160 floral displays designed to match paintings, glass art and sculptures at the deYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park show the creativity of San Francisco Bay Area floral artists. Arguably the most popular exhibit at the deYoung, prestigious gardeners and florists have done it again, creating spectacular floral arrangements for specific locations throughout the museum. For once, cameras are allowed in to capture the fleeting beauty of the floral artwork.
San Francisco Attraction: "Bouquets to Art" Museum Exhibit
Inspired by architects Herzog & DeMeuron and landscape architect Walter Hood, Florali of Walnut Creek placed various exotic hybrid orchids from Golden Gate Orchids in a wide bowl filled with slate chips to correlate with the outdoor scene viewed through the window behind it: deYoung's dramatic landscaping of ferns popping up through slate and stones.
Edible exhibition wall arrangements were done by Inka Paul Giacomantonio, incorporating kale, chard, collards, mustard greens, parsley, chives and mint into four delectable works. Nearby in Wilsey Court, "Amazing Flowers & Events" overflowed with orchids and wine bottles from huge glass containers, with curly willow sprigs stretching above.
Yoko Klingebiel and Naoko Suzuki created a piece resembling a Van Gogh painting to promote the deYoung's next exhibition, the French Impressions, opening in September 2010. Another arrangement made by Howard Arendtsen of H. Julien Designs in Berkeley used fern fronds, wheat grass, black slate, river stones and a tower of palm leaves to depict the iconic deYoung building. The Tower Observation Floor also had an arrangement attempting to be a miniature deYoung, done by Rossi & Rovetti Flowers.
Florists Design Oil Painting Reproductions for the deYoung Museum in San Francisco
Throughout the museum, foliage sprouts from baskets, moss covered pedestals, terrariums, birch bark, urns, trays, and even an old breadmaker. Some floral artists chose to have their displays reflecting the colors from their assigned artworks while others preferred to acknowledge their size, shape or a specific aspect. Every single floral display in the exhibit is detailed and well thought out, all deserving mention, but only a few will be highlighted here.
Florabella in Menlo Park created an umbrella made of crimson ginger petals to match an umbrella in a painting. Devon Gaster's arrangement in the Tower Lobby used pincushion protea, bamboo, lilly grass, two types of orchids and curly willow in three silver vases. The goal of his provocative work "was to cast shadows of the floral materials against the walls, similar to how the hanging sculptures cast shadows." Gaster has been an exhibitor at Bouquets to Art for 21 years, and one admirer remarked, "We'll see his work for another 21 years."
Master glass artist David Chihuly's "Green Leaf Venetian," a stunning glass blown pot with metallically embellished glass leaves along the sides, was humorously imitated by Marcia Maffei and Janet Zanze of Main St. Floral Gardens in San Anselmo, exhibitors for the past 27 years. Their arrangement, "Oops!" resembled a flower pot that had tipped over, spilling out orchids and broken glass shards that trailed to the floor. "Oh, that is clever," remarked Tamara Poole, who comes to "Bouquets to Art" every year.
The historic Filoli gardens gave one of the most fragrant displays. Tulips, hydrangea, lilies, hyacinth, caspia, roses and tree peonies effervesced from a stone urn, artfully picking up colors from the nearby painting, "Roman Fish Market" by Albert Bierstadt. However, Filoli actually designed their offering to be a garden extension of the courtyard in Bierstadt's other painting, "Sunlight and Shadow."
Another perfumy arrangement came from the Fine Arts of San Francisco Flower Committee, who have been showing at Bouquets to Arts for 26 years. Their vase filled with all manner of pink flowers paid homage to the chairs in Gallery 27. Regula Allenspach Weill of Regula's European Design carefully crafted her piece to match an artwork depicting an ancient Mayan ritual of sacrifice.
Richard Garver of Neiman Marcus used pinwheels, flax, artichokes and tall leaves for an autumn colored display. One of the most striking entries was a horse head made of leaves, grasses, ferns and berzelia berries by Talin Tascian of Fleur De Vie in Los Altos. Another eye-catcher was composed of lambs ears draped into a coat and sewn with buttons by Lindsey Scott of Rosehip Weddings in Berkeley. She crowned her creation with a tophat made of birch bark to identify it with Thomas Wood's painting, "Moses, the Baltimore News Vendor."
Modern Art and Flowers at the deYoung Museum April 20-24, 2010
The floral theme extends into the Museum Cafe with a candelabra chandelier dripping with ivy and roses, and orchids gracing the order counter. For those interested in attending the Bouquets to Art Exhibition, it is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. until Saturday April 24, with extended hours on Friday, April 23, until 8:45 p.m.
General admission is $20 for adults; $17 Seniors; $16 Youth (13-17); and free to children under 13 and for Fine Arts Museums members. General admission tickets may be purchased at the door or online at Bouquetstoart.org. Groups of 10 or more can purchase general admission tickets for $16 each. Tickets can be purchased by calling (415)750-3504, Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
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