A warrior sculpture in bronze by Allan Houser at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Photo © Laurel Kallenbach

If you haven’t seen the Denver Botanic Gardens’ exhibit, called Native Roots/ Modern Form: Plants, Peoples and the Art of Allan Houser, hurry over. The exhibit is on for just one more month, until November 13, 2011.

Houser’s exquisite bronze sculptures are wonderfully set among Southwestern plants at the Gardens and show the artist’s connection to the land and his pride in his native ancestry. An American modernist, Allan Houser (1914-1994) was a tribal member of the Warm Springs Chiricahua Apache, and he’s famous for his depiction of native themes and visages.

This exhibit celebrates bonds between people and also presents American Indian uses for plants indigenous to the Rocky Mountains and the Southwest.

The Botanic Gardens has once again melded sculptures and botanicals into something unique to behold.

Laurel Kallenbach, freelance writer and editor

Navajo shepherd by Allan Houser. Photo © Laurel Kallenbach

Photos © Laurel Kallenbach

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  • david
    Reply

    oh so that’s Allan Houser! Thanks! Mom must have loved that!

  • Savannah Kruger
    Reply

    Rats! I missed it. This looks lovely, though.

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