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Kennedy explained that some of the flowers they used are from the San Francisco Flower Market, a few from a vendor in Southern California called Haus of Stems and the remainder from their own gardens. "Our containers belong to us," she said, and "gourds were sprayed blue to compliment the art work and placed in front and in the back of our design. Participants are permitted to refresh their designs early in the morning before the museum is open to the public.
"It is always a pleasure to be asked to be a part of Bouquets to Art," Kennedy added.
Garden club member Mari Tischenko also participated this year, as well as Morgan Carpenter of Morgan Carpenter Floral Designs in Lafayette. Tischenko was assigned a piece entitled "Cat-walk" by Charles Sheeler. It is an oil on canvas inspired by his work as a professional photographer and artist. Tischenko says that this piece resulted from a photograph that he took at a synthetic rubber plant in West Virginia back in the mid '40s. "He was inspired in this painting by the precise geometric forms that his photo captured. He called himself a `precisionist' and favored an industrial architectural approach."
She chose a metal container from her Ikebana Sogetsu school and then fabricated her version of a "grid and I-beams" by using a metal grid then welding and screwing together pieces of aluminum material. "I wanted the industrial feeling to come through with the screws and nuts and bolts, the bold grid form, the strong circular form in the ping-pong balls, and the architectural angular form in the red 99% right angle positioning squares."
Having admired this piece for a few years, Tischenko is happy to have this opportunity to interpret the painting. "I wanted the floral material to be more architectural in nature too, thus the strong red and white anthurium. The bulrush is wired so that I could create more sharp angular line elements," she added.
This is the 38th annual Bouquets to Art event. For more information about events happening during the exhibit, see https://deyoung.famsf.org/bouquets-to-art
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA