it outside of its realm of inspiration.

 

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Thank you to Lauren for sharing her visit and inspirations!