Spanish 
Mary Callahan
The Press Democrat
March 29, 2023
Collette Michaud, CEO and Founder of the Children’s Museum of Sonoma County, honors the life of local artist Bruce Johnson, creator of our beloved Mega Flora exhibit, in a recent Press Democrat article.
“Collette Michaud, CEO of the Children’s Museum of Sonoma County, said she already was an admirer when Johnson approached her in 2015, shortly after the museum opened in Santa Rosa, about a piece called Megaflora that he thought might work as an interactive sculpture, she said.
“I had always been a huge fan of his work and secretly had hoped that one day we would have one of his sculptures at the museum,” she said. “So, needless to say, I was thrilled when he showed up out of the blue at the museum.”
Two years later it was installed, with landscaping done by his daughter, Tori, and “it has been a fan favorite ever since.”
“What I love about his sculpture is how beautifully organic it is. It’s completely unique in the world,” she said. Johnson insisted on oiling and maintaining the sculpture himself, and Michaud said she assumed he would be coming soon, once the rain stopped. He was a vibrant man, and she always enjoyed his visits.
Megaflora Exhibit by Bruce Johnson
♥ Sponsored by Bruce Johnson, The Tukman Family, Suzy & Mike Marzalek and Steve Purcell & Collette Michaud Family
Made from huge salvaged redwood stumps from a tributary of the Eel River in Northern California, “Megaflora” is large enough to impress and to challenge kids, but it is also small enough for kids to investigate and comprehend. It is the tactile forms, the energetic spaces, interior passages and physical scale of this sculpture that invites children to explore.
