LAND DREAMS

In her first major public project, titled LAND DREAMS, 2024 Mohn LAND grantee Lizette Hernandez will exhibit seven, large-scale ceramic works within the landscape of the Exposition Park Rose Garden from March through June 21, 2025.

The sculptures combine the texture and form of naturally occurring rock formations or grottoes, while simultaneously replicating the look and form of religious nichos—vernacular communal altars meant to venerate saints or the Virgin Mary. Raku glazing covers the highly textured ceramic sculptures, most of which show the evidence of the artist's hand in their folds, crevices, and undulations. The ceramic sculptures included in LAND DREAMS will incorporate smaller ceramic pieces made by community members invited to four workshops hosted by the artist at her studio, illustrating a shared imagining of possible futures and “new ways of living.” For the artist, clay is able to serve as a conduit, accommodating a wide variety of skill levels and perspectives while serving as a living time machine, an ancient art material that allows the most direct relationship to the makers’ hands.

The works in the garden will be in dialogue with the park’s roses and historic fountain, as well as the two museums which border it. Hernandez, whose studio is nearby to the Rose Garden, often comes to the garden to seek out the healing properties of running water and roses, and hopes that these sculptures within this environment will encourage others to seek healing and imagine a future in which collective participation in the arts serves as a recuperative gesture.

Lizette Hernandez (b. 1992, Los Angeles, California) lives and works in Los Angeles. She received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2019.

Her work has been exhibited at april april, Brooklyn, NY (2024); Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2024); Guerrero Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2024); Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2023); Craft Contemporary Museum, Los Angeles, CA (2023); PTT Space, Taipei City, Taiwan (2023); Charles Moffett, New York, NY (2023); Night Club, Minneapolis, MN (2022); Good Mother Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2023); House of Seiko, San Francisco, CA (2023); Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA (2023); Matthew Brown Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2022); Murmurs, Los Angeles, CA (2022); Harkawik, Los Angeles, CA (2022); New Image Art, Los Angeles, CA (2022); Fortnight Institute, New York, NY (2022); Muzeo Museum & Culture Center, Los Angeles, CA (2022); Blumenfield Projects, Kyoto, Japan (2022); Emilio Donde No.10, Mexico City, MX (2021); Mercado Negro, Guadalajara, MX (2018); The Pit, Los Angeles, CA (2019); and Slow Culture, Los Angeles, CA (2016).

The ceramic sculptures included in LAND DREAMS will incorporate smaller ceramic pieces made by community members invited to four workshops hosted by Lizette Hernandez at her studio. Thank you to all the participants.

Hikma Abajoga

Georgie Aileen

Zoie Bean

Tasnim Boufelfel

Olivia Roper-Caldbeck

Mario A. Castillo

Tracy Castillo

Trina Calderon

Noah Cohen

Laura Cortez

Zazil Davis-Vazquez

Daniel Diaz

Lucy Flores

Karla Gallegos

Daniel Gomez

Roberto Gomez

Irina Guisin

Rosa Hernandez

Pedro Hernandez

Ingrid Hernandez

Liam Hernandez

Rosa De Jesus

Ozzie Juarez

Guadalupe Juarez

Salvador Juarez

Lorena Kjer

Uchu Kurita

Maria Maea

Skylar Maldonado

Adriana Martinez

Christian Ortiz

Lelis Quispe

Edson Reyes

Ian Riccardo

Michael Sanico

Jenna Thornhill

Alma Vasquez

Andrew Vasquez

Aaliyah Vasquez

Alonzo Vasquez

Magnolia Velasquez

Luigi Villanueva

Antonina Weber

LAND DREAMS is commissioned by Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND) and organized by Bryan Barcena and Irina Gusin, LAND curators-at-large.

This project is funded through the Mohn LAND Grants established by Pamela and Jarl Mohn. The initiative provides Los Angeles-based artists resources and support to present site-responsive, transdisciplinary work across Los Angeles County.

Generous support is provided by

Special thanks to Laguna Clay.

LAND’s 2025 projects are made possible with lead annual support from the Offield Family Foundation, the Jerry and Terri Kohl Family Foundation, and The Perenchio Foundation, with generous annual funding by the Fran and Ray Stark Foundation, Patrick and Aimee Butler Family Foundation, Ben Weyerhaeuser, and LAND’s Nomadic Council. Additional support provided by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture, Karen Hillenburg, Liana Krupp, Brenda Potter, and Berry Stein.

LAND is a member of and supported by the Los Angeles Visual Arts (LAVA) Coalition.

LAND is a member-supported organization. Keep LAND’s projects and programs free for all by becoming a member today.

Photos by Gina Clyne.