Imagine - 2011 AIFD Symposium

Imagine stepping into the lobby of the San Francisco Marriott Marquis and seeing three of these spectacular murals at the registration desk.

I knew right away that this was going to be a great week. I chose to check in at the middle desk and confirmed that these are real anthurium flowers and monstera leaves.

No big surprise. After all, I was about to attend "Imagine", the 2011 Symposium for the American Institute of Floral Designers (AIFD).  Wil Gonzalez, the AIFD Northwestern Region President, and Kren Rasmussen, AIFD of Bloomsters in San Jose collaborated on the lobby design for the event. All the flowers and foliage were provided by Greenpoint Nurseries. Stay tuned, this is only the tip of the iceberg, I will show you lots more in the coming weeks.

I have been super-duper busy all summer long and I'm desperately behind in responding to all your wonderful comments. I hope to catch up slowly, but I couldn't contain myself any longer, I just had to share a tiny bit of my wonderful week in San Francisco.

Bouquets to Art 2011 - Lobby

Since its inception 27 years ago, I have attend most of Bouquets to Art exhibits, a highly-celebrated spring ritual hosted by the Fine Arts Museums of  San Francisco. As impossible as it was to believe, the 150 floral artists who were invited to create a floral arrangement to complement the artwork in the M. H. De Young Museum found a way to step it up another notch this year. Click the "Categories" tab to view the fantastic entries of previous years' Bouquets to Arts.

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Just inside the main entrance hangs the creation of Dominque Pfahl of Floreal, representational of Andy Goldsworthy's environmental art of found objects. The organic frame serves to hold the lenses through which one can view Goldsworthy's "Drawn Stone" sculptures in the entry courtyard. Previously named "Faultline", the installation is a creative expression of the seismic network that runs through California.

This is a good time to pause and remember the victims Japan's earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown. My thoughts and prayers go to all those who are dealing with the aftermath of the disasters. If you haven't already made a donation to the relief efforts to aid the victims, I invite you to donate to Doctors Without Borders (Medicins Sans Frontieres), The Salvation Army, or an organization of your choice.

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Sogetsu Ikebana artist Katsuko Thielke of Hunter-Lee Flowers created an astounding arrangement...

...to accompany Raúl Anguiano's "Untitled. (Seated Girl Holding an Apple)".

Untitled. (Seated Girl Holding an Apple), 1943 by Raúl Anguiano.
Image: Maulleigh at Flickr.

The pure white phaleonopsis orchids were the perfect choice to represent the white dress and the innocence of the girl. while the chrysanthems, hypericum berries, and cymbydium orchids provided the apple green element.  My favorite elements of this arrangement, though, are the strands of bear grass intricately woven into braids, suggesting the inferred braid of the girl's hair...

... and the palm fronds whose profiles were completely altered by braiding the ends.

If I were to give out awards, I would have to give Thielke the Best Workmanship prize.

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Urban Chateau's entry provided a great sneak peek for the upcoming Balenciaga and Spain Exhibition at the museum. 

This floral sculpture of black satin with red and white roses shouts both Balenciaga and Spain.

Cristobal Balenciaga

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Paige Benjamin, of Passiflora Designs, created a beautiful modern upright tapestry of colors and textures:

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Hats off and thank you to Joy Kuhn and Patty Reed and other members of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Flower Committee for tirelessly volunteering every month to provide fresh flowers for the lobby, executive offices, and the museum's 13 bathrooms. 

Stay tuned for more Bouquets to Art 2011 post in the near future. 

Macro Monday - Emulating Irving Penn

I've shown you my attempt to channel Paul Cézanne and also one Irving Penn emulation.  Here are a few more photos I turned in for my Beginning Photography class. Our excellent and passionate instructor, Moshe Quinn, gave us an assignment to emulate, but not copy exactly, a photographer or other artist.

Late in his career, Penn photographed took many large-format botanical photographs on a clean white surface. He used exceptionally long exposures with pinhole apertures and experimented with elaborate printing techniques. A great article on Penn's printing techniques can be found here.

IRVING PENN (1917 - 2007)

Ginkgo Leaves, New York, 1990

IRVING PENN (1917 - 2007)

Tuberous Begonia

Here are my emulations:

One of my classmates named her project "It's a Lot Harder Than It Looks!". No kidding. Considering this was my first attempt, I'm not going to complain too much. Thank you, Moshe, for this inspiring assignment. I did learn that I'm very interested in pursuing studio photography and creating more still lifes. Next time I will pay more attention to the lighting.

View more Macro Monday images at lisaschaos.com here. This is my first time posting on Lisa Gordon's Creative Exchange here. 

Macro Monday: Bouquets to Art 2010, Part III

Now that we finished touring the Upper Galleries of the 2010 Bouquets to Artin the of the De Young Museum, please follow me downstairs to the Concourse Level to see the 20th Century Contemporary collection. Bouquets to Artis the San Francisco Fine Art Museum's biggest fundraiser where floral designers from the San Francisco Bay Area are annually invited to interpret the art in the permanent collection. The first couple of interpretations were decidedly literal but each adds a trans-formative element. For example, Heather Dunne and Mari Tischenko matched William T. Wiley's witty art when they replicated the blue palette and then created an unexpected explosion of splattered "paint" using Giant Onion (allium schubertii).  Read what the floral designers wrote here.

Gail Emmons of Orinda carefully, and literally, duplicated the black and white walking stick, Japanese wooden shoes, and wizard hat, but then added a wonderful dynamic element to her work by featuring the S-shaped Hala leaf to convey the bent figure in a more abstract way.

For a closer look of artwork, click here.

Even in all its complexity, Sue Morford's arrangement worked well with the simplicity of Edward Hopper's depiction of Main Street, USA in "Portrait of Orleans". Floral artist Sue Morford writes:

"When I found a photograph of the location depicted in the painting I was struck by the unchanging quality of the location 60 years after the date of the painting. Some of the details had changed (the name of the gas sstation, the addition of a second station, different building, etd.) but the character of the scene remains. The place has retained the same sense of a quiet crossroads on the to Someplace."

--Sue Morford, AIFD

See the photograph Morford referenced here and Hopper's painting here

The tall stature of the yellow heliconias provided a great line while their green stems and tinge of red aptly implied "traffic light". The black calla lilies were a great choice to complete the line of the rubber tire. The esso sign on this side of the arrangement was a nod to its faded past...

...whereas the Mobil sign on its reverse side depicted the present:

Read a wonderful blog post about the donor of this painting here.

The next room is normally only black and white...

...but during Bouquets to Art it was splashed with of understated color, like this green and white grouping by City College of San Francisco

The intricate pave design made effective use of the bright green button chrysanthemums that many in the business call "Kermit mums" but are officially called "Yoko Ono" chrysanthemum.

On the opposite wall was a stark study in texture that looked like plant life emerging after a volcanic explosion.

Or maybe this is what we would find if we flipped over the canvas of the original artwork.

In the adjacent rooms, we are greeted with more color. The urban painting of skateboarders was matched with the urban arrangement using what looks like concrete blocks.

Hats off to first-time exhibitor Marian LeBrun of SSavage Rose Florals for her beautifully-balanced entry.

Pico Soriano's entry lampshade of yellow Billy Balls (craspedia) is filled with whimsy and sparkle

Continuing the whimsical theme are these bathing beauties frolicking in a swirl of Contorted Filbert branches (Harry Lauder Walking Stick -corylus avellana)...

.. in contrast to the abstract interpretation of this bathing beauty.

Speaking of abstracts, the Orinda Garden Club's creation, by Diana R. Kennedy and Phoebe Kahl, is geometric bliss.

Mrs. Lurline R. Coonan's perfectly-matched tropical arrangement of proteas and birds of paradise straddles beautifully between these two paintings.

Richard Diebenkorn's "Seawall" (1957) is a favorite amongst the Bouquets to Art designers. Pomegranate's idea to use materials found at the seawall was great.

The last rooms we will visit today feature fine art photographs. Ron Morgan's designs never disappoint. His turban of ti leaves, flax leaves and dark purple mini calla lilies was a work of art.

Alena Jean's sunflowers brought bright sunshine to the poignant portraits they accompany.

Svenja Brotz of Chestnut and Vine Floral Design in Berkeley created an artful urban garden in this sepia setting. 

Next time, the lobby arrangements.

For more Macro Mondays, visit Lisa at Lisa's Chaos.

Wordless Wednesday - Gumballs

"Three Machines" (1963)  Wayne Thiebaud (1920 - ) 

J. Miller Flowers

Bouquets to Art - 2010 Part I

It's hard to believe that it's been over a month now since the Bouquets to Art Exhibit at the M. H. De Young Museum in San Francisco. Since I had a very busy travel schedule, I have not taken the time to go through my photos until now. Tracy and I participated in the student competition held during the Gala Night. I will post about that later because I'm hoping that Tracy's photos came out better than mine.

After the competition, Tracy and I did get a chance to tour the galleries and see the fabulous floral interpretations of the permanent art collection at the museum.

Our first stop was at urban painter Charles Demuth's "From the Garden of the Chateau" (top photo). We both gasped at the boldness of the arrangement. Neither of us could recollect a Bouquets to Art entry that was as daringly two-dimensional and presented to be viewed from above.

We admired how Diane Barret of Indigo V perfectly echoed the Precisionism style of the painting. The hala and New Zealand flax leaves plus the sparing use of hydrangea blossoms fit the bill exactly.

Josette Brose-Eichar of Lavender used white phaleonopsis and dendrobium orchids to depict the billowing stacks smoke on the steam ships of the harbor scene. I like the use black ti leaves served to represent the dark elements of this painting and thought the frothy foam of carnations against the blue-green hen and chicks succulents was unique.

When I first saw this painting in the many years ago, I didn't know what to make of it because of its two-dimensional, naive quality. Now I appreciate its depth more each time I visit it and I always look forward to seeing what floral art has been paired with it during Bouquets to art. This year, I like the soft touch of replication it's been given. The amaryllis with the deep orange throats marvelously depict the glow of the sky and the peachy calla lilies represent the nude beautifully.

Laurelle Hartley Thom accomplished what she set out to do when she interpreted Albert Bierstadt's landscape painting.

"It has been said that in California Spring 'Bierstadt offered a war-torn nation images of a landscape unbloodied and full of promise.' I have tried to capture the pastoral serenity and simple beauty of the sun shining brightly on the valley replete with wildflowers and majestic oaks."

- Laurelle Hartley Thom, Lafayette, CA

Martin Johns Heade's "Orchid and Hummingbird" is my mother's favorite painting at the De Young Museum. I think it reminds her of the best aspects of her seven years in Indonesia.

I commend Carolyn Russel and Wanda Nash of Orchard Nursery & Florist for recreating the jewelbox feeling of this small painting and also for finding the exact same cattleya orchid (George King's "serendipity') as in the painting.

There is always at least one work that creates an indelible memory of the show. Last year it was the birch-bark dress with the red anthurium shoes and this year it has got to be the "Bust of the Lone Horse". This surprising entry by Talin Tascian of Fleur de Vie was designed to accompany Virgil Williams' "Knight's Valley from the Slopes of Mount St. Helena. It was beautifully executed using reversed leaves, bear grass, and berzillia berries and I dearly hope this entry was intended to be tongue in cheek.

The flowers spilling out of the box are an apt reflection of Joseph Decker's oil painting "Upset". The lime green satin ribbon was also perfectly draped in an artfully casual fashion.

I can't say I ever noticed this ceramic work of art before Amy Kee chose to interpret it for Bouquets to Art. Her floral interpretation depicting a giant tea cup was quite understated from afar...

... but a look inside allows you to do more than just read the tea leaves. A striking combination of purple odontoglossum orchids and bright green geranium leaves were floating in a swirl of white calla lilies.

Stephanie Foster of Church Street Florist creatively represented the swan's wing by using protea petals and phaleonopsis orchids.

April Abbott of April Flowers in Mill Valley did a convincing job of describing what the windswept scene of this painting looked like beyond the bowl of berries.

That's all for today, more next time.