Favorite Things: MAM Art in Bloom 2018

Here at Composure, we are always looking for ways to foster creativity, most recently making our yearly pilgrimage to the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Art in Bloom event. The weather may have been icy and cold outside this year, but the event was warm, inviting, and full of foliage!

If you are unfamiliar with this event, Art in Bloom features a plethora of vendors, live painting, a fashion show, lectures, a silent auction, music, and over 40 floral arrangements each based on different paintings within the museum.

Each artist has their own, and very unique interpretation of the paintings they portray with their arrangements. Some of the paintings are used year after year in this event, so it is always exciting to see new insight into each piece. There were a few particularly memorable pieces for us.

The arrangement based on Frank Stella’s Chocorua III was absolutely fantastic. The artist used roses, anthuriums, birds of paradise, and large painted banana leaves to bring the color of the painting into their arrangement. The birds of paradise were a great choice to reflect the angles of the painting. At the base they included large colored blocks to bring in more of the blue and white. We loved the unique idea of painting leaves to bring in the colors of the painting. This piece won the Judge’s Choice Honorable Mention and was a favorite amongst our group.

An extremely interesting interpretation was the arrangement based on Gerhard Richter’s Breath (Atem). Rather than using solely floral objects, there are yellow and violet calla lilies hidden in a web of knitted yarn. The yarn was a brilliant way to reflect the texture of this painting and it was great fun searching for the lilies amongst the knitted pieces.

Another favorite was the arrangement based on Hector Hypolite’s Black Magic (Maji Nwa). The arrangement draws the viewer in with these extremely vibrant blue and violet flowers towards the top of the piece. The base is made of concrete vases holding orange roses and monkey tails splaying out. Each flower placement in this arrangement was thoroughly thought out and reflects the painting exceedingly well.

The arrangement based on Josef Albers’ Homage to the Square: With Rays was another favorite. The way the artist used the wire cage with the flowers was a nice way to show the geometric shapes of the piece. It was interesting that the floral arrangement seemed to match both paintings behind it and almost tied them closer together. We enjoyed how the florals in this piece were not totally confined to the box and colors reflecting the painting were found pouring out from the edges.

Our final favorite and probably the most talked about amongst our group was the piece based on Marino Marini’s Battle. This arrangement includes a precarious bunch of flowers placed atop 6 “legs” made of painted wood. The balance of the floral arrangement certainly reflects the unsteady feeling of Marino Marini’s painting. The transition of colors from red to yellow work perfectly and the Spanish moss and air plants along the bottom of the piece were an excellent way to bring in the gray background of the painting without dulling down the bright arrangement on top.

Overall, we enjoyed our trip to Art in Bloom immensely and left feeling a new energy of creativity flowing through us. The use of interesting bases and found objects to complete the composition of the floral arrangements surprised us around every corner. We already can’t wait for next spring so that we can go again!

Stephanie Marie Steinhauer and Lindsey Norgard