Flora in Winter 2013 at the Worcester Art Museum

This year's Flora in Winter at the Worcester Art Museum had a huge turnout. There were plenty of beautiful flower arrangements to see, tours to take, and other events that were held. There was a special opening for it on Thursday night where they served alcohol, had people posing as statues, had a band play, and other forms of entertainment. The admission was very expensive for that event though, and it required reservations ahead of time.

Flora is the word for plant life in a particular region in a particular time. It is also the Latin name of the Roman Goddess of plants, flowers, and fertility. The museum owns a bust of Flora, and they take it out for this special occasion.

This year Jeff French was the florist to make the arrangement around the Flora bust. Feel free to visit his blog and see more of his amazing work.

There were several floral designs around the entire museum, and some had business cards with them. There were some flower arrangements from Mugford's Flower Shoppe and some flower arrangements from Beverly McClure who works for Floral Elegance.

Two florists collaborated on the garden pond in the Lancaster Lobby. Native Landscaping and Gardens by Lisa made a large arrangement that was very playful and spoke to children.

There were other special arrangements by Perro's Flowers and June Donnelly Designs, which can been seen with everyone else's on the Worcester Art Museum's site.

There were quite a few arrangements done by Danielson Flowers, who did both the entrance to the first and second floor from the Museum Cafe. I don't know why certain floral designers were given more places to set up flowers than others, though I could not argue with the results.

La Jolie Fluer did a rather large floral arrangement on the fourth floor.

I did not find business cards for all of the arrangements I took pictures of, but here is a floral arrangement in the Renaissance Court done by Herbert E. Berg Florist, Inc. By the appearance of the pot holder, it is obvious that even though this was in a different area, this flower arrangement goes along with the Kennedy to Kent State Exhibit.

There were 23 flower designs that went along with particular pieces of art throughout the museum.

MaryEllen J. O'Brien from the Lenox Garden Club did the Eleven-Headed Kannon statue in the Japanese Gallery. Susan Detjens from the Millbrook Garden Club did the Two Lanterns in the Chinese Gallery. Young Farwell and Helen R. Blazis from the Grafton Garden Club did the sculpture of Vishnu. I find Japanese art to be interesting, so it was a treat to see these pieces interpreted with flowers. I do not have as much interest in Indian art, but I am impressed by the arrangement for Vishnu. I am wondering why certain galleries, like the Chinese Jades and Porcelain gallery, did not have any flower arrangements. The Chinese Jades and Porcelain gallery has very beautiful pieces that would have looked amazing as flowers.

Here are some more random flower arrangements found in the Renaissance Court done by Danielson Flowers, Holmes-Shusas Florist Inc, and the Plant Bazaar Florist. This area always has such interesting flowers decorated in it. It is such a large space that can easily be filled with various colors and forms. Perhaps the Museum needs flower arrangements more often.

Here we see the Cinerary Urn of Nicor done by Thelma H. Shoneman from the Acton Garden Club. I am surprised she put so many colors into this when the urn barely has any. It was still very nice.

Here we see Isabella Carr, Later Countess of Erroll done by Maureen Christmas from the Acton Garden Club. I think she matched the form and colors perfectly with this one, and it is subtle.

Here we see The Breakfast Room, Winter Morning, New York done by Kathy Michie and the Paul Revere Silver Cases done by Valerie Stowe with Elizabeth Nizick all from the Worcester Garden Club. I find it interesting how both of these florists incorporated non-plant materials like glass and silverware into their floral designs in order to help them match the artwork.

In the Mid to Twentieth Century Gallery, we see Ada With Sunglasses done by Julie Lapham and Orange White done by Sarah Ribeiro both from Worcester Garden Club. Most people do not prefer these types of artwork due to their simplicity and lack of detail, but these florists came up with some interesting ideas.

From the Pre-Columbian Gallery we see the Fertility Goddess done by Virginia Orlando from Stem to Stem. I like how this arrangement has hot colors that go along with the area this artifact came from.

Here we see Hannah Babcock, Later Mrs. John Bours done by Lois Frampton and Deborah Dowson from the Garden Club of Harvard. My apologies to these two, but I did not care for this one. Sure the form matches the woman in the painting and the beads with the blue ribbons, but there are so many colors that are lacking in the arrangement. The dress is white, but mostly we just see green, and it just looks dull. Not everyone manages to pull off a success unfortunately.

Here is JohnFarnham, Gentleman-Pensioner to Elizabeth I done by Sandra Tosches from the Greenleaf Garden Club and Saint Jerome in Penitence by Kenneth J. Bositis from Bloomer's. I like the hard angles in the right, and I find it funny that the floral arrangement on the left is huge compared to the painting.

Here is Rest on the Flight to Egypt done by Robin Whitney from the Worcester Garden Club. It is very a very pretty arrangement.

Seed to Stem did an awesome job on this floral arrangement on the Renaissance Court balcony. You can see here that there are crystals, flower bulbs, and white flowers on a mirrored table in this picture. Unfortunately this photo doesn't do it justice since it is low resolution.

Here is The Brooding Woman done by Susan B. Dewey from the Osterville Garden Club and Girl With Portfolio done by Mary Fletcher from the Worcester Garden Club. Both of them are based on really good pieces of artwork.

Here is The Interior of a Tailor Shop done by Candace Morgenstern from the Newport Garden Club and Tiverton Garden Club, The Marriage Procession done by Kim Cutler from the Worcester Garden Club, and The Betrayal of Christ done by Sally E. Jablonski from the Herbert Berg Florist Inc and the Worcester Garden Club. I was wondering why there was a giant thimble for the tailor shop one even though it isn't in the painting, but the tour guides explained it very well. The marriage procession was done very well and so was the one for the painting of Christ.

I did not include all of the floral arrangements in this blog. Some of the pictures did not come out that good, or I just forgot. On the forth floor, there was the Fountain done by Cathy Walsh from Sprout, which was done very well. On the 1st floor there was The Last Supper and the Agony in the Garden done by Joan Moreshi from the Shrewsbury Garden Club and Herbert E. Berg Florist, Inc. Both were really good. The one in the Medieval Gallery was too dark to take a picture of.