Bouquets to Art Attracts Hundreds at the de Young Museum on Opening Day

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but so,
too, is interpretation!

Amidst the artistry and inspiration of the Bouquets to Art exhibition at the de Young Museum this week, there was plenty of fun, creativity, and a little division among the visitors!

Peggy from Napa was not the only one to pose with a new hat.

'I love the colours and the way they use a succulent for the elevated part...it captures it almost completely,' she said.

She was with her sister, Joy, from Sacramento, who had brought Peggy for her first visit to the  exhibition. But this was only Joy's second visit. 'I lived in San Francisco for years and years and years and never came here. I had to move to Sacramento to see it!' she said.

The hat was a Victorian recreation by Ron Morgan of Berkeley, and accompanied Louise Beatrice de Fonblanque's 'Portrait of a Woman.'

'Isn't this a great idea for a room divider!' said Jeanne of Burlingame, admiring the finite detail crafted in natural materials, strands of ivy and flowers flowing down the sides.

The titled 'Metamorphosis - Life - Repetition - Reflexion - Art' bore a philosophical resemblance but not a pictorial one with Victorian artist, Eadweard Muybridge. The artist, famed for his part-scientific studies on animal and human movement, was shown in strips of miniature Freeze Frame photos going through the motions of sitting and standing second by second.

Jeanne's eye saw an altogether other purpose: a graceful addition to her home. No doubt Svenja Brotz of Chestnut and Vine Floral Design would be happy to engage in repetition and reflexion of his own!

One of the largest pieces in the exhibition was itself a symbol of division.

It stretched for several feet in front of Irving Norman's interpretation of 'War and Peace' - 'the ruthlessness of capitalism and the alienation of urban America', giving its audience plenty to muse over as they peered all around it.

The work was by a group of Sausalito artists,
R.Space, Shannon Patillo, Trisha Olson and Eric Olson.

Romantic entwinement, however, filled the minds of Stephanie and Hannah from Modesto as they gazed at Natalie Bowen's vibrant floral arms.

They envisioned the red flora curled into monograms of a bride and groom, and displayed as a dramatic centre-piece at a wedding celebration.

Mirroring the distinctive red swirls, Natalie, of Natalie Bowen Designs, had produced  'An interpretation of the artist's palette and form', matching an etching with scraping and burnishing of William T. Wiley's 'Now Who's Got the Blueprints.'

Her creation was quite an inspiration, producing this interactive display from Joy, sister of Peggy in the green hat above! - pic by Peggy

Miguel Covarrubias' wall-sized painting depicting the fauna and flora of the Pacific Ocean provided a naturally beautiful backdrop. Before it, a bowl overflowing with richly coloured, exotic flowers.

As one observer read out loud the floral designer's aim, 'to interpret a lush and colourful diversity of the Pacific Rim and Pacific Ocean, with a wide range of colours, shape, texture,' another exclaimed in appreciation, 'Well he did that, that's for sure!'

The display was created by Catherine Matsuyo Tompkison-Graham of the Tompkison Group, San Jose.



'Oh that's fabulous, in conjunction with the picture!' cried a lady in a yellow jacket springing into action with her camera.

Her eyes had fallen on a display that was receiving a lot of popular acclaim. In the painting were two young girls in old-style bathing suits - Two Bathers - by David Park, a pioneer in the San Francisco Abstract Expressionist Movement.
On a stand, a floral repetition that perfectly captured the colours and freedom of movement within the painting.

'Taking a "painteely" approach celebrating the figure, color, the artist and painting,' said Phyllis A. Brady and Joe Brady of the Twigs and Ivy Floral Studio in San Ramon, creative in vocabulary also.

This vision in pink drew admiring glances instantly. 'This is very pretty!' commented one lady.

However, while the appreciation was unanimous, there was
a light-hearted discussion among some over which portrait was the focus: the elegant lady on the left, who wore ivory floral decorations on her dress and in her hair that matched some of the flowers, or the younger girl in pink.

The answer was in the pink! It was Frederick Childe Hassam's Easter Morning (Portrait at a New York Window), and not John Singer Sargeant's painting, recreated by Judy Cochran Ward of Novato.

Bouquets to Arts opened on Monday with a gala event for members and invited guests, and threw open its doors to the public on Tuesday. Friday is Hat Day, a hat competition, and throughout the week are floral lectures and demonstrations. The last day is Saturday.

'Now in its 26th year, Bouquets to Art has attracted nearly 550,000 visitors and raised over $4.52 million in net proceeds, which have been used to fund an impressive roster of special exhibitions, art acquisitions, educational programs, and special projects at the Legion of Honor and the de Young Museum,' said the museum's press release.