Submitted by Brenna Quan AIFD
Public art installations in the form of floral mannequin displays are something I have had the fabulous opportunity to create for several shows, thanks to Fleurs de Villes, a Vancouver-based media branding company. They also have special clients who will commission single displays as conversational art pieces and photo opps for their business events. In this case, I have had the privilege of being one of their featured botanical artists, most recently creating an interpretation of the moon goddess legend, Chang’E, for the 11-day Mid-Autumn Moon Festival celebration in the grand foyer of the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel in downtown Vancouver, B.C.
With each design comes new challenges; the mechanics used, obviously, as well as duration, it needs to look fresh and fantastic. I’ve been asked to keep them up on display anywhere from 5 days to an astonishing 4 ½ weeks! For the latter, I became well-known to the hotel night shift, as I refreshed with buckets of cut flowers many late evenings during that stretch.
As with most projects, it’s the process of discovery, from concept to execution, that fuels me. Having just come off the ‘Organics’ virtual course taught by floral pioneers Hitomi Gilliam AIFD and Gregor Lersch, as featured in one of the last Focal Points blog articles, I really wanted to put some of these newfound, more sustainable mechanics and materials to the test! I figured that if I could apply methods to this type of undertaking, I would feel much better about leaving a smaller environmental footprint, once she came down after eleven days of greeting guests from all over the world.
It turned out to be a wonderful success! With my small team and some clever floral illusionist tricks, she came into existence using materials that were either compostable, biodegradable or reusable, save a tiny amount of tape, staples and a few glue dashes. We kept all the mostly local, fresh and dried botanical materials in their natural colours and also experimented with a homemade rice glue and beet water-dyed rice sheets, which worked quite well, having the time it needed to set. Buckets and containers with repurposed chicken wire were used as water sources for the over 200 richly hued, hydrangeas, and dozens of fresh dahlias straight from the field. Dried materials, such as colourful strawflowers, statice and gomphrena were woven into natural fibre fabric, which allowed them to be composted or collected to be repurposed into future floral art designs. I do say, I think we even surprised ourselves and realized that with a bit of mind-shifting efforts, we learned so much from this valuable experience.
Finding and being given creative opportunities such as these and bringing botanical art to the public to enjoy and engage in is truly one of my deepest and satisfying joys. Putting so much of my heart into each and every one absolutely enriches my journey as a floral creative and hopefully, inspires other designers not only artistically but to realize the possibilities of how we can stretch our capabilities beyond what we thought we could only imagine!
Photos courtesy of www.fleursdevilles.com More mannequin and other projects on Instagram: @brenna_quan
