Three talented floral designers from the Chester Garden Club will join 83 others floral designers from approximately 50 Garden Clubs and their governing body, Garden Clubs of Virginia, where they will contribute nearly 90 floral interpretations of fine art when Fine Arts & Flowers returns to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts October 20–23. This is the 13th presentation of this biennial exhibition. The unique floral interpretations of works will offer breathtaking displays inspired by masterworks throughout the museum. The event is sponsored by the Council of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Doris Crowell, of Chester, has participated in all 13 presentations. She will interpret “Summer Wind” by Elizabeth Murray with her design and use chrysanthemums as her prominent floral. “I love doing it,” she said. “I am thankful they have allowed me to do it every year.”
She has been studying “Summer Wind” for quite awhile. “I have an ideal on how I would like to inter
pret it [“Summer Wind”]. It is mostly movement of color and form. It is really quite different; something [more]unusual than I have done before.” She said that by using chrysanthemums, she is using a fall flower and the blooms are lasting in a design.
Rita Johnson, of Chesterfield, will be interpreting a fire screen with a peacock design attributed to Emile Galle. “I am going to build a peacock,” she said. Her art piece is an art nouveau-style fire screen bordered with dark maple wood and tooled leather interior with a peacock surrounded by flowers. “The peacock has represented royalty and [is]a symbol of wealth from India. It is contemporary in design.” Her design will be 24 inches wide and 40 inches high, and she will be using dark Blue Bell Delphiniums, yellow chrysanthemums, and Poets Laural for the peacock’s tail, and accenting the design with tiny green button mums and blue statsin flowers. She will complete the interpretation with real peacock feathers. “When I finish, I hope it will look like a peacock,” she said.
Susanne Hillier has a real challenge with “1 2 3 4 5 6” by Sol LeWitt. This is her first entry into the design show, and the art was not her first choice. There was actually a mistake in the listing during the selection process, so when she was notified of her selection, she was a bit taken aback. “It is almost impossible,” she said to come up with an ideal design to interpret the piece. “There is no movement – it is a series of towers, huge…tall. It is a lovely piece and I am studying how the lighting seizes the piece. Usually when I make an arrangement, it has to have some movement.” Hillier was told she can pick up on the
color that surrounds the art work. She will be using Anthuriums and hanging Heliconia (if available, she has a call into Hawaii to see if they are available) in her arrangement. Her son-in-law constructed a cage for her base.
Crowell said the three of them will begin designing their arrangements in the lobby at VMFA Oct. 19, during the gala preview at 9:30 a.m. Their materials will be in place for their start time, and it will be a public performance.
The Fabergé in Bloom Gala Preview offers attendees a preview of the newly designed galleries devoted to the museum’s Fabergé and Russian Decorative Arts collections. The suite’s three central galleries are named in honor of Eda Hofstead Cabaniss, a former VMFA Foundation Board member and honorary chair of this year’s event. Proceeds from Fine Arts & Flowers will support the reinstallation of the VMFA collection, which has been traveling since 2012. Guest speakers for the event include floral designer Shane Connolly, whose works have been recognized by Britain’s royal family, and Ariella Chezar, who is known for her farmer-forager approach to sustainable floral design. Other events include the popular Edible Flowers tasting, a fashion show, Sunday’s festive champagne brunch, and hands-on flower-arranging workshops. Docent-guided tours of the exhibition are available throughout the four-day event.
Admission to view floral displays in the galleries is free. Tickets to the gala, lunches, lectures, classes, and other special events are available for purchase at www.VMFAmuseum/FAF or at
(804) 340-1405.
Fine Arts & Flowers is presented by the Council of VMFA. Strange’s Florists, Greenhouses, and Garden Centers LLC is the official supplier of flowers and plant material and has been since the exhibition’s inception in 1987. The Francena T. Harrison Foundation Trust is the event’s presenting sponsor.
