One of my very favorite things to do is attend Art in Bloom, a weekend-only event at the St. Louis Art Museum in which patrons tour the museum to view floral interpretations of various pieces of the museum’s collection. What a brilliant idea! The displays are created by local garden clubs and professional florists. Pieces are scattered throughout the museum so that museum goers may take in the wonderful sampling of the collections. I think there were nearly 60 displays this year.
Docents are on hand to explain both the artwork and the display. In some instances the floral designer was on hand sharing his or her personal story of inspiration. There are three types of judging for various categories–a panel of professional judges, the art museum staff and the visitors to the museum. It’s fun to see how the People Choice awards stack up against the pros and the staff. For years my sister Nancy and I–and now my daughters–have spent the day carefully judging the designs on our self-guided tour. We like to score the pieces based on interpretation. Some years when we have lots of time we include color and composition.
This year there were so many truly splendid designs it was difficult to pick a favorite. We write our scores in the program booklet and then when the whole thing is over, our feet are aching and backs hurting, we head to Nancy’s house for a glass of wine, put our feet up and go through the booklet defending our votes. We inadvertently left the booklet in one of the restaurants at the museum so I am unfortunately unable to identify all of the artists–floral designer, sculptor, painter, potter, furniture maker. The inspiring artwork is in the background of the photo. I hope you enjoy this armchair tour.
White lilies were a central theme to many of the religious works. I loved the vase in this interpretation of the stained glass window. This was one of my very favorites.
The scrolled panel on the left is ironwork from Chicago.
That’s Jane Fonda in the background. The painting also includes her brother and father. There was a docent on hand describing how the gerbera daisies are indicative of the 70s. The docents were fun the listen to.
The stone arches in the background provided inspiration for this piece and lots of conversation among the family judges.
This was one of my very favorites. To me, the containers are an important element of the display and the red fluted bowl in this design really made an impact.
When I saw this display, I said it made me happy. Nancy laughed and said, “That’s appropriate because that is the name of the painting.”
Very cool. A docent was on hand for this piece and explained the tones of the painting coinciding with the various shades of yellow to orange in the flowers. I liked the square containers which matched the silver frame.
The Arch City Gardener 
March 10, 2015 at 3:39 am
Sounds like a great day. I like ” Happy,” too.
March 10, 2015 at 4:27 pm
My bridesmaids carried bouquets of gerbera daises in my wedding; the date 1975. 🙂
March 10, 2015 at 10:38 pm
So the designer did indeed know her flowers and history! 🙂
March 13, 2015 at 2:44 am
I like the display with the arches. Also Jane Fonda as orange Gerbera Daisies.