In this country we have a vast number of localised agricultural shows that showcase, both in display and competition, the variety of local agriculture/horticulture of a particular area. This show invites the local floral art groups to have a static display (3 days), so I offered to help them with some content for the display as I was travelling to the show to compete (those designs will appear in later posts).
With the overall theme of “Regeneration”, it was decided the easiest way to have the most members involved was to have the display based around collages. This enables members to prepare their contribution at home and also made it simpler to build the display to incorporate some smaller fresh flower arrangements. Here is the finished display.
My contributions were two collages put together from structures/components I had on hand (remember I still had 3 competition designs to transport as well!).
The first utilises 3 picture frames painted grey, attached to one another by overlapping and gluing in place. Added to these are some timber skewers painted black, originally used in a quite different design (click here for details). The plant material is dried and glued with the only pop of colour being some jute sliver (pink). My concept was the collection of dried plant material that has the potential to “regenerate” through the dried seeds (pine cone, sunflower, black bean) with the addition of water (reeds) and growing medium (coconut fibre, sphagnum moss, sisal, jute sliver).
The second once again uses components from previous designs (click here for details). Continuing my interpretation of seeds for regeneration, I have gumnuts threaded on to bamboo skewers, lentils, dried oranges and gymea lily seedpods with grass manipulated into spirals using the “corn dolly” technique which you can learn by clicking here.
The variety of interpretations in the (relatively) small space required for collages made for an interesting display which was very well received by the visiting public over the 3 days of the show. It’s a good concept to take on board if you are collaborating for a special display and have contributors with varied levels of skills.
