By Dayna Crozier
Photograph courtesy of the Saint Louis Art Museum
During the weekend of March 7, before daffodils roll out their yellow carpet, the Saint Louis Art Museum will combine florals with high art with its ninth annual Art in Bloom. The museum has paired nearly 40 works of art, including those of Edgar Degas and Gerhard Richter, with local florists and garden clubs, who have seven weeks to fabricate arrangements using qualities in the original works as a guide. Some floral designers might interpret “the movement in the piece,” says the museum’s events director, Kristin Lamprecht, “and some might focus on a key element in the object.” Last year’s Judges’ Choice, Best Traditional winner, Rhonda Lynn-Moeckel, AIFD, of Focus on Design by Schnuck Markets, says she asked herself, “What is this artist really trying to tell us? It’s more than just paint on a canvas.” Her triumphant design was based on Charles Ferdinand Wimar’s painting The Buffalo Dance (1946). “The moment in the painting is passionate for the tribe,” says Lynn-Moeckel. “They’re dancing around the fire for their livelihood, so I wanted my arrangement to be intense. I mimicked the stacking of wood by terracing two containers, as you would build a fire. Yellow oncidium orchids licked into the sky, and curly willows and pheasant feathers represented the smoke trailing off.”
Visitors can create their own elaborate designs during Sunday’s Artful Arrangements. The museum will also host tours, a lecture by New York fashion florist Michael George, flower-arranging demonstrations and Flowers After Hours, where you can sip cocktails to the sounds of Willie Akins and The Ariana String Quartet. For more information, go to slam.org.
