Building Community & Connection
‘The Art and Ecology Studio’ at Viola Gardens is a collaborative community space designed to promote personal growth, community resilience and cultivate better relationships between people and the natural world through ecology and art.
Building on a thriving 17-year ecological design practice, Viola Gardens has established residency at a new location in Malibu which, in addition to being our botanical design studio and construction base, is the heartbeat of our Art & Ecology Studio. We are in process of filing of 501C3 non profit status for "The Art and Ecology Studio" at Viola Gardens, a collaborative community space designed to promote personal growth, community resilience and cultivate better relationships between people and the world around us, fostering deeper relationship and awareness between human nature and Mother Nature through ecology and art.
Educational programming will include (but is not limited to) local ecological talks on native wildlife and the native plants they love and need, a seed sharing library, workshops in composting, rainwater catchment, grey water use, vermiculture, drought-tolerant planting, landscape painting, music, medicinal plants, birding, apothocary and ecological design.
The center brings the community together through a series of open air gatherings celebrating nature's bounty via open forum permaculture talks, biodynamic wine tastings, an adobe pizza oven, live music and comedy, a bocce ball court, stargazing and native plant sales.
The demonstration gardens that visitors can explore include fruit tree orchards, a Mediterranean garden, an Australian garden, a CA Native garden, a Riparian habitat, a pollinator garden, xeriscaping and hardscaping displays, sustainable building materials and healing sanctuary garden spaces.
In learning and practicing permaculture at the Viola Gardens Art & Ecology Studio, it is our hope that visitors will take the knowledge home and apply it to their own landscapes and gardens. By learning to nurture and revive depleted landscapes, we believe our collective efforts can make significant contributions to the earth and climate change.
