‘Primavera’ Simultaneous Explosion of Life

I wanted to simultaneously show the different spring botanicals in its process of growth, side by side.  The germination of mung beans in the water… this hydroponic process clearly visible against the background of black river rocks may create an experience like no other – we will find out.

This water source also nourishes the thirsty spring flowers – Muscari and Narcissus amongst the stemmy flowing Mini Callas and the meandering Jasmine vine… all portraying light youthful growth.  The budding hyacinth bulbs with its fresh white roots exposed, reaching down to the water…. We will observe how these roots will perform over time.  At 8 hours from designing it, the roots were starting to dry and shrink so I laced some Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) to refresh the look, while continuing to observe how long the bulb itself will nourish the flower bud – will it continue to grow?  Will the hyacinth bloom fully open?

The structure that supports all the flower and bulbs were created on drilled in very thin bamboo skewers with horizontal support from 2 lengths of glass rods bindwired securely to each other.  The trick is to use ¼ tab of UGlu dash in between the rod and skewer to attach first – this strengthens the bind.  In addition, multiple lengths of thin Midollino extenders and Midollino & wire vines snakes through in a very Art Nouveau tendrilly configuration which are also bindwired to the structure.  The total build has very strong structural integrity – it is very solid and secure to hold as many stems as needed to complete the design.  The many niches created for stem insertions provide attach points for the initial binding of Fasciated Willow pieces that beautifully mimics the similar flow created by the midollino extenders.  In reverse… I had built with the extenders as a known emulation of the visual flow that excites our eyes, the beautiful curvilinear nature of the Fasciated willow.

The Jasmine vine and Mini Callas add to the meandering nature of lines to support the structure.

The other spring flowers are inserted vertically into the structure as they grow… observing the simple geotropic tendency. 

Its just fun to watch the interactive growth processes of Spring simultaneously.

‘Botanical Nest’

Since Nest and Eggs indicates a vision of Spring and Emergence for most of us…. how best to illustrate that feeling of new life from a botanical perspective.  I first tried creating a botanical nest in a Spring Exhibit in my ‘FOUR SEASONS’ entry at the Singapore Garden Festival ‘Windows to the World’ Exhibit and competition in 2008.  I attempted to make visual in this exhibit – what spring feels like in Canada, for the thousands of show visitors in a region of the world who are not accustomed to the seasons.  Spring I shared was visually a combination of green and yellow experience, centering on emergence, birth of new life as the focus. The birth of life was illustrated with a flower nest, with yellow hatched blooms within. Please see images of this exhibit to get a feel for how I created the sense of spring the last time.

So this time, I wanted to bring in more nature’s references… like budding bulbs like eggs in the nest… they sprout, grow and bloom. 

Botanical Nest has deep roots, stretching deep into the soil… earthy, colorless, until they get close to surface and exposed to the sun… it photosynthesizes and turns green.  This is a world of imagination and creativity… its like a wild dream where something morphs into another because we tell a visual story through similarities and contrasts, sequencing and transitions.  

The emerging green shoots on the Nerine bulbs look just like the green lily buds in repetition in the nest. The pussy willows with its puffy catkins are like little chicks on a stick. The young spring green of Snowball Viburnum and the green hanging Amaranthus are spilling out of the nest. The cascading split pandanus foliage draping down long alongside the extra long, sparsely leafed Blackberry vine trying to take hold with roots at the tips. The greenish, soft pink hardy blooms of Hellebores beckoning the celebration of spring. As some rogue yellow Tulips flow out in the color of an egg yolk to signal for sure that Spring has sprung. All the signs clearly signals ‘Primavera’, the feel and the quiet silence of spring energizing life before us. Most of the fresh flowers were placed in water tubes. Lily buds and split Hala leaf (Pandanus baptisii) were cut and cauterized with cold glue.

The frame is used like a camera, to focus on the subject at hand to capture the relationship of the materials used in the design.  This frame is a double frame, so with foamcore, muslin and white paint, it brings a pristine frame surface to present a big peek in the window of ‘Emergence’.  In the heart of this window is the Botanical Nest.  In order to add extra attention to it, it is built into the swivel skinny window positioned asymmetrically so that the subject can be viewed from varied perspectives. It was built in as a special feature in the window to create added intrigue.  The early steps of construction can be seen in the attached images.  More steps will be shared in our Mechanics and Techniques session upcoming.

Designing within a frame definitely bring special attention to your composition. It may be a way to present it artistically like a painting or sculpture…. It’s the framing or mounting… going to extra steps to make your work seem important.  When you select a photo to frame… it is THE special picture worthy of it.

Let’s not discount a notion of ART, when you are clearly intent on creating one!!

It will be seen differently when your ART is presented on a golden platter rather than just a plain vase.

It starts with you…. How important is your work you produced today?  How would you like your viewers to see your work?  How its presented is entirely up to you.