The exhibition speaks to a contemporary longing for nature in hyper-urban contexts. Was this theme a response to the city’s emotional climate, or does it signal a more permanent shift in how we define wellbeing in design?

Lisa Sternfeld, WELL-certified Interior Designer

Art has the power to regulate stress. Research in neuroaesthetics shows that simply viewing art can lower cortisol and increase dopamine, the same chemical released when we experience love or beauty in nature. These effects are especially important in dense, fast-moving cities, where overstimulation is constant and our nervous systems are often on high alert. Nature-inspired art offers a form of sensory restoration that goes beyond the visual - it helps the body return to a state of calm.

This connection reflects biophilia, our innate human affinity for nature and natural forms. The growing pull toward nature in design may be a response to the emotional intensity of urban life, but it also reflects something deeper. We’re beginning to understand that the spaces we live in should support how we feel, not just how things look. At home, nature-inspired art supports that shift. It engages the parasympathetic nervous system, the part responsible for rest and repair, and becomes a quiet, daily source of grounding, connection, and calm.

By installing art in a luxury residence, Garden’s Edge blurs boundaries between public and private, permanence and ephemerality. How does that tension inform the experience of the viewer?

The exhibition is a reminder that while nature is abundant it is also fragile and ephemeral. To be surrounded by masterful depictions of flora and fauna inside a home creates the private opportunity to experience the beauty found in nature while with the underlying tension of time’s inevitable impact, which serves as a reminder to slow down and appreciate the present.

Each artist brings a distinct material language to the exhibition. How did those mediums converse with the architecture, and how intentional was their placement within the space?

This distinct materiality was definitely intentional and, in part, to reflect the exhibition’s theme. For instance, Chellis Baird’s intricate works are abstract and have a connection to flora and fauna with how the artist creates her compositions with a myriad of sculptural gestures reminiscent of vines and roots. Alexandria Tarver’s paintings of monochromatic floral motifs border on abstraction, offering an elegant interplay between the recognizable and that which is left up to the imagination. Floral material is brought further into the space with Julia Whitney Barnes’ elaborate cyanotypes, photographic prints made by pressing selected flowers to capture their essence, which she then hand-paints with watercolor to create enigmatic and celestial compositions that echo the penthouse’s skyward garden setting.

What were the most surprising frictions or synergies that emerged between the artworks and the spatial logic of the penthouse during installation?

The penthouse is filled with brilliant natural light so  there was certainly some friction in balancing artwork amidst walls of windows. However, with ample wall space and thoughtful placement  synergy was achieved to balance the penthouse’s ethereal qualities of light and air with the physical presence of artworks that embody elements of the earth.