Bouquets to Art 2012

It’s March in California and that means…Rain (finally!)… and the Bouquets to Art event at the M.H. de Young Museum in San Francisco.

It is a show where local and regional florists create bouquets each inspired by a piece of art in the collections. As you travel through the rooms (or, I should day as you elbow your way through the maddening crowd clawing our way to the front to get a glimpse of something,) a panoply of color, beauty, fragrance and art delights your senses.

The displays this year were as interesting and varied as last year. It seems to  me that there were more succulents combined with the flowers this year. The rooms get very hot and perhaps the succulents hold up better. But there were also every kind of flower you could imagine and very creative uses of sticks, leaves, berries, and mosses.

(I suppose I should have taken notes on every florist and every piece of art to share, but y’all don’t pay me enough for all that. So my information is a little piece meal – sorry)

One interesting thing I wanted to share with you was this arrangement that went with the Untitled 1947 Mark Rothko painting. It was created by Michael Daigian of San Francisco’s Michael Daigian Designs.

I loved the angled tiers and the layers of texture and color, from the base…

through the center…

to the top.

Here is a photo of the bouquet from the 2011 show for the same painting:

I loved this bouquet, too. It is fascinating to see the different interpretations by the two floral designers. I’ll let you choose your favorite!

In the upstairs gallery these two portraits were accompanied by lovely bouquets.

The leaves in this arrangement were stenciled with lovely gray painted lace imagery. Exquisite!

The open, etherial quality of this arrangement was very interesting. Strangely, it captured the essense of Robert Henri’s 1910 portrait of The Lady In Black with the Spanish Scarf. I detectived that it was created by Natalie Bowen of Natalie Bowen Designs. For more views of this work, visit her blog.

Here is a gallery of the bouquets that most intrigued me. If you click on one photo, you can scroll through large views of each image.

My favorite pieces are these:

Dale Chihuly’s 1988 work, titled Ultramarine Stemmed Form with Orange, was expertly interpreted by Natasha Lisitsa and Carla Parkinson of San Francisco’s Waterlily Pond Floral Design Studio. Of course, it is all about color for me… and the orange and blue came alive in this piece!

I loved this ceramic sculpture and its orchid and conch shell-filled partner.

The yellow and orange flowers with the little trail of blue – wonderful!

Last, but not least… Oh, these oranges and greens…

Succulent plants hold a special plate in my heart and I was enthralled with Marcia Maffei’s complex and exciting piece for the San Anselmo business, Main Street Floragardens.

It is quite a kerfuffle to get through the show because it is so crowded and chaotic. It’s hard to get any photos taken with all the people milling around, but it is truly a remarkable event and I am happy that I could make it again this year!

Buy yourself some flowers this weekend and put them in your room – you deserve a little beauty in your life – I have spoken and it shall be so…

P.S. Here’s a late breaking addition: I found this blog and these darling arrangements – I didn’t see these cakes in person, which is a bummer, but check them out. Wonderful!