Macro Monday - Bouquets to Art 2011

We saw it from across the room, drawn to the billowing spheres of  baby's breath (gypsophila) puffing above the train. The cars rolling across the rust tracks...

... filled with exotic riches from around the world: leucadendron from Down Under, orchids from the Orient, roses from Europe, with purple artichokes, sunflowers (sans yellow petals), and fiddlehead ferns from our own West Coast. 

Pico Soriano submitted yet another whimsical arrangement for Bouquets to Art 2011. See his 2010 entry here and the one from 2009 here.

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While Pico's arrangement could be appreciated from afar, Fantasy Florals' understated piece invited closer attention...

 ...from all angles.

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I was convinced that De Voy Designs was interpreting a tiny red portion of  Richard Diebenkorn's Seawall...

...but Stephanie set me straight and told me that Kiwi DeVoy paired her pave arrangement with Jay DeFeo's Mountain No. 2

For all you Macro Monday lovers, here is a close-up of the red amaryllis, white odontoglossum orchids and  black aeonium succulents.

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It is difficult to decide whether Alena Jean Whiting's beautifully-proportioned abstract accessorizes Mark Rothko's Untitled (1949)...

...or whether it inhabits it. Remarkable.



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Splash Events' decision to use spider orchids was stellar.



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My mother's favorite entry was Pat Friday's rich interpretation of Surface of the Moon

The interplay of textures and the restrained palette had many of us in awe of Friday's work of art. See more of the impressive mechanics here.

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Michael Daigian interpreted a crater here on Planet Earth, specifically Michael Light's Mono Craters 07.17.06 #10, taken near Yosemite National Park.

I sat next to Michael and his lovely wife on the shuttle bus. He told me that they had just returned from Hawaii and was inspired by the volcanic lava on the Big Island. 

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I will close with the newest work of art I covered in this mini-series of Bouquets to Art 2011. Peggy O'Neill did an admirable job extending Rupert Garcia's Obama from Douglass, 2010.

Please visit Lisa's Chaos to view many beautiful Macro Monday photos. 

Bouquets to Art 2011 - Contemporary Art

Follow me downstairs to the Contemporary Art wing to view more Bouquets to Art submissions for 2011.

Judy Cochran Ward made a replica of Sono Osato's Meena with what I believe might be painted craftpaper with reclaimed objects wedged into the folds. Spring flowers and succulents burst as perfect counterpoints to the monochromatic diptych.

If you're wondering what these ladies are looking at...

... it is the back side of the arrangement.

Cochran dedicated her Bouquet to "the memory of those who lost their lives in the 9/11 tragedy, including my dear friend Lauren Grandcaulas, and represents the beauty and life of hope."

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I have often been intrigued by Al Farrow's black miniature cathedral in the same room. 

When Donnel Vicente chose it for Bouquet to Art this year, it commanded everyone's attention.

The unique box of nails and soft white ranunculus moved me to read the tag associated with the church.

The sculpture, named The Spine and Tooth of Santa Guerro, is a social commentary on war and religion . I had never noticed before that the church is made of bullets, pellets and deconstructed guns.The title tooth is encapsuled in the red reliquary above the transept door.

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Cheryl McGuire of Flair complemented Sean Scully's Wall of Light Horizon with a reflection back to Josiah McElheny's Model for Total Reflective Abstraction.

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While I appreciate the innovation and whimsy of the sculptural pieces in my previous post, Phoebe Kahl's and Diana Kennedy's dynamic contribution makes my heart sing.

They truly expressed the essence of Elmer Bischoff's Girl with Towel, 1960. I adore how the kangaroo paw branches float above the rust cymbidium and white phaleonopsis orchids, while a wave of orange ribbon and green broom branches dance upward to the sky. Kahl and Kennedy delivered the type of arrangement I long to see at Bouquets to Art.

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Paul Robertson Floral design cooked up a big pot of florals for Robert Colescott's A Taste of Gumbo,

...seasoned with a minor hint Mardi Gras beads.

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Regula's European Design created a three-dimensional version of Sam Francis' Helio...

...utilizing cobalt blue bottles, red netting, a sparse use of fresh calla lilies and gerbera daisies, with yellow plastic-covered wire dancing on a plexi-glass armature.

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Katherine Zhang turned Rupert Garcia's Untitled for Eyellende on end with black ti leaves and colored foam...

...while Laurel Winzler took a vertical approach to interpret Garcia's work.

Stay tuned for another Bouquets to Art 2011 post in the coming days.