Floral Art Interprets Art Forms

Floral art came to Vancouver in a public way in the mid-1990s. While florists get an opportunity to express creativity inside retail orders, to interpret artists' works was a new experience when the Vancouver Art Gallery(VAG) first hosted weekend fund-raisers dedicated to art and flowers.The VAG emulated the successes of the Boston Art Gallery, which had been hosting floral art experiences since the early 1970s.

When the flower business first came to me in the early '90s, courses sponsored through the Vancouver Ikebana Association offered a look at this artistic medium dating back about 600 years. Improbable as it was that ikebana-style would be commercially viable, as the cost factors would be inside the skill of it, and not in the quantity of flowers; and flowers designed on a frog in water don't adapt well to cross-town courier deliveries. But learning the techniques was a great asset to high-style design.

So when Vancouver came of age inside its efforts to engage the flower industry in a joint venture with the gallery, it was really fun and exciting. I'll admit that the first time in 1994 was a little intimidating as I was only three-years into this business and there was no skill-set to tap. So we did what other Vancouver florists did: we flew by the seat of our pants, and did pretty well at it, too, until it became too burdensome for the gallery to organize and permit fresh plant material into its collections that it was cancelled only four years into it. Too bad, for a great creative outlet lost, and a super-interesting event for our city. So other centers still get to have their Art in Bloom enthusiasm sometimes in the spring.

As part of the annual Los Angeles Fashion Week, Teleflora was invited to design three ensembles made completely of flowers and leaves.

Hats off to FLORAL Art

England's Chelsea Flower Show is a show-stopper, for sure. Take a look at these floral hats and you can understand why someone in the flower biz would want to hop a plane to London. There's not much to compare here; small shows here and there but with modest budgets. We won bronze one year for an Orchid Society competition; our entry was a hat depicting Mother Earth.

Inside couture, these 2011 wedding dresses show off the Art In Bloom hosted by the Victoria Art Gallery long after the Vancouver Art Gallery quit the fun affair."Twenty-seven exquisite works from the Art Gallery’s impressive permanent collection inspire twenty-nine local floral designers to create their own floral works of art. You will be amazed at the degree to which floral design can go! See floral interpretations of paintings by Lawren S. Harris, Emily Carr and Maxwell Bates among other greats, sculptures and prints both ancient and contemporary and fine pieces from the Gallery’s Decorative Arts collection. "

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