This year
Bouquets to Art celebrated their 30th Anniversary. The design above by
Dominique Pfahl owner of
Floreal in San Francisco captured the essence of the exhibition. Her design displayed the heart and soul of so many who are part of this premier event in San Francisco. Dominique wrote the following about her design
" I thought it would be fitting to create a tree that started as a little sprig in the ground, grew as a beautiful blossoming tree, every year, thanks to the indefatigable hard work of the hundreds of volunteers, the creativity of the floral community of the Bay Area and beyond".......
The exhibition included a one-night showing of
Floral Fashions designed by the City College of San Francisco Floristry Students. These talented students were the talk of the town after the Opening Night Gala on Monday, March 17, 2014. Above City College of San Francisco Student
Hee Joo models the creations she made with
Young Pak. Six other student design teams created floral fashions inspired by artwork in the museum's collection. The guests were captivated by the live models and designs.
Floral Fashion Inspired by the Artwork of Louis Comfort Tiffany
Floral Fashion by CCSF Student Ariel Ermatinger Inspired by the Artwork of Arthur Dove
Floral Fashion by CCSF Student Fiona Li
Drawing by CCSF Student Mia Pettyjohn
Floral Fashion by CCSF Student Mia Pettyjohn Inspired by the Artwork of George De Forest Brush
Floral Fashions for Bouquets to Art 2014. CCSF Student Designers: Nicole Kastle, Oxana Sanukova, Imelda Iraeta, Hee Joo, Young Pak, Carolyn Manan, Takhmina Akramova, Fiona Li, Maria Pettyjohn and Ariel Ermatinger
The exhibit is a great way to visit and catch up with your floral friends. I enjoyed viewing the displays and sharing design experiences with the above Floral Designer Emil Yanos AIFD. He chose the artist Otis Oldfield and was inspired by the Artwork from his series "Building the Bay Bridge". I loved his interpretation.
The exhibit allows me to try new techniques and expand on what I know. The challenges are coming up with a new idea, logistics, selection of appropriate/acceptable material and working the exhibit into your schedule. There are limitations with materials you can and cannot use in the museum. This year the show was extended one more day. The designs need to last for seven days. One of my goals was to come up with a design that would not require a water source and to select materials that dry well. I also like to use new materials in the industry and include trends into the design.
Above are the beginnings of the designs leaf work. I found the metal frame at the department store Ross a few years back. The frame was cemented in a plastic bucket for stability. The leaves on the body are dusty miller glued on their backside and the same was done with the lemon leaves glued on the plastic bucket. Tack 2000 was used for all leaf gluing.
Above is the completion of the gluing process. The square pedestal is made out of plywood. The lemon leaves were glued both front and back sides for this part of the design. The gallery is very dark and small. So I wanted to keep everything light, bright and a manageable size to accommodate the large crowds in the gallery. I focused on clean detail for this design.
This is the completed design displayed in the gallery. I was happy the lighting crew could spot light it! I used a double coil technique with bullion and decorative wire for the smaller necklace. Tiny succulents were sprayed Gold and glued on with clear floral glue. Fresh Floral Jewelry is a popular trend in our industry and I learned many tips in Wendy Andrades book on this topic. The medallion was made out of craspedia accented with a massed bullion lace coil technique. The larger jewelry garland was sculpted with Mega Aluminum Wire a newer product to our industry. I sculpted this with my hands and pliers. I was able to make the shape without any additional mechanics, it holds itself together. I then wired Gold succulents onto the garland frame and glued craspedia for the finishing touches. Gold Chain is used in the design. Another new product to our industry. The Oasis company supplies it. The jewels were given to me from Steven Brown a few years ago and I was happy to make use of them in this design. Some of the artwork was made with Gold thread so I focused on this element for my floral design and also because Gold is a trend now.
It's always a thrill to see how everything you imagined and planned turns out. Above is the artwork I chose for inspiration. The title is "Athena with Medusa and Gold Snakes" by Marilyn Pappas. I hope you got a chance to see this fabulous show. If not, there's always next year. You can view this beautiful piece of artwork that was hand-embroidered on linen at the de Young museum in San Francisco. Jenny Tabarracci AIFD