So this year during the end of March, I was a participate in Art in Bloom. Art in Bloom is a bi-annual exhibit that combines Art with floristry. I was excited to be assigned the painting by Will Howe Foote, Sunlit interior, c.1914, because as a florist I enjoy the Ikebana technique, and felt I would be able to achieve my interpretation of the painting through using a more minimalist approach verses an all around arrangement full of flowers. The painting had an element of Japanese throughout it from the kimono dressed woman in the foreground, the oriental vases and the picture on the back wall. I realized that I wanted to use two vases, one to symbolize the woman in the foreground and another to represent the light shining thru the window. My gold vases gave off a shine that mirrored the flooring and also had certain elements of the littlest vase pictured. In addition, I wanted them to also symbolize the sun which was shining thru the window, they did this perfectly with their shape and color. The fact that the vases were crescent and thin shape lended to the Japanese vibe I was trying to create. Next, after I finished creating the first arrangement to reflect the woman in her beautiful purple-blue ornate kimono, with stalks of delphinium and roses, I then begun trying to achieve the light shining thru the window. I had always known since I got the painting assigned to me, that I would use bamboo as the light entering the window. The Phalaenopsis Orchids in shades of yellow and white seemed fitting to create the movement I was looking for in the light in the window. The motion I created was as if you were trying to draw the light out of the painting in a downward sweeping motion. During the exhibit, it was almost magical for me to watch as the public that viewed it, seemed to motion in a sweeping pattern from the window downward the line of the light. It was wonderful to see all the florists and their arrangements. Even though my exhibit did not place, It was an absolute honor to be able to participate in Art in Bloom and I hope to do so in the future. Here is a link to the GRAM page with all the exhibits of 2019, http://www.artmuseumgr.org/2018/08/16/art-in-bloom-2/ .
