The Dallas-born artist Hugh Hayden studied architecture at Cornell before moving to New York City to pursue an MFA at Columbia. Eventually he turned his ambitions from buildings to sculpture, works in which vernacular objects are inserted and subverted in a landscape. For this installation, 100 wooden grade-school desks have been distributed around the garden at Dumbarton Oaks. Some of the desks erupt with tree branches—a surreal message about learning and the nature of wisdom. —Elena Clavarino